The Kings signed three players to two-way contracts, both the Kings and their minor-league affiliate the Ontario Reign announced Friday in simultaneous news releases.
Defenseman Kaleb Lawrence, the Kings’ 2022 seventh-round draft selection; defenseman Joe Hicketts, who tied Brandt Clarke for the Reign team lead in postseason scoring by a blue-liner; and forward Taylor Ward, who has played two full seasons and part of a third in Ontario since finishing his NCAA career, were all signed to two-way deals.
Lawrence’s is an entry-level pact spanning three years that’s worth up to $852,500 per season. Both Hicketts and Ward are minor-league veterans at ages 28 and 26, respectively, and inked one-year agreements worth up to $775,000.
Lawrence, 21, scored the same 37 points he posted last season, with his most recent campaign split between two junior clubs and consisting of eight more games than it did in 2022-23. That’s still respectable offense for a two-way rearguard whose calling cards are his size and reach, at 6-foot-7 and 230 pounds. He deepens an area of suspect organizational depth, left defense, for the Kings.
Ward spent four years at the University of Nebraska-Omaha before joining the Reign. In his second full season, the former Mavericks’ point total jumped from 26 to 32 and his plus-minus rating catapulted from minus-20 to plus-23 in his second pro season.
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Hicketts, like Ward, was an undrafted free agent, initially in the Detroit Red Wings system and later in that of the Minnesota Wild. This past season was his first in Ontario and he notched 20 points in 30 games. At 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds, Hicketts has long had to surmount a size disadvantage, which he has offset with mobility and elusiveness.
While none of the trio project to be in the Kings’ lineup next season, General Manager Rob Blake said Thursday that he had been talking to all of the Kings’ rostered free agents, albeit without any significant progress at this point. The Kings did re-sign goaltender David Rittich to a one-year extension.
