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Kings Add College Hockey’s Leading Goal Scorer and a Top UFA Defenseman to Upcoming Dev Camp

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This summer’s Development Camp just became a lot more interesting.

Mayor’s Manor has learned that Hayden Stavroff of Dartmouth — this season’s ECAC Player of the Year — is expected to join the Kings in El Segundo this summer for the team’s annual gathering of top prospects and potential NHLers.

The 5-foot-11 sophomore led all of NCAA Division I hockey with 29 goals this season — nearly tripling his output of 10 from his freshman year. Stavroff was also named Ivy League Player of the Year, won the Walter Brown Award, and was a Hobey Baker Top 10 finalist. He played on one of the most dangerous lines in college hockey alongside Hank Cleaves, a 6-foot-5 center we featured in our original college free agent piece (they totaled 88 points between the two of them). Their season came to an end on March 26 when Dartmouth fell 5-1 to Wisconsin at the NCAA regional semifinal in Worcester. He attended Washington’s Development Camp last summer as a free agent invitee. Now LA gets its turn.

As for what makes him dangerous, Dartmouth head coach Reid Cashman put it best:

“I haven’t seen anybody else in college hockey have the puck come off their stick the way it does for Hayden.”

After the season ended, Cashman went further, adding:

“He is the best college goal scorer I have ever seen. On top of his goal scoring, Hayden competes at a high level and plays a selfless form of hockey.”

For a brief visual of just how good his shot is, look no further:

Having just completed his sophomore season, a return to Dartmouth remains very possible. Yet, having the nation’s top goal scorer at camp is a significant advancement in conversations with the young forward and his advisors.

Also expected at Kings camp this summer is Isaiah Norlin — one of the right-shot defensemen we profiled in our original free agent article. Ironically enough, his season at Colgate came to an end when Dartmouth eliminated them in the ECAC quarterfinals. Checking in at 6-foot-6 and 205 lbs., with 28 points (8 G, 20 A) in 37 GP, Norlin finished second on the Raiders in scoring despite playing on the blue line, led all ECAC defensemen with five power-play goals, and earned Second Team All-ECAC honors. In October, he was named ECAC Defender of the Month after putting up seven points in seven games. Norlin knows who he is and excels in the role, finishing 12th in all of college hockey with .757 points-per-game among defensemen.

His path to Colgate is worth knowing. Norlin was named BCHL Defenseman of the Year in 2023-24 with the West Kelowna Warriors — one of several players helping raise that league’s profile as a legitimate stepping stone to high-end college programs. He spent one year at Nebraska-Omaha before transferring to Colgate, where he broke out this season. The Blues liked him enough to bring him to their Dev Camp in 2024. Now LA will get a turn at further impressing the big defender.

As for the rest of our original college UFA list, we’re hearing that defenseman Hayden Hennen is going back to school for his senior year at Augustana. Denver’s Boston Buckberger will likely sign somewhere this spring, but the fit in LA was always complicated by his left-handed shot and a signing seems unlikely. The Kings’ pipeline is a tad crowded on that side of the puck currently — including prospects like Angus Booth, Kirill Kirsanov, Jakub Dvorak, and Jared Woolley already under contract.

Among the forwards profiled in that aforementioned article, we believe Cleaves will return to Dartmouth, but joining LA’s Dev Camp remains a possibility — especially since his linemate Stavroff will be in attendance.

There’s also T.J. Hughes, one of the bigger (yet oldest) centers in this year’s UFA crop. He’ll be playing in Thursday’s Frozen Four semifinal vs. Wisconsin, so there won’t be any movement on his future until after his season is over. Either way, we’re not convinced LA will sign him, as it always felt like a little more of an outside shot.

We’ll have more information on Kings Dev Camp in a few weeks. This year’s event is scheduled to run from June 29 – July 2. There should be at least one scrimmage scheduled, with multiple practice sessions each day. For reference, here are some notes and highlights from 2025.

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  1. Not exactly a real prospect yet (there’s a reason he wasn’t drafted). But hope springs eternal.

    • Common misperception about college free agents. Guys like this are very REAL prospects. Fact is, players develop on different timelines. While scouts didn’t project him high enough to see his name called as an 18 or 19-year-old at the Draft, that’s not a reflection on his current skills. When you’re under 25 years old and NHL teams are interested in you, you’re a prospect — doesn’t matter if you’re in Europe, college, or elsewhere. If they’re willing to offer you an NHL entry-level contract, you’re a prospect. Each NHL only gets 50 contracts in total. If you’re on the short list to get one, you’re legit.