LA Kings Training Camp Preview: Jordan Spence

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

Jordan Spence

Birthdate: February 24, 2001

Birthplace: Manly, Australia

Height: 5’10

Weight: 181 lbs

Position: Defenseman

Shoots: Right

Draft: 4th round, 95th overall 2019 NHL Entry Draft

2023-24 season

Solid, underrated, and underappreciated. Those are three words I use to describe Jordan Spence. After two years in the AHL with the Ontario Reign, Spence secured a spot on the third defensive pair on the right side, playing with Andreas Englund. Spence scored 24 points in 71 games but only scored two goals. While some criticized the lack of goals or him quarterbacking the second power-play unit, Spence’s overall season was a success for a third-pair defenseman.

According to MoneyPuck, Spence was third in assists (16), third in primary assists (8), and fourth in points (17) for defensemen on the team at five-on-five in the regular season. Spence did all that while babysitting and making his partner Englund, who was a boat anchor, look good enough. When watching the Kings’ first-round series with the Oilers, Spence held his own and was arguably the Kings’ best defenseman in the series.

Jordan Spence is top 20 among all NHL defensemen in corsi share, shot share, expected goal share, and high-danger chance share during 5-on-5 play.

Yet the Kings continue to healthy scratch him. Make it make sense. pic.twitter.com/t0Zj1Nv2cH

— Russell Morgan (@NHLRussell) January 27, 2024

2024-25 outlook

Spence will be back after recently signing a two-year deal with a $1,500,00 AAV. Matt Roy’s departure leaves a hole on the right side of the second defensive pair, and I expect Spence and Brandt Clarke to fight for that spot. I’m a big believer that competition brings out the best in everyone and I expect that to happen.

Last year the Kings refused to play Clarke and Spence in the same game because of the team’s reluctance to play a defenseman on their off-hand and get both of them in the lineup. Instead, they rotated them in and out of the lineup at various points which didn’t make spence (yes, that was meant to be written that way). That shouldn’t be the case this year.

There should be no excuse for not having two puck-moving defensemen in the lineup and on the power play. Head coach Jim Hiller has a chance to be very creative in deploying Spence and Clarke on the power and how to use them in late-game situations. If Hiller wants to be bold, dare I say play them both together with Spence on his off-hand and the Kings down by a goal late in the game? Nevertheless, I expect Spence to be a solid contributor offensively, whether it be the second or third pair.

Featured image credit: Ryan Sun/AP