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In an interesting turn of events, Kings rookie forward Dwight King appears to have signed a minor league contract with the Manchester Monarchs of the AHL.

MayorsManor has confirmed he is in Manchester today. However, he is not scheduled to play tonight in their home opener vs. the Providence Bruins. They have another home game tomorrow night vs. Portland, yet it’s not immediately known if he’ll make his season debut in that game or will be held out until next weekend vs. Worcester.

King was one of the heroes for LA during their run to the 2012 Stanley Cup Championship, scoring five goals in the post-season – matching his output after being called up for the final 27 games of the regular season.

Most recently, King had been training with the Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League during the ongoing NHL lockout.

Last season, King started the year in Manchester and posted 29 points (11 goals, 18 assists) over 50 games played. In 2010-11, his first full season in the AHL, he recorded 24 goals in 72 games.

The 6-foot-3 forward was originally selected by the Kings in the fourth round of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft and played his junior hockey with the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Apparently, by being part of the Monarchs ‘Clear Day roster‘ last season, King was eligible to sign an AHL-only contract right now. However, why this is happening today vs. during training camp is still unclear.

Regardless, it’s been confirmed by team personnel that he’ll be officially signing his contract later this afternoon. Because there are no roster limits in the AHL, the Monarchs won’t need to make a subsequent player move prior to King skating in his first game.

In related news from earlier in the week – Jordan Nolan broke his finger in a fight on opening night for the Monarchs. You can watch highlights of their most recent game here and of Nolan’s fight here.

UPDATE – Here’s our all new interview with King regarding how it all came together and why now

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