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The Los Angeles Kings announced their opening night roster ahead of tomorrow’s home opener against the Vegas Golden Knights, featuring 14 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies.

The full roster is listed below:


FORWARDS (14): Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Viktor Arvidsson, Quinton Byfield, Phillip Danault, Kevin Fiala, Carl Grundstrom, Alex Iafallo, Arthur Kaliyev, Adrian Kempe, Anze Kopitar, Brendan Lemieux, Blake Lizotte, Trevor Moore, Gabriel Vilardi

DEFENSE (7): Mikey Anderson, Brandt Clarke, Drew Doughty, Sean Durzi, Alex Edler, Matt Roy and Sean Walker

GOALIES (2): Cal Petersen, Jonathan Quick


Up front, Rasmus Kupari was assigned to the AHL, after spending the majority of the 2021-22 season with the Kings, while Lias Andersson cleared waivers earlier this week. A key reason for Kupari being sent down rather than Anderson-Dolan likely had to do with him being exempt from waivers, while Anderson-Dolan was not. Vilardi also had a really strong preseason, with four goals in his last three preseason games, earning his roster spot.

The roster comes in pretty much as expected, with one notable difference being on the blue line. Tobias Bjornfot was assigned to the AHL’s Ontario Reign this week, after playing 70 games with the Kings last season. Meanwhile, Brandt Clarke has made the opening night roster after a strong preseason, despite a logjam on the right side of the Kings’ defense group. One issue with cutting Clarke would be that he’d have to return to the OHL, which arguably wouldn’t be ideal for his development. So for now, the Kings can use the nine-game trial run before burning a year of Clarke’s entry-level contract, but we’ll see what the larger plan is for the year.

So the Kings’ roster does look quite similar to last season, with a big story to watch being the team’s young talent continuing to develop. With the likes of Anderson, Anderson-Dolan, Byfield, Durzi, Kaliyev and Vilardi all still relatively young, it’ll be great to see them (among others) continue to progress.



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