The Kings and winger Samuel Fagemo have agreed to a one-year contract extension worth $775,000, the team announced in a news release on Monday.
Fagemo joined forward Alex Turcotte among the Kings’ 2019 draftees to re-sign with the club in recent days. Fagemo was a second-round selection in that draft, the fourth player taken by the Kings that year after Turcotte, the departed Tobias Bjornfot and the likely soon-to-depart Arthur Kaliyev.
Fagemo divided last season between the Kings, their top minor-league affiliate (the Ontario Reign) and the Nashville Predators. Fagemo was waived by the Kings, claimed by Nashville and then waived by the Predators before being claimed anew by the Kings.
That move proved extremely fortuitous for the Reign as Fagemo, in just 50 games, set single-season franchise records for goals (43), power-play goals (19) and game-winning goals (10) in 2023-24.
Fagemo also offers a right-handed-shooting option for a Kings team that was comprised almost exclusively of left-shooting forwards. Alex Laferriere is the only right-shooting player currently under contract with both Viktor Arvidsson and Trevor Lewis currently being pending unrestricted free agents.
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They’re part of a group of free agents up front that also includes Blake Lizotte, Carl Grundstrom, Kaliyev and Quinton Byfield. Of those, only Byfield has considerable certainly to re-sign, leaving opportunity for some combination of Fagemo, Turcotte and Akil Thomas to stick on the main roster as regulars.
Fagemo made his Kings debut in 2021-22, playing the same four games he did for the Kings and for Nashville last season. In 2022-23 he was expected to challenge for a roster spot but lost a training-camp battle to Gabriel Vilardi, and played a modest nine games for the Kings later that season. In 21 total NHL appearances, Fagemo has recorded three goals and an assist.