Okay, Kingfish. Let’s See What You’ve Got.
I think this team can win 30 games.
There. We have a prediction somebody can bring back up in April.
The Kingfish have enough interesting pieces to make me optimistic. There are familiar players who have already produced in Baton Rouge, newcomers with experience in higher leagues, and an ownership group with a connection to three straight championships in Binghamton. There are also questions, starting with who stops the puck and how quickly a new coach gets everybody working together.
Let’s start with the guys people here already know.
Tyler Larwood led the Zydeco with 39 points last season. Narek Aleksanyan had 38. Jake Cox had 37, including 15 goals in 49 games. That is the team’s top three scorers, and all three appear on the Kingfish preseason roster. They deserve a pretty big part of this conversation.
Cox is someone I expect to benefit from having more scoring threats around him. Opponents have more people to worry about, and Soper has more options for putting lines together. That could help Cox find better opportunities, although more talent also means more competition for power play time.
Larwood gives you a player who has already shown he can contribute here. I expect him to remain an important part of the offense. Aleksanyan belongs in that group too. Put them alongside the additions, and you can start imagining a team that gets scoring from several lines.
Dawson McKinney is one of those additions worth getting excited about. He scored 25 goals for Knoxville in 2024–25 and had 16 points in 24 games there last season. I could see him challenging for the Kingfish goal scoring lead if he spends the season here.
Ryan Olsen brings 324 games of AHL experience. That gets my attention. He also put up 39 points in 50 games for Kassel in Germany in 2024–25. There is plenty on that résumé to suggest he can make a difference.
The thing I’ll watch with Olsen is discipline. He received a four game suspension in Germany last March for a boarding incident. That is a reason to pay attention to how he manages his physical game here. Baton Rouge needs his skill available when a close game is there to be won.
Jimmy Soper gets to sort all of this out in his first professional head coaching job. He captained Knoxville during its run to the 2025 SPHL finals, so he brings recent experience in a successful dressing room. Making the decisions behind the bench will be a new test.
I expect some nights when the lines click and some nights when everybody looks like they met in the parking lot. That is part of what makes this team interesting. How quickly can Soper turn a promising collection of players into a reliable team?
There is another thing I want to see before getting too carried away: what happens beyond the familiar names?
The rookies and fringe players matter. Can Soper trust them with a defensive shift? Can they move the puck under pressure? If somebody gets hurt or gets an opportunity in another league, who is ready to take those minutes?
There is also some uncertainty about the rookie rule. The minimum reportedly went away for this season, but that still needs confirmation before we start deciding who has to dress.
If that reported change is correct, it gives Soper more freedom to dress experienced players. It also makes earning a place harder for rookies. Either way, a long list of offseason names is not the same thing as a settled lineup. Finding a couple of less experienced players who can handle regular minutes would make me a lot more comfortable with this team.
A lot of the answer is going to come from the crease.
Last season’s listed save percentages for Bailey Stephens and Ed Coffey were .891 and .885. You cannot separate those numbers from the chances the defense allowed. Still, Baton Rouge needs better results at that end of the rink.
Noah Giesbrecht gives me some hope. He posted a .932 save percentage in seven SPHL appearances and .902 in nine appearances for Savannah in the ECHL last season. Those are small samples, but there is something there to work with. I would give him the early edge to earn the biggest share of starts, assuming he is available here.
My goalie prediction is pretty simple: Giesbrecht has a chance to be one of the biggest reasons this team improves. But I want to see consistent play over several weekends before calling the position a strength. Kyle Soper’s SPHL experience should help on defense, and the whole team needs to limit the easy chances around the net.
Then there is this schedule.
Baton Rouge has only nine home games through January 2 on the league’s published schedule. The next home date is February 20. Nineteen of the 28 home games fall on February 20 or later.
That is a long time to ask people to wait between trips downtown.
It also means we should be careful about judging this team too early. If the Kingfish can stay in the race through the travel, they will get plenty of chances to make up ground at home. I expect their best stretch to come later in the season, when the players have had time together and the schedule finally brings them back to Baton Rouge regularly.
So what am I calling?
Thirty wins. A playoff spot. I lean toward second in the Delta Division, with third a very believable outcome too. With three of the division’s four teams qualifying, making the playoffs should be an expectation for this roster. Winning once they get there is the next question.
That prediction depends on the main pieces staying here and the goaltending holding up. I would feel better about it after seeing the final roster and a few weekends of hockey.
But there is enough here to be interested. Cox, Larwood and Aleksanyan give the team familiar production. McKinney and Olsen give the offense more possibilities. Giesbrecht could make a real difference in goal.
The Kingfish name will get people talking. Now let’s see if this team can give us something worth arguing about in April.