The LA Kings announced today the roster and on-ice schedule for the 2023 Rookie Faceoff that will take place from Friday, September 15 through Monday, September 18 hosted by the Vegas Golden Knights. Each of the three Kings games will be played at City National Arena in Summerlin, Nev. The 27-player roster, which features 15 forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders, can be found here.
The roster features nine players returning from last year’s tournament, highlighted by 2021 second-round draft pick Francesco Pinelli (42nd overall) who led all Kitchener Rangers (OHL) skaters in goals (41) and points (41-49=90) last season to become the eighth Kitchener skater in the last 20 years to record a 90-point season. In total, 12 Kings draft picks will be participating in this year’s tournament, including a pair of 2023 draft picks, defenseman Jakob Dvorak (54th overall) and forward Koehn Ziemmer (78th overall).
Six members of the roster suited up for all or parts of this past season with the Ontario Reign, the Kings’ primary American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, including forwards Martin Chromiak (128th overall, 2020), Samuel Helenius (59th overall, 2021), Alex Laferriere (83rd overall, 2020), Andre Lee (188th overall, 2019) and defensemen Cole Krygier (201st overall, 2018 via FLA) and Kim Nousiainen (119th overall, 2019). Additionally, goaltender Erik Portillo (67th overall, 2019 via BUF) signed with the Reign last season but has yet to make his professional debut.
The annual rookie tournament is a four-day event where six NHL clubs send their top prospects to compete against one another. In addition to the Kings, three teams from the Pacific Division (Anaheim, San Jose and Vegas) and two from the Central Division (Arizona and Colorado) will be participating.
The tournament will consist of nine games with each team playing three times. The Kings’ schedule is as follows:
Friday, September 15 vs. San Jose at 1:00 p.m. PT, City National Arena (Summerlin Hospital Rink)
Saturday, September 16 vs. Arizona at 3:30 p.m. PT, City National Arena (Summerlin Hospital Rink)
Monday, September 18 vs. Anaheim at 12:30 p.m. PT, City National Arena (GHOST Energy Rink)
The Kings rookies will skate prior to the tournament on Thursday, September 14, at 10 a.m. and following the tournament on Tuesday, September 19 at 9:45 a.m. at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo, Calif. as part of the team’s Rookie Camp. A full tournament schedule, along with ticketing and streaming information, can be found here. All Kings games will be live streamed on LAKings.com.
