Top Prospects: The NHL System Rankings

#15: Los Angeles Kings

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Number of Ranked Prospects: 24

Number of Forwards in the Top 50: 1

Number of Defensemen in the Top 50: 1

Average Rank of Top 10 Prospects in Pool: 109th

Top Forward Prospect in The System: Liam Greentree (23rd)

Top Defenseman Prospect in The System: Brandt Clarke (11th)

System Score: 4

The Los Angeles Kings seem like an organization that has been trying to recapture the glory of their Stanley Cup success of the early 2010s without having to strip the team down to the bones and rebuilding through the draft and young talent. Perhaps that perception is due more to the notion that the team continues to make to playoffs (first round losses in each of the past several years) than it does the quantity of draft picks and the quality of the prospects. The team has a nascent superstar in Quinton Byfield, a player who they selected second overall behind Alexis Lafreniere in 2020. Byfield played 80 games for the Kings last year, scoring 55 points on 20 goals and 35 assists. Another NHL success from recent NHL drafts was Brock Faber, drafted 45th overall in 2020. The Kings, however, traded Faber as a part of a package to bring in forward Kevin Fiala, so Faber's breakout season came while playing for the Minnesota Wild. Alex Laferriere was a surprisingly productive rookie for the Kings last year, putting up 23 points (12 goals, 11 assists) in his first professional hockey season after leaving the Harvard men's hockey program. 

The Top of The Pool:

Brandt Clarke is easily the top prospect in the Kings system, but not for long. After playing most of last season in the AHL, Clarke looks to have cemented a full-time role with Los Angeles and will almost certainly graduate from the prospect ranks before the spring. The Kings drafted Clarke 8th overall in 2021, and the 6'2, 200-pound blueliner has been exceeding expectations ever since. Clarke suited up for 86 games for the Barrie Colts in two seasons since he was drafted, and registered 34 goals and 86 assists in those games. Last year, his first as a pro, he scored at near a point-per-game pace (46 points in 50 games) for Ontario in the AHL, best in the AHL among defenders in production rate. Clarke was slated to play full-time with the Kings this year, but the long-term injury to Los Angeles stalwart blueliner Drew Doughty means that Clarke will have an opportunity to play a bigger role for the team. Look for him to shine with his offensively geared play and fantastic transition game.

Newly drafted right winger Liam Greentree leads the forward prospects in the Kings system. Greentree was drafted 26th overall last summer (note that he was 11th on the Hockey Prophets draft ranking) after he scored 36 goals with 54 assists in 64 games for the OHL's Windsor Spitfires. Greentree plays a skilled, power game with consistent hard work at both ends of the ice. He shows good speed and skating ability, but it is his hustle and effort that gets him to the places on the ice where he needs to be. He drives hard both on attack and while backchecking, and has great body awareness and positioning. He has a hard wrist shot and is a clever passer, but he is much more of a north-south, drive-the-net player than a shifty playmaker. He will absorb contact when necessary to make the play, and will dish out contact, as well. Greentree has already put up 2 goals and 10 assists in Windsor's first six games of the young 2024-2025 season, and with his international experience for Canada at the U18 world juniors and the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, Greentree will likely get a long look for Canada's World Junior Championships this holiday season.

Koehn Ziemmer (ranked 88th) has been a Hockey Prophets favorite for a while. The right winger was drafted by the Kings at 78th overall in 2023 (ranked 24th overall by Hockey Prophets) from Prince George in the WHL. Ziemmer scored 89 points in 68 draft-year games for the Cougars, but a broken ankle in December cost him nearly the rest of the 2023-2024 season. He did return in time for the playoffs and scored 10 points in 15 games. Ziemmer plays a smart, fast game with quality skating and acceleration combined with a physical yet skilled game. He is an NHL-type forward who has become a bit leaner, a bit taller, and a bit stronger over the past two years. He is now listed at 6'1, 203 pounds. The Kings gave Ziemmer a long look at training camp, but returned him to Prince George for a final year of WHL seasoning. In just three games since returning the Cougars, Ziemmer already has six points.

Next on the forwards ranking is Alex Turcotte, a player drafted 5th overall in 2019, but one who has yet to make the impact originally expected from the dynamic winger of the USNTDP. After his draft season, Turcotte moved from the US national team to the University of Wisconsin where he had a highly productive season for the Badgers, with 9 goals and 17 assists in 29 games. At the end of that freshman year, Turcotte signed his entry level contract and made the move to the AHL. His rookie season saw him play in just 27 games, and since then he has struggled to stay in the lineup. In 2022-2023, he played in 36 total games. In 2023-2024, he split time between the AHL (35 games) and the NHL (20 games) but he just has not been able to find a home on the NHL roster (he has played a total of 32 NHL games with just 4 points scored prior to the current season). He has started the 2024-2025 season in the NHL, but he has been held scoreless in the King's first two games. Turcotte's biggest issue seems to be translating his aggressive, get-to-the-net style into the bigger, stronger, tighter NHL game. If he can find a way to be successful around the NHL crease, or if he can transition into a less-grinding style while increasing effectiveness, he could have a nice breakout year. If not, he will likely end up back in the AHL or perhaps moving to Europe to find extra space on the bigger ice. He has the skill and hockey intelligence to be a successful NHL player, but he must find a way to make it all work.

Return to the Team System Rankings

Below is the full list of the Los Angeles Kings' ranked prospects.

Top Forwards 

Top Defensemen