More on Greentree HERE from yesterday<\/a> but there are a number of guys to watch. For guys like Connors and Wright, it\u2019s the first time we\u2019ll see them in this tournament. For Kirsanov, it\u2019s the first time we\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\nInterested to see how it plays out. <\/p>\n
Kings vs. Sharks tomorrow afternoon at 1 PM and Kings vs. Ducks on Sunday at the same time. <\/p>\n
Hammerin\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
For the first time, he\u2019ll 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. <\/p>\n
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\u2019s the collective of playing games and fighting for two victories. Brzustewicz is firmly in the camp. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s really exciting, it\u2019s a big honor and I\u2019m ready to go to war with the boys,\u201d he said this morning.<\/p>\n
Love that spirit. <\/p>\n
I\u2019d 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 \u2013 London Knights teammate Jared Woolley \u2013 and today, he ran the Kings\u2019 top power-play unit as the only defenseman, alongside forwards Liam Greentree, Aatu Jamsen, Koehn Ziemmer and Kenny Connors. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s 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\u2019s 18-years-old and while he\u2019s not expected to make the NHL roster, that certainly doesn\u2019t mean he isn\u2019t 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\u2019s so much to be had for Brzustewicz this weekend. He knows that and he\u2019s trying to get everything he can out of the experience. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust trying to learn as much as I can,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, there\u2019s 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\u2019m just trying to lean on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naturally, he\u2019s got his good friend Woolley to lean on.<\/p>\n
Woolley was a 2024 draft selection by the Kings and was one who stood out at last season\u2019s Rookie Faceoff, earning himself an NHL preseason game in the process. He\u2019s been around for a bit now and he and Brzustewicz are close from their time playing together in the OHL. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve played a lot together in practice and throughout the season last year and then even this year with [OHL] preseason,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing comfortable with him is really helpful\u2026\u2026 we do a lot together and have a lot of good chemistry on and off the ice.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s nice to have some semblance of consistency at an event like this.<\/p>\n
Typically, you see some disjointed hockey in a rookie tournament. <\/p>\n
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\u2019re 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\u2019s what seems to be the plan from Head Coach Andrew Lord, at least as of now.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t have to do it all himself. He\u2019s able to rely on those guys for things both on and off the ice, which is a nice bonus for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust leaning on them because obviously they\u2019ve done it a couple times already,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just leaning on them if you need anything and they\u2019ve done a really good job of helping me out, really thankful for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Excited to see 68 in black and white on the ice this weekend, certainly. <\/p>\n
Corey Perry Report
Lastly, just to address it here, as I know it\u2019s out there and in the comments, while I have read reports about Corey Perry at today\u2019s Kings captain\u2019s skate, I did not see it happen and can\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n
Full game preview, thread and recaps coming this weekend from Irvine, along with any other organizational updates that may come our way!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Day 2 in the books, Insiders! The LA Kings rookies have two practices in the books and are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-153490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}