According to John Hoven (The Mayor), Fighting Hawks defenseman Paul Ladue is signing a one year Entry-Level pact with the Los Angeles Kings. The Grand Forks native was drafted in the fifth round by the Kings in the 2013 draft. Paul has improved on his game each year and became UND’s most reliable two-way defenseman this year. Throughout his three year career, Ladue has averaged a point every other game at UND. Rarely did Ladue end up in the box as well.The Fighting Hawk defender was very rarely caught out of position and made a lot of nice passes to set up his teammates throughout the year.

As Hoven notes, Ladue will most likely spend a year with the Ontario Reign in the AHL next season to further refine his game. He is taking a path similar to former UND defenseman Derek Forbort who made his NHL debut this season. Forbort left after his junior year, played in the AHL for a while and had a chance to come up and make a brief impact on the Kings this year. Forbort will compete for roster time with the Kings this fall. Given some time,expect Ladue to play at the NHL level. If Ladue can replicate his solid all-around game at the next level, he will have a long and prosperous NHL career. We expect to see Ladue in the NHL as soon as the 2017-2018 season.