The Kings made a depth swap yesterday afternoon, bringing Kenny Connors up from the AHL’s Ontario Reign and sending Taylor Ward back down.
If Connors gets into a game, it would be his first NHL appearance since early March. The former 103rd overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft made his league debut last season and went scoreless in two games, finishing with a minus-1 rating while averaging 8:40 of ice time. He also chipped in one blocked shot and three hits.
Connors has shown more offense in the minors. Since turning pro last year, he has put up 16 goals and 48 points in 76 games, along with a plus-9 rating. Before that, the Glen Mills, PA, native totaled 26 goals and 77 points in 109 games over three seasons with the University of Massachusetts Minutemen.
Ward, 28, heads back to a situation he knows well. Unlike Connors and other frequent call-up candidate Jared Wright, Ward is not exempt from waivers. Los Angeles passed the undrafted forward through waivers before the 2026-27 campaign, and he is getting closer to needing them again for future assignments.
This season, Ward has played four games for the Kings, scoring once while averaging 9:26 of ice time. He’s produced similar numbers with AHL Ontario in a small sample, recording two goals and three points in four games.
The Kings are also hoping the need for these kinds of moves starts to fade soon. Mats Zuccarello is week-to-week with an upper-body injury, but Los Angeles should be only days away from getting Kevin Fiala and Alex Turcotte back on the active roster.
In Other News...
Kings Pipeline Faces Pressure As Reign Try To End Costly Slide
The Ontario Reign head into their meeting with the San Jose Barracuda trying to stop a four-game skid, and the timing matters for a Kings organization that has leaned on its AHL club to keep the pipeline moving. Recent roster movement has only added to the sense of churn, with Taylor Ward sent back to Ontario and Kenny Connors recalled to Los Angeles, leaving the Reign to sort out their next look while trying to steady a season that has started to wobble.
Aatu Jamsen and Henry Brzustewicz are among the names expected to shoulder more of the load as Ontario tries to get back on track, and the goaltending picture is changing too. The Reign are hoping for a more settled stretch in net, which would give the group a better chance to build some rhythm after a rough run and keep the Kings development track from getting any bumpier. [Read more 🡒]
Alex Turcotte Gives Kings Hope At A Brutal Time
Amid an early-season stretch already marked by injuries and uneven play, Alex Turcotte offered the Kings a small but meaningful sign of progress Tuesday by returning to full participation at team practice. The forward had been skating on his own before rejoining the group, a step forward after he landed on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury on Oct. 10.
For a team trying to steady itself while the lineup keeps shifting, any healthy body matters, especially one with Turcottes upside. The Kings still do not have a set timetable for his return to game action, so this is only a checkpoint for now, but it is the kind of development that can help ease some of the pressure around a bruised roster. [Read more 🡒]