The Kings signed their 2024 first-round pick, forward Liam Greentree, to a three-year, entry-level contract, the team announced in Saturday’s news release.
The contract will be worth as much as $975,000 per campaign before any performance bonuses.
Greentree, 18, will likely return to his junior club, the Windsor Spitfires, next season. He became Windsor’s captain last year and burst out with 90 points.
That total was 24 points greater than his next most productive teammate, which Kings scouting director Mark Yannetti described as “creating (offense) almost in its entirety.” Greentree is also physically mature, already sprouting to 6-foot-2 and filling out to around 215 pounds.
“He has a high level of skill and he also has a big frame, so when he creates that depth with the puck, when he’s handling the puck in traffic, there’s a heaviness and a protection element that a smaller skill guy doesn’t have,” Yannetti told reporters. “He’s got the skill of a smaller guy and he’s got the body of a bigger guy.”
Yannetti said that, like most players his age, Greentree needed to find more consistency, especially when it came to his forays into the better-protected areas of the ice. However, Greentree could also create from the perimeter and, on the frequent occasions he did drive the net, he had the tools to capitalize in that coveted territory.
“He’s got a wicked shot, he gets to the scoring areas, the hard areas, where his shot becomes even more dangerous,” Yannetti said. “He scores in the periphery as well, but he isn’t just hanging out there.”
Greentree has already represented Canada at two international tournaments. He scored four points in seven games at the Under-18 World Junior Championships, where Canada won gold. Greentree also triumphed with Canada at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, where he had one point in three contests.
Earlier this month, he participated in the Kings’ development camp for the first time, impressing during this year’s condensed, three-day camp.
He’ll almost certainly return to Windsor, where he’ll again don the “C,” look to improve his skating and be counted on to lead what should be a stronger roster.
“Next year I’m going to take on more of a leadership role as well, and next year we’re going to be better for sure,” Greentree told reporters at the draft.
