Photo by Northwest, CC BY-SA 4.0
Alex Turcotte
Los Angeles Kings Center #15
The fifth pick in 2019, six years on, still trying to prove he belongs in an NHL lineup.
| Season | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 62 | 3 | 11 | 14 | -8 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67 | 4.5 | 10:50 |
| Career | 162 | 13 | 30 | 43 | +1 | 54 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 175 | 7.4 | 10:57 |
Last Season
Three goals and 14 points in 62 games on under eleven minutes a night. Across 162 career games he has 43 points. For the fifth-overall pick, six years in, those are hard numbers to read any other way.
The Finesse Game
The skill that made him a top-five pick has not translated. He is a capable puck-mover in the neutral zone and a willing forechecker, but he does not create chances at NHL pace and the finishing has never come — 67 shots produced three goals.
What he does have is a competent defensive game. He takes faceoffs, he is responsible without the puck, and he does not get scored on much for a fourth-line centre.
The Physical Game
Five-eleven and 195 and he plays hard. Injuries took large pieces out of his development years, which is a real part of this story and not an excuse anyone needs to make for him.
The Intangibles
He works, by every account, and he has stayed in the league on that basis rather than on production. He is twenty-five, which is late for a breakout but not impossible for a centre.
The realistic projection now is a fourth-line centre who kills penalties. That is a career, and it is a long way from what the fifth pick is supposed to be.