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LA Kings Prospect Update – Week 11/25

Originally posted on Hockey Royalty  |  By Kyle Garcia  |  Last updated Dec 2, 2024 1:44 PM ET

A week has passed, and it’s time for another LA Kings prospect update. It’s the third consecutive week a goalie has highlighted a prospect update, this time it was Erik Portillo. Portillo made his NHL debut against the Anaheim Ducks on November 29th, the first game of a back-to-back. The 24-year-old netminder made 28 saves on 29 shots faced (.966 save percentage), had a 2.32 GSAx (goals saved above expected), and earned the First Star of the Game and the win.

Portillo looked nervous at first, as you could probably expect, but looked calm and made timely, quality saves as the game went on, backstopping the Kings to a 2-1 victory. The footwork in the crease is an area of strength for Portillo, which is unique for a goalie of his size (6’6) and was on display during the game.

Watching Portillo get the win in his debut was good to see after watching him develop all last year with the Reign in Ontario. He’s only going to continue to get better and improve in certain areas of his game (mainly rebound control, which has gotten better compared to the first two months of his first professional career), and getting more starts in Ontario when Darcy Kuemper returns from injury will be beneficial for his development.

It’s a realistic possibility that Portillo will at least be the backup for the Kings next season. Hopefully, that win was the first of many in his career. Congrats, Erik!

Here is how the rest of the players in the pipeline did during the week:

Overseas players:

NCAA:

  • Kenny Connors: 0 G, 0 A, 0 Pt, +1, 2 SOG in one game played
  • Ryan Conmy: 0 G, 3 A, 3 Pts, +2, 2 SOG in two games played

OHL players:

  • Matthew Mania: 1 G, 3 A, 4 Pts, +3, 9 SOG in three games played
  • Jared Woolley: 0 G, 1 A, 1 Pt, +3, 2 SOG in three games played
  • Carter George: 10 GA, 48 saves on 58 shots faced in two games played

WHL players:

AHL players:

  • Jakub Dvorak: 0 G, 0 A 0 Pts, +/- 0, 1 SOG in one game played
  • Angus Booth: 0 G, 0 A, 0 Pts, +2, 2 SOG in two games played
  • Jacob Ingham: No games played (Backup goalie in both Reign games)

NHL players:

This article first appeared on Hockey Royalty and was syndicated with permission.

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