slovak blueliner goljer drafted in second round by l.a. kings, 'excited' about playing in kingston next season
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kingston frontenacs defenceman andre mondoux (no. 25) marks ottawa 67's centre jasper kuhta (no. 22) in game 2 of the first-round playoff series at td place on march 29 in ottawa. mondoux was selected by the new york rangers in the sixth round of the 2026 nhl entry draft. (photo courtesy of by tim austen/ottawa 67's)
kingston frontenacs general manager kory cooper came away from the 2026 nhl entry draft in buffalo optimistic about the chances of import defenceman adam goljer landing in the team’s lineup next season.
after serving as the slovak captain and being selected the top blueliner at the world u18 championships this spring, goljer heard the los angeles kings call his name late in the second round saturday. goljer had been slotted as a late first-round pick in a few mock drafts ahead of the event. he had been down on the floor of the arena late friday night as the first round wrapped up.
the first order of business for cooper and coach troy mann in buffalo was firming up goljer’s commitment to play in kingston after the frontenacs selected him in last year’s canadian hockey league import draft.
“we met with goljer and his family and agent and everything seems positive,” cooper said monday. “he seems excited and really interested — he’ll be going to los angeles for their prospects camp, but his intention is to play in kingston next season. hopefully we can get him all signed up right after that.”
goljer’s excitement was communicated despite a language barrier. “he doesn’t speak english, so that’s something we’ll have to develop and help him with,” the gm said. “what we’ve learned is that with a young player in that situation, it’s important to have teammates of the same nationality. we had that with the finns, (tuomas) uronen and (emil) pieneniemi the season before last.”
next season, goljer would have two slovak teammates returning to the frontenacs lineup: left-winger alex misiak and centre tomas pobezal, the latter in his overage season. (a third teammate, left-winger robin kuzma, might be able to help out — his parents are from slovakia and the illinois native has picked up some language skills visiting his extended family in the old country.)
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“when we drafted goljer last year, i knew we were going to have some slovaks here and pobezal and misiak are great personalities, big parts of our team,” cooper said. ”they’ll be a big part of helping him adapt not just to the league, but the different lifestyle and culture here.”
two other players projected to be in the frontenacs’ lineup this fall were selected on saturday, both in the sixth round. first, the new york rangers selected defenceman andre mondoux 162nd overall and later goaltender matt minchak went to the vegas golden knights with the 191st pick. both were in their second year of draft eligibility.
mondoux had attended the philadelphia flyers’ rookie camp as a free-agent invitee — after an extended stay with the nhl camp, he didn’t sign with the flyers and thus stayed eligible for this year’s draft. minchak came to frontenacs’ training camp as a free-agent walk on — the new jersey native had previously played for the pittsburgh penguins under-18 team and hadn’t been picked in the ohl priority selection.
“we knew those organizations really liked the players and had high interests in them,” cooper said. “they both look like good fits for the players.”
mondoux’s and minchak’s selections also reflect well on the frontenacs’ program, cooper selected. “it just shows young players that given the right opportunity to play in the best development league and in front of the right people, these types of things happen,” cooper said.
three frontenacs who were eligible for the nhl draft last weekend will be heading to nhl development camps as undrafted free agents in coming days. left-winger alex mclain, acquired from guelph in mid-season, will be going to the pittsburgh’s camp, while goaltender gavin betts received an invite to tampa bay’s. winger nolan buttar will be joining goljer at the los angeles kings’ camp.
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“it might turn out to be a bit of an advantage for those three not to get drafted and get free-agent invitations,” cooper said. “they can get to those camps and showcase what they can do.”
gjoyce@postmedia.com
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