LA Kings 2026-27 Season Player Previews: Alex Turcotte

It is a critical season upcoming for Los Angeles Kings center Alex Turcotte. In the upcoming 2026-27 campaign, Turcotte has to prove that he is genuinely worth the Kings keeping around over the long term.

This past regular season saw Turcotte take a step back offensively. After registering nine goals and 25 total points in 68 games played in the 2024-25 season, Turcotte only scored three goals and posted 14 total points in 62 games this past season.

A roller coaster ride of a young NHL career in this past few years has led Turcotte to this point where he needs to prove himself on both ends of the ice going into a contract year this upcoming season.

Alex Turcotte 2025-26 player season recap

2025-26 season stats: 62 games played, 3 goals, 11 assists, 14 points, -8

2025-26 advanced stats: 4.5 shooting %, 8.1 5-on-5 shooting %, 1.3 points/60, 0.4 point shares, -0.5 WAR

2025-26 possession metrics: 55.9 CF%, 57.0 SCF%, 95.4 PDO, 59.9 HDCF%

While the offensive production declined year-over-year for Turcotte this past regular season, it wasn't all bad for the young center on both sides of the ice. Injuries also unfortunately impacted his season and caused him to miss over a dozen games.

One of the biggest reasons why Turcotte struggled to produce offensively for the Kings this past regular season was the lack of finishing around the net. Turcotte only registered a 4.5 shooting percentage this past season, while finishing with 9.1 goals below expected.

Turcotte clearly had some of the best scoring chances generated of any Kings forward this past regular season per 60 minutes, but he couldn't convert those opportunities into points.

He spent some time on injured reserve in the second half of this past season, leading him to appear in only 62 games in the regular season. Injuries have played a big role in slowing Turcotte's development early in his NHL career.

In the second half of this past regular season, Turcotte had an opportunity to step up and take on a bigger role at the center position for the Kings. After the Kings traded two-way center Phillip Danault to the Montreal Canadiens last December, Turcotte wasn't fully able to take advantage of the chance he had to seize a bigger role in the forward lineup.

Alex Turcotte 2026-27 Los Angeles Kings season preview

Turcotte is going into the final year of his current contract, and he will be a restricted free agent in the 2027 offseason if the Kings don't re-sign him before next summer. That makes it especially important for Turcotte to establish his place in the organization's long-term plans this upcoming season.

We have projected Turcotte to play with the fourth-line forwards, alongside veteran wingers Joel Armia and Corey Perry, this upcoming season for the Kings.

At this stage of his career, the Kings and new head coach Peter Laviolette are going to start evaluating Turcotte's role more based on his production than his draft spot. While his defensive awareness, ability to possess the puck, and skating give him versatility and he can play on the wing or at center, the Kings will need to determine what kind of player he can be for them in the long term.

Through more than 150 career games played in the regular season, Turcotte has only registered 13 goals and 43 total points. And just because Anze Kopitar retired this offseason doesn't mean that Turcotte will automatically step into a bigger role this upcoming season.

The Kings still have veteran centers Erik Haula and Scott Laughton and projected No. 1 center Quinton Byfield ahead of Turcotte on the depth chart going into training camp and the preseason this fall.

If Turcotte reaches 10 goals and 20-25 total points, I think that would constitute a pretty successful season for the young center this upcoming season.

The Kings don't need Turcotte to develop into a star-caliber center that they probably envisioned they were drafting in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, fifth overall. But with him entering the final year of his current contract, Turcotte does need to show he can become a consistent and valuable part of the bottom-six forward group moving forward.

If Turcotte can stay fully healthy this upcoming season and continue to generate quality scoring chances (and finally convert on more of them), it could represent an important step forward for the former first-round draft pick this campaign.