Your Guide to Where the Prospects Are Playing in 2025-26

September means it’s back to work for hockey players. The LA Kings will have prospects and camp invites join the Rookie Faceoff tournament over the weekend, and shortly after, training camp will begin.

Some prospects won’t participate in both festivities, as the European leagues have started, and the college prospects are in class. Those who attend both will eventually be loaned to their junior team or the AHL for the Ontario Reign.

Where will every single prospect be playing for the 2025-26 season? Thankfully, we got you covered at Hockey Royalty.

Here is where every prospect will be playing this season.

Europe

The Kings will have two prospects play in the KHL: Alexander Dergachyov and Bulat Shafigullin. Neither has a future in LA, but both have been in the system for at least six years.

Vojtěch Čihař, LA’s second-round pick from this past draft, will be playing in the Czech Extraliga, the top league in the Czech Republic. The 18-year-old will be playing for HC Energie Karlovy Vary, whose season starts on September 10th. The Kings have until June 1st, 2029, to sign him to his entry-level contract.

Another prospect in the Kings’ system playing in Europe will be Petteri Rimpinen. The Kings snagged the 19-year-old netminder in the fifth round in this past draft. Rimpinen will be playing in Liiga (Finland) for Kiekko-Espoo. He had a .912 save percentage in 40 games with the club last year. Like Čihař, the Kings hold his signing rights until June 1st, 2029.

College

The Kings will have seven prospects attending college, with a trio of them playing for the University of Denver. James Reeder (sixth round; 2024) will return for his sophomore season, while Kristian Epperson (third round; 2025) and Brendan McMorrow (seventh round; 2025) will be entering their freshman season.

Ryan Conmy, LA’s sixth-round pick from 2023, transferred to Boston College after two years at the University of New Hampshire. Conmy has been one of LA’s underrated prospects and should be a name Kings fans should pay close attention to.

For defensemen, Jack Sparkes will return to Clarkson University. The bruising 6’8 defenseman racked up 50 penalty minutes along with five points in 38 games in 2024-25. Caeden Herrington, a fourth-round pick in 2025, enters his freshman campaign at the University of Vermont. The offensive-minded defenseman recorded 34 points in 56 games in the USHL last year.

Rounding out the goalies will be Hampton Slukynsky. Sluksynsky will return to Western Michigan University after backstopping the program to an NCAA championship last year.

Juniors

The Kings will have seven prospects playing in the CHL, with all but one playing in the OHL. Will Sharpe, LA’s seventh-round pick this summer, will be playing in the WHL for the Kelowna Rockets.

The remaining six prospects will be playing in the OHL. Jan Chovan will be playing for the Sudbury Wolves. Jimmy Lombardi will play for the Flint Firebirds before attending the University of Michigan next season.

LA’s number-one prospect, Liam Greentree, isn’t eligible to play in the AHL until next season. It’s either return to the OHL or make the NHL. I expect him to return to the Windsor Spitfires for one more year, rather than make the NHL, before he is eligible to play in the AHL next year.

Defensemen Henry Brzustewicz and Jared Woolley will be teammates and possibly a defensive pair for the London Knights. They will try to help London three-peat as OHL champions. Netminder Carter George, like Greentree, isn’t eligible for the AHL for another year, so he will return to his junior team, the Owen Sound Attack. Expect him to be their number-one goalie.

AHL

A plethora of prospects will be in the AHL this year. Jack Hughes is the only one on an AHL contract after not signing his entry-level contract by the August 15th deadline. Among the forwards who are waiver-exempt are Kenny Connors, Aatu Jamsen, Kaleb Lawrence, Francesco Pinelli, Jared Wright, and Koehn Ziemmer.

The back end for the Reign will feature a lot of youth. Angus Booth and Jakub Dvořák will return for their second season with Ontario, while Otto Salin and Kirill Kirsanov will be playing their first full professional season in North America. As for the goalies, Erik Portillo should also be a lock to return to the AHL as well. He’ll be returning from an injury he suffered in February that prematurely ended his season.

Martin Chromiak, who has been in the Kings’ system since 2020, is also expected to join the Reign but will need to clear waivers to do so. Samuel Helenius and Andre Lee will be fighting for the 13th/14th forward spot on the depth chart for the Kings. If they were to be assigned to the Reign, they would also need to clear waivers.