Sundays aren’t only for NFL football. Today will also serve as cutdown day for the LA Kings, as it’s time to trim the roster in advance of Ontario’s AHL training camp opening on Monday.
As hinted about on Twitter earlier this morning, Kings management have assigned defenseman Angus Booth (QMJHL) and forward Koehn Ziemmer (WHL) to their junior clubs. It was the latter’s first training camp with Los Angeles after being selected this past June at the NHL Draft. Both players showed well in the recent Rookie Faceoff tournament and in the few preseason games they suited up for.
Additionally, three LA prospects were placed on waivers this morning — Jacob Moverare, Akil Thomas, and Sammy Fagemo. Each player will now need to clear before being assigned to the Reign tomorrow afternoon.
Thomas, originally selected at the 2018 NHL Draft, is returning after missing nearly all of last season due to surgery. When healthy, he’s proven to be a highly effective player in the AHL and has been knocking at the door of an NHL call-up. He was a solid offensive contributor during the preseason, including recording a hat trick in Vegas earlier this week.
Fagemo is coming off the high of scoring in regulation on Friday vs. the Ducks and then in overtime last night vs. the Sharks. He also made the trip to Australia with the Kings last month. There is serious concern he will get claimed by another team.
Unfortunately, both forwards are caught in a roster crunch at the moment. Thomas was considered a longshot to make the NHL roster this month, as the Kings were already facing a decision of having to place Jaret Anderson-Dolan or Fagemo on waivers prior to submitting their Opening Night roster. More on that situation was explained in detail in the article linked below.
As for Moverare, who also went to Australia with the club, he too was simply squeezed out on the blueline — despite looking NHL ready in the 21 games he’s already played with the big club. Should he clear waivers, he is expected to be assigned to AHL Ontario and be available as a depth defenseman for the Kings throughout the season.
Tyler Madden was also initially believed to be part of the group of players going on waivers today. However, that did not happen due to some uncertainty surrounding his injury status. Late in the game Friday in San Diego he took a rough hit into the boards behind the goal line. He later returned for a few shifts. He was then held out of last night’s game for precautionary reasons. According to our sources, his injury is not believed to be serious. The team will just wait until he’s back to skating again, then he will be placed on waivers. The current timeline is not expected to be more than a few days.
Beyond the aforementioned players, seven other prospects were also cut from Kings camp and assigned to Ontario (they did not require waivers to be transferred to the AHL: Martin Chromiak, Samuel Helenius, Cole Krygier, Kim Nousiainen, Francesco Pinelli, Erik Portillo, and Jacob Ingham. The Kings have 28 players remaining on their NHL training camp roster (17 forwards; 8 defensemen; 3 goaltenders). They will make their final cuts later this week.
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Very surprised Fagemo was placed on waivers! I hope he clears, but somebody like Montreal will probably claim him!
Sorry but JAD needs to move on. I don’t like seeing Fagemo get the waiver call.