The Los Angeles Kings have traded defenseman Jordan Spence of Manly, Australia to the Ottawa Senators according to Rogers Sportsnet on Saturday. In return, the Kings received a third round pick, 67th overall, in the 2025 National Hockey League Entry Draft and a sixth round draft pick in the 2026 National Hockey League Entry Draft. Interestingly, the third round pick ended up going to the Carolina Hurricanes. They selected defenseman Kurban Limatov of Moscow, Russia. Limatov played last season with MHC Dynamo Moscow, the junior hockey league affiliate of HC Dynamo Moscow, one of the most notable franchises in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.
Second NHL team
The Senators will be Spencer’s second NHL franchise. He played the last four seasons with the Kings from 2021 to 2025. He was the Kings’s fourth round pick, 95th overall, in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.
Spence in 2024-25
This past season with the Kings, Spence had four goals and 24 assists for 28 points in 79 games. He was a +23 with 16 penalty minutes, five power-play points, 86 shots on goal, 77 blocked shots, 80 hits, 15 takeaways, and 72 giveaways. Spence had career highs in goals, assists, points, plus/minus, shots on goal, blocked shots, hits and takeaways.
Spence had two multi-point games for the Kings this past season. He had two assists in a 7-3 Kings win over the Philadelphia Flyers on December 19, and two assists in a 4-3 Kings overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers on December 28. In the Kings’s win over the Flyers, Spence set up Canadian forwards Tanner Jeannot of Estevan, Saskatchewan, and Warren Foegele of Markham, Ontario. In the Kings’s win over the Oilers, Spence ironically set up Foegele and Jeannot again.
Only Australian born player in NHL ever
Spence has just not represented the Kings, and now the Senators. He represents an entire nation. According to Hockey Reference, Spence is the only NHL player of all-time to be born in Australia. Spence was born to a Canadian father and Japanese mother. He moved to Japan at the age of five, where he learned about hockey from his father, and then moved to Cornwall, Prince Edward Island at age 13.
