LA Kings Training Camp Preview: Francesco Pinelli

With training camp just around the corner, we are previewing each player on the LA Kings roster. Up next: Francesco Pinelli!

Francesco Pinelli

Birthdate: April 11, 2003

Birthplace: Stoney Creek, Ontario

Height: 6’1

Weight: 185 lbs

Position: Center

Shoots: Left

Draft: 2nd round, 42nd overall, 2021 NHL Entry Draft

2023-24 season

After captaining the Kitchener Rangers and scoring 90 points in the OHL in the 2022-23 season, Francesco Pinelli made the jump to the AHL last season. The 21-year-old rookie had a rough start to the campaign as plenty of first-year players do when making the jump to pro hockey. The plays you make or can get away with in junior hockey, you can’t in the AHL. The game speeds up, is more structured, and it’s a hard league to play in. It’s an adjustment phase that players have to go through. After all, the AHL is a development league and Pinelli had a lot of learning early on.

From center to win to the press box as a healthy scratch to learning how to play a better 200-foot game. Pinelli saw it all the first two months. The size, speed, and puck management were three areas the young forward pointed out as adjusting to the professional level when I sat next to him in the press box when he was a healthy scratch in November.

While the start of the season was rough, Pinelli’s game improved as the season progressed. The points will not reflect that but you can see a confident player with and without the puck and the game slowed down for him. He recorded five goals in the final nine regular season games while spending a good chunk of the year in the bottom six. Pinelli only played in one playoff game, which was game three of the division series against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Since head coach Marco Sturm opted for a heavier lineup in the first series against the Bakersfield Condors, which had success in the following series against the Abbotsford Canucks as well, he didn’t play until the team’s final playoff game.

2024-25 outlook

With Akil Thomas and Alex Turcotte graduating to the Kings, there are some spots to fill in the Reign’s top-six forward group this season. While the 2C spot may go between him or expected newcomer Jack Studnicka, I believe Pinelli will end up getting that spot. He played 2C at various points last season, especially at the end. I think he is ready to handle those responsibilities and is one of the craftier playmakers the Reign have on the roster right now.

Also, with the roster changes, I expect him to play a role on special teams too. He was a great penalty-killer in the OHL and showed glimpses of his good penalty-killing at last year’s rookie faceoff, and saw some time on the penalty kill due to injuries or call-ups at different points with the Reign. Pinelli has some of the best skill in the Kings’ pipeline and I expect good things from the second-year pro this season with a defined role.

Featured image credit: Mike Zitek/Ontario Reign 

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