Kyle Garcia 
The Ontario Reign made their first move of the offseason as they signed Charles Hudon to an AHL contract.
He's all ours! 🙌
We've signed forward Charles Hudon to a two-year AHL contract that extends through the 2024-25 season.#ReignTrain
— Ontario Reign (@ontarioreign) July 3, 2023
Hudon’s contract is for two years and will be a valuable asset for the Ontario Reign. Hudon, 29, played in 61 games for the Colorado Eagles last season and led the team in goals (29) and points (54). He also led the AHL with 17 power-play goals. The Reign finished last season 27th in goals scored (206) and Hudon can help in that department. With Lias Andersson signing with the Montreal Canadiens, the Reign seem to have found his replacement. Hudon is the third player in the last three days to sign with the LA Kings or Ontario Reign (Mikhail Maltsev and Andreas Englund are the other two) who played for the Colorado Avalanche or Colorado Eagles last season.
Welcome to the Inland Empire, Hudon!
Photo credit: Colorado Eagles
One thing I also didn’t understand is how they gave up on Lias Andersson.
When Vilardi struggled, they sent him down to Ontario 2 seasons ago to find his game. He did exactly what the team asked and he turned into a point per game player and scored 15 goals, 23 assists and 38 points in 39 games in AHL. They asked Lias Andersson to do the same thing and he scores 31 goals, 28 assists for 59 points in 67 games !!!! So why exactly would we not want to have Andersson back at camp this year and possibly in the lineup ? 31 goals is awesome, is it not ? He proved what the Kings asked him to do too and we let him go ? Andersson was in the same draft as Vilardi and actually went higher. Not sure why we are letting so many players that can score goals and points go and think PLD himself is the savior for all our problems. Foolish !