Prospects Show Their Stuff At LA Kings Development Camp

By Guest Writer
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Updated: July 11, 2017

My good friend and colleague at LA Kings Road Talk Radio, the LA Kings’ Super Fan Augie Loya is back and is here to provide us with some insight of what he saw of our newest prospects at the recent LA Kings Development Camp, held at the Toyota Sports Center.

Alright Augie, take it away!

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The Los Angeles Kings held their 2017 Development Camp at the Toyota Sports Center from June 27th through June 30th. The camp roster includes players currently in the Kings system, players who have been drafted, but not signed by the Kings, prospects selected in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, and hockey hopefuls who are non-roster camp invitees.

The first 3 days of camp consisted of three separate morning ice sessions for forwards, defensemen and goaltenders. Then an evening session. The on-ice sessions were open to the public, but the dryland training sessions were not.

Four players that we really wanted to see were:
Gabriel Vilardi: 1st round (11th overall) in 2017 NHL Entry Draft

Bokondji Imama: Acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2017

Jaret Anderson-Dolan: 2nd round (41st overall) in 2017 NHL Entry Draft

Matt Villalta – 3rd round (72nd overall) in 2017 NHL Entry Draft

Gabriel Vilardi

Unfortunately, we did not see Vilardi on the ice as he is recovering from an injury, which was not deemed too serious, but significant enough to keep him off the ice. The Kingston, Ontario native watched the camp from the stands and conversed with Kings’ staff during the training sessions. For the record, the kid is definitely on the taller side of his 6’2” or 6’3” advertised height.

Bokondji Imama

This is an intriguing prospect for the Kings. Imama will be turning 21 years old in August, he stands over 6 feet tall and weights just above 200lbs. He has a certain presence about him on the ice, and worked hard on every drill that we watched him participate in. He needs more work to get to the NHL level but exhibited a good work ethic.

Jaret Anderson-Dolan

The thing that caught our eye about this 2^nd round draft pick was his conditioning. He was moving at the same speed during each drill that we saw him participate in. Can’t say that I ever saw him winded. His skating and edge work were relatively effortless. It was smooth speed without panic. Hard to believe that he is only 17 years old, and will be 18 when the 2017-18 season begins. Watching him grow, develop, and evolve will be a fun process for hockey fans.

Matt Villalta

When the #1 goalie on the big club is Jonathan Quick, there isn’t much room for another ‘tendy’ in the organization, right? Cue the LA Kings 2016-17 low-lights video and it will begin late in the first period of the Kings’ season opener at San Jose. I will spare you the details as we all now that event affected the season.

Villalta donned a red & white set-up and the Kings coaches had their video equipment recording the drills that goalies were being run through. The goaltenders were facing shots from non professional players so it was really hard to gauge anything truly meaningful from the drills other than the techniques being utilized by the players. Kings’ goaltending development coach Dusty Imoo demonstrated a few refinements to the four goalies, and we watched them attempt to execute the drills as desired by the Kings. One of them was guarding the post, and positioning the stick to maximize a goalie’s ability to either perform a poke-check, or a paddle save based on where the puck went. Very interesting to watch.

The Friday Scrimmage

This was our first look at the prospects in game situations. The players were fired up and it showed in their effort on the ice.

(Kings’ prospect Jacob Friend of the Owen Sound Attack. Photo Credit – Owen Sound Sun Times)

The most talked about event was a little skirmish between Jacob Friend and Evan Weigner. It all started at the beginning of a 4 on 4 drill where the puck ended up against the boards, and Friend put a hard check on Weigner as they were competing for control of the puck. It was the first significant hit that occurred during the scrimmage. This resulted in a minor scrap about 30 seconds later at center ice. No gloves were dropped, and it was more of a grappling match which didn’t require anyone to break-up. As a matter of fact, no one even intervened and the two players separated back to their respective benches.

I thought that was the end of it, but hockey players have long memories and it showed the very next time Friend and Weigner were on the ice. Weigner was controlling the puck behind the goaltender in his offensive zone, when he worked his way around one defender with a nifty move near the corner, then Friend re-introduced himself with a huge, yet clean, shoulder to shoulder hit that laid out Weigner!

To his credit, Weigner gathered himself up, got back into the play, and continued the shift until it was over.

After the camp was concluded, the Kings filed ATO (Amateur Try-Out) agreements for those two players, Evan Weinger and Clayton Kirichenko. ATO agreements are for players who are coming in from college and have never played at the professional level.

Addendum

Upon hearing the news regarding the Kings filing of ATOs for Evan Weigner and Clayton Kirichenko, I remembered what stood out to me in my observations of them during development camp.

Clayton Kirichenko

Kirichenko is a 21 year old defenseman measuring around 6’1” and weighing just under 200lbs. The former captain of the Medicine Hat Tigers in the Western Hockey League displayed first step quickness on the ice which stood out to me when he was working with the other players in his group. It will be interesting to see if his quickness continues to stand out when he is mixed in with elite level players.

Evan Weinger

(Eric Weigner – photo credit to Dayna Fjord/Portland Winterhawks)

Here is that name again. The recipient of the Chumbawamba “I Get Knocked Down and I Get Up Again” award that he earned courtesy of Jacob Friend. Aside from his toughness, Weigner showed some serious puck handling skills throughout the camp.

Friday’s scrimmage concluded with an overtime shootout scenario. Shootouts have been a source of concern with Kings fans as we don’t have any real specialists that can be counted on when a game gets to this stage.

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to this kid! Weigner has filthy moves and great hands. He completely undressed Jeremy Brodeur with great edge work and eventually put a backhanded shot that went bar down. Truly a beautiful goal that would have given any goaltender a hard time to stop.

Conclusion

When you see how good these players are and know that many of them will never be seen in the “the show”, it will make you appreciate how much skill, dedication, work ethic, and a little luck, that it takes to play at an elite level to make it to the NHL.

Augie Loya is a long time Los Angeles Kings fan, a photographer, a connoisseur of hockey jerseys, a former Pro Wrestler/Sports Entertainer and a co-host for LA Kings Road Talk Radio

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