After beginning his junior hockey career in the Western Hockey League with the Kootenay Ice, the 18-year-old has been dealt to the Spokane Chiefs. King was swapped for a 2020 fifth round draft pick. Originally a seventh round pick, King has upped his value with two seasons of Western League play.
He has collected 10 goals and 24 points in two seasons with Kootenay, and has improved his defensive play after a shaky rookie campaign. Finishing his first season with the Ice in 2016-17, King – a solid bottom-six forward – was instructed to focus on his defending, and turned his -29 plus/minus to a +2 the following year – the best among all Kootenay skaters.
Although playing on a team with fellow Manitobans Brett Davis, Colton Veloso and Vinco Loshiavo – at least for the first half of the season before Loschiavo’s mid-season trade to Moose Jaw – the Ice failed to make the WHL playoffs for the third-straight season. King should find a fresh start in Spokane with a team that finished the 2017-18 season 41-25-6.
King played his bantam and midget hockey out of Gateway Arena with the Winnipeg Sharks and Thrashers, where he put up 23 goals and 48 points for the bantam Sharks and another five goals and 16 points for the Thrashers in midget.
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