The Kings have signed goaltender and 2024 second-round pick Carter George to a three-year, entry-level contract with an annual average value of up to $875,000, the team announced Thursday.
George, 18, will return to his junior club, the Ontario Hockey League’s Owen Sound Attack, for next season. Last year, he led the OHL with four shutouts.
He not only backstopped Owen Sound to a playoff berth, he also went 6-0-0 en route to a gold medal at the Under-18 World Championships. He represented Canada and held his squad in the gold-medal game as they rallied from a two-goal deficit against Team USA. George also won gold with Canada at the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup.
The native of Thunder Bay, Ontario, has excelled academically as well, including being named the OHL’s Scholastic Player of the Year. Between the pipes, his competitiveness and puck-handling leap off the screen.
Taken No. 57 overall in June, George was the highest selection for a Kings goalie since they took Christopher Gibson 49th overall in 2011. That was no coincidence, as the Kings developed a risk-averse philosophy that avoided goalies in the top 60 picks.
The Kings had limited luck developing the netminding prospects they did pick, with undrafted free agents like Martin Jones and Cal Petersen leapfrogging their selections on the organizational depth chart. Over the past year, general manager Rob Blake and his staff have finally replenished the pipeline.
In addition to drafting George, last summer the Kings traded for University of Michigan star Erik Portillo and also selected Hampton Slukynsky in the fourth round. Blake has said he felt confident Portillo could develop into a No. 1 option. Slukynsky went from a lesser-known commodity to a relatively hot one after he and a stacked Fargo Force roster won the United States Hockey League championship.
George currently sits between those two prospects in terms of both his NHL ETA and his long-term potential. Slukynsky’s profile – aggressive, athletic and powerful in his lower body – fits that of Kings icon Jonathan Quick. There are also parallels between Quick and George. Quick made George, the son of a former goalie and high-level curler, a Kings fan all the way up in Northern Ontario.
