DENVER – Forward
Carter King of the University of Denver hockey team has signed a one-year, entry-level contract beginning in 2025-26 with the Calgary Flames, the NHL squad announced on Monday. King will report to the Flames' American Hockey League affiliate, the Calgary Wrangers, on an amateur tryout for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign.
King, 23, inks his first professional contract with his hometown squad after recording career highs this past season with 21 goals and 22 assists for 43 points. He also registered personal bests with eight power-play markers and four game-winners while playing in all 44 games and serving as the 95th team captain in program history. He was one of 19 NCAA players to score at least 20 goals this season, and he was one of three Pioneers to reach that threshold, finishing tied for 14th in the country.
A finalist for the NCHC Defensive Forward of the Year award and a member of the All-Conference Third Team, King led the Pioneers in faceoff wins and ranked third on the team in faceoff-winning percentage at .551 (539/979). He won 15 or more faceoffs 13 times, including a career-high 20 draw victories on Oct. 19 versus Northeastern and March 22 versus Western Michigan—the most in a game by a Pioneer since
Tyson McLellan went 23-for-35 on Jan. 4, 2020 against Massachusetts. King also tied for fourth on the squad in plus-minus rating (+17), blocked 16 shots and registered 16 penalty minutes.
The Calgary, Alberta, native began the season by recording points in each of the first 10 games of the season (7g/6a), one shy of his career long of 11. During that season-opening run, he also scored in four straight games from Oct. 6-25 (5g/2a) to tie
Sam Harris for the longest goal-scoring streak of the season by a Pioneer.
He earned his first-ever NCHC Forward of the Week award on Oct. 21 after totaling five points (3g/2a) in the home-opening series against Northeastern on Oct. 18-19, including tying a career high with four points on Oct. 19 when Denver raised their 2024 national championship banner to the rafters of Magness Arena. His four points were tied for the most in a game during the year by a DU player.
Along with teammates
Jack Devine and
Aidan Thompson, King made up one-third of the top-scoring line in the NCAA during the season as the Pioneers' top trio combined for 55 goals and 155 points during the campaign. Overall, King recorded multiple points in nine games, including scoring and adding two assists in the NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinals against Providence on March 28 to help him earn Regional All-Tournament Team honors.
The center tallied two short-handed goals during the campaign, with both coming in the postseason as he scored in Game 3 of the NCHC Quarterfinals against Colorado College on March 16 and in the regional semis against PC. He registered seven short-handed goals in his Denver career, tied with
Dwight Mathiasen (1983-86) for second-most in program history and one behind
Daryl Seltenreich's record of eight (1986-88).
His goal against Providence was also the 50th of his career, becoming the 62nd Pioneer to reach the half-century mark and the second this past season behind Devine. He recorded his 50th assist on Jan. 10 against Miami and reached 100 career points in a game later in the year against the RedHawks; he became the 105th member of the program's century club with a goal on Feb. 21 in Oxford, Ohio, and achieved the feat less than eight minutes after Thompson registered his 100th career point.
King skated in his 150th game on Denver's senior night on March 7 against Colorado College and finished his collegiate career with 50 goals and 62 assists in 159 games played. His 112 career points rank tied for 72nd on the school's all-time scoring list.
He first joined the Pioneers midway through the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season after previously playing with the BCHL's Surrey Eagles, suiting up in three games in crimson and gold and recording one assist. He appeared in 37-of-41 games in his true freshman campaign of 2021-22, registering three goals and eight assists and helping Denver capture its ninth NCAA Championship.
King moved from wing to center in 2022-23 and led the team with 337 faceoff wins and a .526 winning percentage at the dot. He recorded 11 goals and 12 assists while skating in 38 contests as a sophomore and registered his first career hat trick with three goals on Jan. 13 against Miami—his second of six career three-point games.
Named an alternate captain in 2023-24, King continued to develop offensively by scoring 15 goals and 19 assists and helping the Pioneers win their NCAA-record 10th national championship. He finished second on the squad in faceoff wins (342) and winning percentage (.511) and tied for first in the country with four short-handed goals, the fifth-most in a season in school history and the most since Tyler Bozak had five in 2007-08.
King registered a career-long, five-game goal streak from Oct. 27-Nov. 11, 2023 (6g/5a), which at the time was the longest such goal run by a Pioneer since Cole Guttman also had a five-game stretch (6g/3a) from Dec. 7, 2019-Jan. 4, 2020 (later surpassed that season by
Miko Matikka). He had points in 20-of-21 games from Oct. 21, 2023-Jan. 20, 2024 (13g/14a), which included seven goals and six assists during a personal-long 11-game point streak (Nov. 23, 2023-Jan. 20, 2024).
A five-time member of the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team and a Distinguished Scholar-Athlete each season, King has also been named a National AHCA All-American Scholar three times previous (2020-21, 2021-22, 2023-24; 2024-25 to be announced later this summer). A winner of DU hockey's Murray Armstrong Most Improved Player Award (2021-22), Dr. Ken Bredesen Most Sportsmanlike Player Award (2021-22) and Dr. Art Mason Top Scholar-Athlete (2022-23), the senior officially graduated from Denver last month with his bachelor's degree in molecular biology.
King was part of the winningest senior class in Denver hockey history that won 124 games over four seasons, two Penrose Cups as NCHC regular-season champions, the 2024 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship, four Gold Pan trophies over rival Colorado College, reached three NCAA Frozen Fours and earned national championships in 2022 and 2024.
A college free agent, King attended the Calgary Flames prospect development camp last summer as an invitee.
