2023 Rookie Faceoff Details Announced, Kings in Vegas September 15 – 18

Some information, Insiders!

Yesterday, the Vegas Golden Knights announced the schedule for the 2023 Rookie Faceoff, which will take place from September 15 – 18 in Nevada. Games will be split between City National Arena and The Dollar Loan Center, with the tournament returning to Vegas for the second time ever, the first since it hosted the inaugural edition of the event back in 2018. That tournament preceded the existence of the Henderson Silver Knights, with the entire event five years ago taking place at City National Arena. This year, the host team will play its games at the 5,500-seat arena, which is home to the AHL club.

The LA Kings schedule for the games is as follows –

September 15 – LAK vs. SJS, 1:00 PM, City National Arena
September 16 – LAK vs. ARI, 3:30 PM, City National Arena
September 18 – LAK vs. ANA, 12:30 PM, City National Arena

The Kings will take on San Jose, Arizona and Anaheim over the four days, with all games coming as matinees. The Kings will begin the event on Friday, September 15 against San Jose, as the opening game of the weekend for all teams. They’ll take on Arizona the following afternoon – Saturday, September 16 – with a 3:30 PM pick drop in what will be the earlier of two games played. After an off day on Sunday, which will likely include a practice and a team-building activity, the Kings will take on Anaheim on Monday, September 18 at 12:30 PM, the middle game of the final day.

The Kings roster for this event will be composed mostly of players who attended development camp earlier this month at Toyota Sports Performance Center, though there is a complicating factor this season that was not present in years past. The Kings will be heading to Australia to open their 2023 NHL Training Camp and there will likely be some crossover between this event and when the team departs. Therefore, should the Kings want to see any of their younger players skating alongside their veterans at that stage of camp – Brandt Clarke, perhaps – they would not be able to include those players on their roster for the Rookie Faceoff. Decisions will need to be made on that front, so we could see a roster that is less experienced compared to say last season, when players like Quinton Byfield and Jordan Spence were on the roster with NHL games.

Should they not be with Australia group during camp, which at least a couple of these players could be, more known prospects such as Francesco Pinelli, Martin Chromiak, Alex Laferriere, Erik Portillo and Koehn Ziemmer would be eligible to participate. Players like Kenny Connors, Jack Hughes and Ben Meehan will not be eligible to participate, as they play in the NCAA and school is in session in mid-September. For guys like Kasper Simontaival, Jakub Dvorak and Aatu Jamsen, who are scheduled to play overseas this season, their participation would be unknown. They are eligible to play in September, but European professional seasons start earlier than here in North America. Sometimes, those players remain with their clubs, sometimes they come over. Time will tell. Either way, there should be a ton of drafted players suiting up with the Kings over that weekend, including several prospects of interest. Rounding out the roster will be camp invitees and Ontario Reign contracted players.

The full event schedule is as follows –

Friday, Sept. 15
Game 1 – SJS vs. LAK, 1 p.m. PT, City National Arena (Summerlin Hospital Rink)
Game 2 – ARI vs. COL, 3:30 p.m. PT, City National Arena (GHOST Energy Rink)
Game 3 – ANA vs. VGK, 7 p.m. PT, The Dollar Loan Center

Saturday, Sept. 16
Game 1 – LAK vs. ARI, 3:30 p.m. PT, City National Arena (Summerlin Hospital Rink)
Game 2 – VGK vs. SJS, 7 p.m. PT, The Dollar Loan Center

Sunday, Sept. 17
Game 1 – COL vs. ANA, 1 p.m. PT, City National Arena (Summerlin Hospital Rink)

Monday, Sept. 18
Game 1 – ARI vs. SJS, 10 a.m. PT, City National Arena (Summerlin Hospital Rink)
Game 2 – ANA vs. LAK, 12:30 p.m. PT, City National Arena (GHOST Energy Rink)
Game 3 – COL vs. VGK, 3 p.m. PT, City National Arena (Summerlin Hospital Rink)

Expect to see the rookies practice for a day or two preceding the Rookie Faceoff as well, which will come at Toyota Sports Performance Center before the team flies out to Nevada. Typically one or two days here before the tournament gets underway.

As far as what’s to come, we’ll see a roster at some point down the road for this event, as well as further details regarding training camp in the fall.