TOP 10 QUESTIONS: LA KINGS TRAINING CAMP FINAL UPDATE w/ HOLLAND & HILLER MEDIA
Training Camp has officially come to an end as the LA Kings announced their 2025-25 Season Opening roster.
Before the season begins and we take a look at the Top 10 Questions facing the Kings in the 2025-26 season let’s take a final look back at the 10 Questions from Training Camp and set the stage for the new season.
During training camp there were some very candid public comments made by team management.
First Ken Holland spoke to Season Ticket Members.
The same day, Head Coach Jim Hiller spoke to the assembled media after practice about the same time that Ken Holland was speaking to the fans.
Now let’s take a look back at the 10 Questions for training camp and what we may or may not have learned.
QUESTION ONE:Which goalies will go to which teams?
What seemed like a straightforward and simple question turned out to be anything but as the Tampa Bay Lightning claimed Pheonix Copley off the waiver wire on October 2nd.
With Copley no longer a part of the organization, the Kings are left with a decision to make about who will play with Erik Portillo in Ontario. As of the evening of October 6th, the Kings are starting the season with Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg in LA while Erik Portillo, Isaiah Saville and Mattias Sholl are all attending Ontario Reign training camp. Unlike the NHL, the AHL has no roster limit so there is no way to know for certain which goaltender (if any) will be assigned to Greenville to start the season.
QUESTION TWO: How will the goaltenders work be split up during exhibition games?
The LA Kings used Carter George, Erik Portillo, Pheonix Copley in one game each with Anton Forsberg and Darcy Kuemper each playing in two games.
QUESTION THREE: With an additional open roster spot, who saw their odds of making the club rise?
QUESTION FOUR: Who is on the fourth line to start the season with Corey Perry out?
The Kings Season Opening Roster only contains 22 players (13 forwards, 7 defensemen, 2 goalies) with Kyle Burroughs and Corey Perry both on Injured Reserve to start the season.
Liam Greentree was loaned to the Windsor Spitfires on Oct. 1st and Jeff Malott was the presumptive “winner” in the battle for the “extra” roster spot.
For now.
QUESTION FIVE: Will any prospects get a real chance to earn a contract / play in the NHL?
The season still has 82 games to go but at least in training camp no prospects played well enough to merit any notable “promotions”.
QUESTION SIX: How many defensemen will the team start the season with?
The LA Kings Season Opening Roster has seven defensemen on it.
HOWEVER… Kyle Burroughs was placed on Injured Reserve on October 5th and would presumably have been on the roster had he not. So I’m saying it’s eight defensemen and you can fight me about it if you want.
QUESTION SEVEN: What will the D-Pairs be to start the season?
The sample size for the Kings complete roster is way too small to know for certain BUT the Kings dressed all 6 “expected” defensemen for the final preseason game against the Ducks at Crypto Dot Com Arena and the pairs were as expected.
QUESTION EIGHT: Will the Top-9 be the same as the end of last season?
Assuming full health… It certainly looks that way.
But you know what happens when you assume don’t you?
QUESTION NINE: Will be top PP unit run with four forwards or five forwards?
There are some phrases that get used to often in certain areas that it almost physically hurts to use them and YET… here we are. SMALL SAMPLE SIZE *cringe* it looks like the Kings will start the season with a 5 forward configuration for the first power play unit (Kopitar, Kempe, Fiala, Byfield, Kuzmenko) and two defenseman (Doughty and Clarke) on the second unit.
QUESTION TEN: Will Adrian Kempe sign an extension before the season begins?
No.
The saga continues…
