Day 2 in the books, Insiders!

The LA Kings rookies have two practices in the books and are ready to roll tomorrow afternoon in the first of two games at the 2025 Golden State Rookie Faceoff.

Practice today had some similarities to yesterday but while we got a good feel for the 5-on-5 line combinations yesterday, today we got a real glimpse at special teams. Seeing how things shook out, while this is incomplete, here’s a glance into what we could see this weekend in terms of lines and combinations.

Forwards
Greentree – Connors – Ziemmer
Jamsen – Lawrence – Wright
Chovan – Lombardi – Hughes
Gerwing – O’Hara – Mastrodonato – Isogai – Crawford

Defensemen
Booth – Salin
Dvorak – Kirsanov
Woolley – Brzustewicz
Corbet – Berge

Goaltenders
George / Sholl / Seville

Power Play Units
Brzustewicz – Jamsen – Greentree – Ziemmer – Connors
Salin/Booth (rotated) – Isogai – Chovan – Lombardi – Hughes

These are simply what we saw in practice and are naturally subject to change. But it’s an idea of what we might see tomorrow and Sunday as a baseline. Not expecting everyone to play in both games and I’d assume just about everyone will be into at least one game, including the goaltenders.

The top three lines are all Kings drafted players, as are the top three defensive pairings. More on Greentree HERE from yesterday but there are a number of guys to watch. For guys like Connors and Wright, it’s the first time we’ll see them in this tournament. For Kirsanov, it’s the first time we’ll see him in North America. 2025 draft picks Jimmy Lombardi and Jan Chovan will make their Kings tournament debuts as well, while several players on AHL contracts and camp invitations will be motivated to impress, including Jack Hughes, who inked an AHL contract with Ontario this summer.

Interested to see how it plays out.

Kings vs. Sharks tomorrow afternoon at 1 PM and Kings vs. Ducks on Sunday at the same time.

Hammerin’ Hank
For Henry Brzustewicz, he put on an LA Kings jersey back in June at the 2025 NHL Draft. He wore LA Kings gear in July when he attended his first ever Kings development camp. Tomorrow, though, things will be a little bit different for Brzustewicz.

For the first time, he’ll play a game as a member of the LA Kings, as the Kings rookies take on the San Jose Sharks in their first of two games at the 2025 Golden State Rookie Faceoff.

There are a lot of players at this camp and each of them has different approaches and objectives in the longer-term.. This weekend, though, there’s the collective of playing games and fighting for two victories. Brzustewicz is firmly in the camp.

It’s really exciting, it’s a big honor and I’m ready to go to war with the boys,” he said this morning.

Love that spirit.

I’d expect to see a lot of Brzustewicz. The Kings have eight defensemen on their camp roster and over the first two days of practice, Brzustewicz has had a familiar defensive partner – London Knights teammate Jared Woolley – and today, he ran the Kings’ top power-play unit as the only defenseman, alongside forwards Liam Greentree, Aatu Jamsen, Koehn Ziemmer and Kenny Connors.

It’s an important weekend for him, as he prepares for his first NHL training camp. This weekend, the rookies have an opportunity to build positive momentum heading into the larger camp. He’s 18-years-old and while he’s not expected to make the NHL roster, that certainly doesn’t mean he isn’t there to make a statement. More likely than not, all roads lead back to London, but in terms of making an impression, getting into an exhibition contest or two and learning from Kings veterans, there’s so much to be had for Brzustewicz this weekend. He knows that and he’s trying to get everything he can out of the experience.

“Just trying to learn as much as I can,” he said. “Obviously, there’s a lot of good resources here and a lot of good, older guys that have been here for a couple years, so they know a lot, and I’m just trying to lean on them.”

Naturally, he’s got his good friend Woolley to lean on.

Woolley was a 2024 draft selection by the Kings and was one who stood out at last season’s Rookie Faceoff, earning himself an NHL preseason game in the process. He’s been around for a bit now and he and Brzustewicz are close from their time playing together in the OHL.

“We’ve played a lot together in practice and throughout the season last year and then even this year with [OHL] preseason,” he said. “Being comfortable with him is really helpful…… we do a lot together and have a lot of good chemistry on and off the ice.”

It’s nice to have some semblance of consistency at an event like this.

Typically, you see some disjointed hockey in a rookie tournament.

While everyone is playing under the Kings banner, just about everyone here played for different teams last season, at different levels, in different organizations. When you bring that group together, despite a high skill level, you’re still teaching systems to players who are not familiar with each other on the ice in a game setting. So, if you can have a couple of guys like Woolley and Brzustewicz together, it makes some sense to put them on a pairing. That’s what seems to be the plan from Head Coach Andrew Lord, at least as of now.

Brzustewicz also is unlikely to have to carry the load on a blueline that features a ton of experience, much more than the Kings have up front. Angus Booth and Jakub Dvorak played last season in the AHL while Otto Salin and Kirill Kirsanov both played professionally in Europe. Long story short, the Kings are fairly experienced on the blueline at this tournament and for a guy like Brzustewicz, despite his upside, he doesn’t have to do it all himself. He’s able to rely on those guys for things both on and off the ice, which is a nice bonus for him.

“Just leaning on them because obviously they’ve done it a couple times already,” he said. “It’s just leaning on them if you need anything and they’ve done a really good job of helping me out, really thankful for them.”

Excited to see 68 in black and white on the ice this weekend, certainly.

Corey Perry Report
Lastly, just to address it here, as I know it’s out there and in the comments, while I have read reports about Corey Perry at today’s Kings captain’s skate, I did not see it happen and can’t offer any update at this time. I am checking in with the team and I will share what I am able to on that front as information becomes available.

Full game preview, thread and recaps coming this weekend from Irvine, along with any other organizational updates that may come our way!