The Kings have signed four players to two-way contracts, the team announced in a news release Wednesday, a day after the opening of free agency.
Defenseman Samuel Bolduc joined forwards Logan Brown, Cole Guttman and Taylor Ward among those inking new pacts. Ward, 27, re-signed after spending all or part of the past four seasons with the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League, where he’ll ply his trade for at least one more year now.
Bolduc is a 6-foot-4, 225-pound left defenseman with 52 games of NHL experience, including one last season. The 24-year-old effectively replaced Caleb Jones, another NHL-AHL tweener, after he signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bolduc spent his entire career in the New York Islanders’ system, including last season, which he spent mostly with their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport. He, like Brown and Ward, agreed to a one-year deal.
Guttman, 26, is a University of Denver product and won an NCAA championship with the Pioneers. Though the Northridge native was a draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, he’s played his entire career in the Chicago Blackhawks organization. He has 14 points in 41 NHL games with Chicago, but spent all of last season on the North Side with the Blackhawks’ affiliate in Rockford. He signed a two-year deal with the Kings.
Brown, 27, was once a lottery pick, drafted 11th overall in 2016 by the Ottawa Senators ahead of the likes of Boston’s Charlie McAvoy and Washington’s Jakob Chychrun. Brown has 99 games of NHL experience between stretches with the Senators and St. Louis Blues.
He missed the entire 2023-24 season after undergoing hip surgery. Last season, he rebounded brilliantly with his best AHL campaign to date. He was not offered a contract after his professional tryout with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but remained with their affiliate in Syracuse, where he put up 29 points in 33 games.