3 LA Kings rookies that can make a push for the NHL after camp

It’s fair to say that Clarke impressed us all with his performance at the tournament. He outplayed everyone else using his speed, smooth edges, and agility. While the Kings already seem to have a completely filled-out defensive lineup – especially on the right side. If Clarke plays as he did in this tournament, it’ll be difficult to count him out.

What will make this such a difficult judgment is that Clarke either has to be in LA or the OHL. There’s no option for the 19-year-old to get sent down to the AHL because he isn’t eligible for it quite yet. That means that if the Kings do choose to send him down, it’ll have to be back to the Barrie Colts. The worst part about it is that if they do send him down, they won’t be able to call him back up. That’s what makes Brandt Clarke on the NHL roster such a huge question mark. Will the Kings want to play him regularly in the lineup, or are they willing to give him up for another year? That’s a question that will be answered by Clarke’s performance at training camp.

Samuel Fagemo

Samuel Fagemo played in 4 NHL games last year, and he was held scoreless. His showing wasn’t the most impressive as he was given top-tier chances playing with Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar. Yet, he came up empty-handed.

Although his NHL stint wasn’t the best statistically, he played exactly like he was expected to visually. He was actively shooting the puck, he played with high intensity, skating at full speed from end to end, and generated a few secondary scoring opportunities that unfortunately didn’t go his way. Of course, it would have been nice to see Fagemo on the scoresheet at least once in those four games, but that wasn’t the way the wind blew.

Fagemo played his first full AHL season in 2021-22, scoring 27 goals in 63 games. As a 21-year-old player, Fagemo was second on the team in goals, right behind now-St. Louis Blue, Martin Frk. 

Most deadly on the power play, he may very well earn a spot on the team because of that power play ability. His shoot-first mentality will only help his case, too. Since the Kings struggled so much last year, they may be looking for a goal-scoring spark. And who else other than the guy that made a name for himself scoring goals on the Ontario Reign power play last season?

Via InStat

Even though this one feels unlikely because of how stacked LA’s offensive core is at all levels, we can still envision Fagemo getting one or two call-ups throughout the year. Fagemo is still not waiver eligible because he’s on his ELC, so that makes moving him around a lot more flexible. With development being rapid and notable extra players like Frk being gone, this opens up the door for Fagemo to step up and have a chance to play on the Kings roster when the opportunity presents itself.

Taylor Ward

The most unlikely option out of the three, but the most interesting one. Taylor Ward signed his entry-level contract with the LA Kings on March 19th, which would see him play the first year in Ontario on a tryout contract. This year, the contract has officially kicked in, and he can now be called up and sent down. 

Ward was never drafted, but his father, Dixon, played 34 games with the Kings back in 1993-94. When the Kings signed Taylor, his NCAA season came to an unfortunate close with a disappointing playoff loss. Ward had played in 4 NCAA seasons with the University of Nebraska-Omaha and played exceptionally well in all four seasons. He tallied 19 goals and 39 points in 38 games in his final season.

Once his season was over in university, Ward joined the Ontario Reign, where he had 10 points in 16 games. Although he had only scored 3 goals, Ward brought physicality, drive, and a top-notch transition game with every single shift. Even though he is 24 years old, which is a bit older than most players are when they sign their ELCs, he still looked great. 

Ward impressed at the rookie tournament, scoring multiple goals, including this rocket of a shot on the powerplay:

Taylor Ward is most likely to begin the 2022-23 season in the AHL with the Reign, but it’ll be hard to imagine him not getting a shot in the big league at some point in the year. If he’ll be able to compete and play as he did in the AHL last year and at this year’s rookie tournament, he’ll undeniably get a nod in the NHL sometime in the coming year.

For the LA Kings this year, they’ll have multiple younger players with potential that is sky-high. Those players will use training camp as an advantage to get a spot in the NHL. Even if they don’t make it right away, they’ll likely get a call-up later in the year if they make an impression on the coaching staff.