Photo Credit: Kingston Frontenacs
The LA Kings are beginning to trim down their roster as training camp moves along and the start of the regular season nears.
The LA Kings made a round of roster cuts on Wednesday as October nears.
Forwards Martin Chromiak and Francesco Pinelli were assigned to their respective OHL clubs, while defenseman and camp invitee Cade McNelly was released from his amateur tryout.
The @LAKings have trimmed its roster to 56 players with the following transactions:
Forwards Martin Chromiak (Kingston Frontenacs) and Francesco Pinelli (Kitchener Rangers) have been reassigned to their junior teams.
Defenseman Cade McNelly has been released from his ATO.
— LA Kings PR (@LAKingsPR) September 29, 2021
For the first time since the 2019-20 season, Chromiak will rejoin the Kingston Frontenacs while Pinelli will rejoin the Kitchener Rangers. Chromiak scored 33 points (11-22-33) in 28 games for Kingston as a 17-year-old that season, leading the Kings to select him in the fifth round of the 2020 NHL Draft.
Pinelli, a second-round pick by the Kings this year, scored 41 points (18-23-41) as a 16-year-old for Kitchener during the 2019-20 campaign.
Both players played overseas last year as there was no OHL season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pinelli played for HDD Jesenice of the Slovakian League, tallying five goals and 11 points in only 13 games.
Chromiak spent the majority of the 2021 season with HK Dukla Trencin, where he racked up seven goals and 19 points in 32 games. He finished the year with the Ontario Reign, playing in two games.
McNelly, who turns 20 in October, scored five points (2-3-5) while recording 43 penalty minutes in 20 games with the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds last season. On Monday night, he had an assist on the Kings’ lone goal and 7 PIM against the Coyotes.