Across the Leagues: Tracking LA Kings Prospects in the Playoffs

It’s that time of the year. The NHL and AHL regular season is wrapping up, with the playoffs in sight, and other prospects in the LA Kings organization are still in the playoffs in their respective leagues. To catch you up on prospects in the organization outside of the NHL and AHL, this will be brief on whose season is over and who’s still playing.

Note: They aren’t mentioned, but Kenny Connors and Otto Salin signed their entry-level contracts last week. Salin also joined the Ontario Reign on a PTO.

Away we go!

Eliminated

Three Kings prospects in juniors saw their season come to a close within the past week. Right-handed defenseman Matthew Mania saw his OHL season come to a close as the Flint Firebirds were taken care of by the Kitchener Rangers in five games. Mania had one goal in the five-game series.

Goaltender Carter George did all he could to get the Owen Sound Attack into the playoffs. Their reward: a series against the London Knights – a team with the best record in the OHL. London easily dismantled Owen Sound with a sweep. With his OHL season over, George was re-assigned by the Kings to the Reign this past Sunday. Since he turns 19 in May, he will either be back in the OHL or with the Kings next season. If I had to guess, I would pick the former.

Lastly, Koehn Ziemmer. Ziemmer’s Prince George Cougars trailed 3-1 in their first-round series to the Portland Winterhawks and forced a game seven with victories in games five and six. Although they forced a game seven, Prince George couldn’t complete the comeback and fell to Portland by a score of 4-2. For Ziemmer, it was the last game of his WHL as he is set to begin his professional career (this was his last season in the WHL). He departs as Prince George’s all-time leading goal scorer.

Kirsanov’s season in Russia is still going

Kirill Kirsanov, 22, is still in the playoffs. He’s bounced back and forth between the KHL and VHL these playoffs. His KHL team (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod) got eliminated last week, so now he is down in the VHL with Torpedo-Gorky. They advanced to the second round with an overtime victory in game seven, and Kirsanov played almost 25 minutes (24:59) in that contest. Game one of their second-round series starts today at 8:30 AM PST.

Four in the Frozen Four

The NCAA’s Frozen Four is in its final stages. Four Kings prospects will compete with their respective teams. Jack Hughes (Boston University), Hampton Slukynsky (Western Michigan University), Jared Wright, and James Reeder (Denver University) will be looking to help their team get to the national title game.

Side note: Denver won the national championship game last year against Boston College as Wright scored the game-winning goal. They will look to repeat this year.

Back to the matchup.

The first game will feature three Kings prospects as Western Michigan takes on Denver. The good news is that at least one Kings prospect will advance to the title game. The bad news is that at least one will see their dreams of capturing the national championship crushed. It’s also a rematch from the NCHC championship game three weeks ago, which resulted in Western Michigan completing a three-goal comeback in the third period to win in double overtime. This game starts at 2 PM PST today and can be seen on ESPN2 or streamed on ESPN+.

The second game of the double header will be Boston University against Penn State at 5:30 PM PST. You can also watch this game on ESPN2 or stream it on ESPN+. If Boston University defeats Penn State, we could see Kings prospects face each other in the title game on Saturday, April 12th.

Greentree and Woolley start their second-round series in the OHL playoffs

Liam Greentree and Jared Woolley are the two remaining prospects in the Kings system whose junior teams advanced in the playoffs in their respective leagues. Greentree and his linemate Ilya Protas torched the Soo Greyhounds, recording 15 points each, in the Windsor Spitfires’ first-round series victory. The dynamic duo will look to lead the way again in their second-round series against the Kitchener Rangers. That series starts today at 4:05 PM PST.

Jared Woolley doesn’t light up the scoreboard for the London Knights, but he found a way to score twice on fellow Kings prospect, Carter George, in London’s matchup against the Owen Sound Attack. The 19-year-old defenseman has played in the top four on London’s backend and will most likely continue to do so in their upcoming series against the Erie Otters. Game one of their series also starts today (4 PM PST).

Side note: If Windsor and London advance, Greentree and Woolley will face each other in the Western Conference Finals round with a trip to the OHL Finals on the line.

Featured image credit: Marissa Shiock

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