Kings send Vojtech Cihar back to the WHL

The roster move went out Sunday night. The first version said OHL, and a corrected post minutes later fixed it to the WHL, which is where Cihar played last season.

The Mayor | Team MM

@mayorNHL

ROSTER MOVE LA Kings are sending 19-year-old forward Vojtech Cihar back to the WHL. He went to the Memorial Cup with Kelowna last season. Was a point-per-game player when he came to North America after the World Juniors. Then, Cihar started this season at AHL Ontario (1A, 8GP).

On paper, 1A in 8GP looks like a kid getting buried. Context matters, though. Cihar was the MVP of the 2026 World Juniors, putting up 12 points in 7 games as he dragged Czechia to a silver medal. Then he came over to Kelowna, the Memorial Cup host, and was a point-per-game player for the Rockets the rest of the way. The Kings had already locked him up on a 3-year entry-level deal. That's a lot of hype for a guy who just turned 19, and the Kings gave him a crack at the AHL to see if he could skip a step.

He couldn't, at least not yet. And the people who follow this team closest aren't panicking. The Kings' insiders say the AHL was never really the plan for him this season.

The Mayor | Team MM

@mayorNHL

Not a problem at all. We discussed several times on Future Considerations. Cihar wasn't really targeted for AHL this season. That's a TOUGH league for 19 yr olds. Org gave him a long look on the offhand he was ready. GM Ken Holland even followed the case closely. Kings love the player. 2025 second rounder has a very bright future.

Pierre Luc DuNothing

@thebig1five

@mayorNHL Doesn’t sound good

That's the right way to look at it. The AHL is grown men, a lot of them 25-year-old pros fighting for NHL jobs, and a skilled 19-year-old winger getting pushed around in his first 8 pro games is pretty normal. The org gave him a long look on the chance he was ready, Ken Holland reportedly kept close tabs on it, and they made the call. A 2025 second-rounder who already has a World Juniors MVP on his résumé isn't a guy the Kings are souring on.

Not everybody reads a demotion as a bad thing, either. One writer who covers the team called it a market correction, and honestly that's about as fair a take as you'll find.

Andrew Knoll

@AndrewKnollNHL

I actually like this move. Only saw a couple Reign games this year but he wasn't particularly visible. He had a meteoric rise last year, was bound to experience a little market correction. Can dominate while rounding out his game in the dub.

That's the bet: let him go dominate the dub, play big minutes, run the power play and work on the parts of his game that didn't show up in Ontario. That beats sitting him on the 4th line or in the press box with the Reign. What to watch now is how fast he starts filling up the scoresheet back in junior, and whether the Czechs lean on him again at the next World Juniors. If he lights it up, nobody will remember these 8 games. If he doesn't, this rise will look a lot more like a heater than a trend.