The Kings have re-signed goaltender Pheonix Copley to a one-year contract worth $775,000, per a news release from the team on Monday.

Copley, 33, spent last season with the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Ontario Reign, playing 42 regular-season games and a pair of playoff contests. He was effectively the parent club’s No. 3 goaltender. He served in an emergency capacity and made one relief appearance, with 2025 Vezina finalist Darcy Kuemper and pending unrestricted free agent David Rittich sitting ahead of him on the depth chart.

His 2023-24 season had seen him start the year with the Kings in a backup role behind then-starter Cam Talbot. But early-campaign underperformance slid Copley into the same role in which he entered the Kings organization a year earlier before he sustained a midseason knee injury that required reconstructive surgery and lengthy recovery time.

That 2022-23 campaign was where Copley established his value to the organization, rising from the ashes of what were essentially four full years in the minors with the Washington Capitals.

Amid a disastrous effort from Cal Petersen and a subpar one from an aging Jonathan Quick, Copley’s call-up calmed the storm in net with a sparkling 24-6-3 record. His performance stabilized the Kings and allowed them to make the postseason, by which time trade pickup Joonas Korpisalo supplanted Copley.

The North Pole, Alaska, native and Michigan Tech alumnus broke into the NHL with the St. Louis Blues before heading to Washington, where his 27 appearances in 2018-19 established a career high until 22-23, when Copley occupied the net 37 times for the Kings.

While the Kings have Erik Portillo, Carter George and Hampton Slukynsky in their goaltending pipeline, Copley and Kuemper are presently their only two netminders under contract with significant NHL experience.

Kings’ Kempe, Fiala make Olympic teams

Kings wingers Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala were named to their respective nations’ men’s ice hockey selections for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, where Kempe will represent Sweden and Fiala will skate for Switzerland.

Each of the 12 qualifying nations announced its initial six players for the tournament on Monday, making Kempe and Fiala headliners of what were already exclusive groups.

Kempe joined defensemen Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo Sabres) and Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay Lightning) as well as fellow forwards Gabriel Landeskog (Colorado Avalanche), William Nylander (Toronto Maple Leafs) and Lucas Raymond (Detroit Red Wings).

Kempe, Dahlin, Hedman, Nylander and Raymond all donned yellow and blue during the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, a tune-up for the Olympics that saw NHL pros in best-on-best international competition for the first time since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

The previous two Olympics, 2018 in Korea and 2022 in China, were played without NHLPA members due to myriad complications between the NHL, IOC and IIHF.

Landeskog missed nearly three full seasons due to knee injuries and related complications, but after returning for the Colorado Avalanche during this spring’s playoffs, he figures to bring leadership, physicality and skill with the Tre Kronor emblazoning his chest.

Kempe will represent Sweden for the sixth time at the senior level, most notably having been part of the 2018 side that captured gold at the World Championships.

“He’s really a utility guy, you can plug him in each and every role. He’s played alongside Anže Kopitar for years in L.A., and he excels on both sides of the ice. His skating is a weapon,” Swedish general manager Josef Boumedienne said during the season. “We see him as a guy we can plug in in each and every role. He can kill penalties, be on the power play and is heavy down low in the offensive zone.”

Fiala is coming off two consecutive trips to the World Championship final with Switzerland, which will host that tournament next season following the Olympics. The Swiss lost in this past year’s final to the United States, and to Czechia in the tournament prior.

Those were two of Fiala’s three silver medals in red and white, with Fiala frequently representing his homeland and joining Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi as the faces of the sport in Switzerland.

The Swiss did not participate in 4 Nations, but that familiar duo will be joined in neighboring Italy by Winnipeg Jets winger Nino Niederreiter and three New Jersey Devils: Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Jonas Siegenthaler.

Most prominent among other Kings who could head to Italy when the final rosters for the 12 national teams are revealed is defenseman Drew Doughty, who skated for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Pending unrestricted free agent Vladislav Gavrikov, who won a gold medal in 2018 as part of the Olympics Athletes from Russia delegation, would likely have participated if Russia were not banned from competing due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Three Ducks named to Olympic teams

The Ducks will be represented by at least three players at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.

There, Lukáš Dostál and Radko Gudas will reprise their roles from their 2024 World Championship triumph for Czechia while prospect Damian Clara will man the net for host nation Italy.

Dostál made an immense leap forward last season for the Ducks, when he routinely saved goals above expected as the team’s most outstanding and most consistent player. Gudas took a step back on the blue line from his superb first season on Katella Ave., but also assumed the role of captain for the first time, continued to deepen his community presence and played through injuries.

Both men participated in Czechia’s gold-medal victory on home soil in the spring of 2024, when Dostál dominated the tournament, including a shutout in the final and another in the quarterfinal round. Gudas contributed to that excellence as part of the Czech defense corps, and the team effort even extended beyond the ice.

“It was a very special moment for our team and for our country as well. We haven’t been able to do that in, I think, 40 years,” Gudas said. “Everybody in the Czech Republic was cheering for us and it got the whole country together rooting for one thing.”

For Dostál, it was a springboard toward a season that established him as an NHL starter and may make him a wealthy man as he negotiates a new contract during his pending restricted free agency. He edged out a pair of more established NHL netminders for the gig in goal last spring.

“Getting the chance, being the youngest, people might have thought I might not be able to handle it, but I really wanted to prove everybody wrong, to show that ‘I’m here, I’m ready,’” Dostál said.

Clara, a 20-year-old prospect goaltender whose journey has taken him from Italy to Austria to Sweden to San Diego, will almost assuredly be the lone North American pro among the Italians.

“I hope I can give my best for the team and give my best for the nation,” Clara said.

With competition opening up beyond the traditional seven or so powers in ice hockey, the Italians hope to join the Swiss, Germans and other rising European sides. While Clara said he felt the program had ground to cover to close the gap on even those up-and-comers, he was enthused at some talent in the pipeline and hoped to be an exemplar within the program.

“I hope I can be a little bit of a role model in that you don’t have to start out big, you just have to go somewhere, try your luck and give it your all,” Clara said. “I know I’m not supposed to be here, given where I came from.”