Alex Iafallo
Iafallo in 2019
Born (1993-12-21) December 21, 1993
Eden, New York, U.S.
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Position Left wing
Shoots Left
NHL team
Former teams		 Winnipeg Jets
Los Angeles Kings
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career 2017–present

Alexander Iafallo (born December 21, 1993) is an American professional ice hockey forward for the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also played for the Los Angeles Kings.

Early life

Iafallo was born on December 21, 1993, in Eden, New York,[1] to father Tom and nurse Barb Iafallo.[2] At the age of four, Iafallo began skating but was held back from joining the local mite travel team for a year per his parents' request. His father Tom, a restaurant owner and a coach, built a roller rink in their backyard for Iafallo and his sister Julianna to practice on.[3] Julianna is also a former professional hockey player. She played for the Buffalo Beauts in the National Women's Hockey League.[4]

Playing career

Youth

Growing up in Eden, New York, Iafallo played junior hockey for the Buffalo Regals 18U team while his sister competed with the Buffalo Bisons.[5] He also competed with the Western Region men’s scholastic ice hockey team at the 2010 Empire State Games where he helped the team win a gold medal.[6] As the top scorer for the Regals during the 2010–11 Tier 1 AAA season, Iafallo helped guide the team towards a national championship.[5] He would leave the team after that season to play junior hockey with the Fargo Force in the United States Hockey League (USHL) before embarking on a collegiate career with the University of Minnesota Duluth of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.[7]

Collegiate

In his freshman season at the University of Minnesota Duluth, Iafallo played in 33 games and was named to the NCHC All-Rookie Team.[8]

Undrafted, Iafallo registered a team leading 21 goals, 30 assists and 51 points as a senior in the 2016–17 season. He was named a First Team All–American and MVP of the NCHC All-Tournament Team.[9] Having recorded 121 points in 152 games over the course of his four-year tenure with the Bulldogs, Iafallo was signed as a free agent to a two-year, entry-level contract with the Los Angeles Kings on April 19, 2017.[10]

Professional

Los Angeles Kings

Iafallo in a 2023 game against the Seattle Kraken.

Having impressed throughout the Kings rookie and main roster training camp, Iafallo made the opening night roster for the 2017–18 season. He stepped straight into the NHL in making his debut for the Kings in a 2–0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on October 5, 2017.[11][12][13] He scored his first NHL goal on November 5, 2017, in his 14th career game, against the Nashville Predators.[14] This helped erase a three-goal deficit but the Predators won in overtime, 4–3.[15] He would score 9 goals that season and 15 the following season.

On January 30, 2020, Iafallo recorded his first career hat trick in a 3–2 win over the Arizona Coyotes.[16] He became the third player in NHL history to score within the opening 25 seconds of an overtime period multiple times in a single season.[17] He scored 17 goals in the 2019-20 season and was on pace for his first 20 goal, 50 point season before Covid-19 shut down the NHL

On April 12, 2021, Iafallo signed a four-year, $16 million contract extension with the Kings.[18] He finished the season with 13 goals in the shortened 56-game season, of which he played 55 games.

On May 7, 2021, Iafallo wore a letter on his jersey for the first time, serving as an Alternate captain after Dustin Brown was ruled out for the rest of the season with an injury.

He would become an alternate captain again in the 2021–22 season on two occasions. Following an injury to Drew Doughty, Iafallo temporarily wore an “A” on his jersey. He would return the title to Doughty after his return in late November. When Doughty got injured again in mid-March 2022, Iafallo would once again wear an “A”.

Iafallo missed 23 games in the 2022-23 season due to a lower body injury, but still managed to finish with 14 goals and 36 points in 59 games. He scored his first playoff overtime goal on April 17, 2023, in game 1 of the Kings’ first round series against the Edmonton Oilers.

Winnipeg Jets

On June 27, 2023, Iafallo was traded by the Kings, alongside Rasmus Kupari, Gabriel Vilardi and a 2024 2nd-round draft pick to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for Pierre-Luc Dubois.[19]

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2010–11 Buffalo Regals 18U AAA T1EHL 39 15 21 36 27 — — — — —
2011–12 Fargo Force USHL 58 17 15 32 8 6 2 2 4 2
2012–13 Fargo Force USHL 50 20 23 43 15 13 6 10 16 4
2013–14 University of Minnesota Duluth NCHC 36 11 11 22 10 — — — — —
2014–15 University of Minnesota Duluth NCHC 34 8 17 25 12 — — — — —
2015–16 University of Minnesota Duluth NCHC 40 8 15 23 8 — — — — —
2016–17 University of Minnesota Duluth NCHC 42 21 30 51 22 — — — — —
2017–18 Los Angeles Kings NHL 75 9 16 25 12 3 1 0 1 0
2018–19 Los Angeles Kings NHL 82 15 18 33 22 — — — — —
2019–20 Los Angeles Kings NHL 70 17 26 43 14 — — — — —
2020–21 Los Angeles Kings NHL 55 13 17 30 4 — — — — —
2021–22 Los Angeles Kings NHL 79 17 20 37 8 7 1 3 4 4
2022–23 Los Angeles Kings NHL 59 14 22 36 20 6 3 1 4 6
NHL totals 420 85 119 204 80 16 5 4 9 10

Awards and honors

Award Year
College
NCHC All-Rookie Team 2014
NCHC All-Tournament Team 2017 [20]
NCHC First All-Star Team 2017
NCHC Tournament 2017 [10]
West First All-Star Team 2017
NCAA All-Tournament Team (MVP) 2017 [21]
First Team All–American 2017 [9]

References

  1. ↑ "Alex Iafallo". eliteprospects.com. Elite Prospects. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  2. ↑ Rosen, Dan (May 10, 2020). "Iafallo thankful for mom, hospital workers on Mother's Day". nhl.com. National Hockey League. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  3. ↑ Lew, Deborah (April 17, 2018). "Through a Mother's Eyes: Alex Iafallo". NHL.com. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  4. ↑ Iafallo, Alex (November 1, 2018). ""We're Each Other's Biggest Fans": A Player's Tribute to Buffalo's Juls Iafallo from Her Brother Alex". Retrieved January 3, 2019.
  5. 1 2 Rodriguez, Miguel (March 26, 2011). "National title quests a case of sibling revelry". Buffalo News. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Empire State Games Both Men and Women win Gold". wnyahl.net. July 28, 2010. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Fargo Force forward Alex Iafallo commits to UMD". oursportscentral.com. February 16, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  8. ↑ Hatten, Mike (March 12, 2014). "SCSU's Dowd named All-NCHC 1st hockey team". St. Cloud Times. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  9. 1 2 "IAFALLO BECOMES UMD'S LATEST ALL-AMERICAN". umdbulldogs.com. April 7, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  10. 1 2 "LA Kings sign forward Alex Iafallo". Los Angeles Kings. April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Kings' rookie trio relishes the experience of making their NHL debuts together in season opener". October 6, 2017 – via LA Times.
  12. ↑ Matsuda, Gann (October 7, 2017). "LA Kings Alex Iafallo: Not Your Typical NHL Debut Story". Frozen Royalty. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  13. ↑ Ken, Campbell. "The Kings are delivering on their promise to be faster and younger this season". Hockey News. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  14. ↑ LA Kings (November 6, 2017). "Alex Iafallo Scores First NHL Goal against Nashville Predators". NHL.com. LA Kings. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  15. ↑ Zupke, Curtis (November 5, 2017). "Alex Iafallo is the latest Los Angeles Kings rookie to score his first NHL goal this season". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  16. ↑ Romero, Jose M. (January 31, 2020). "Iaffalo's hat trick helps Kings stun Coyotes 3–2 in overtime". The Washington Times. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  17. ↑ @PR_NHL (January 31, 2020). "Alex Iafallo joined Seth Jones (Dec. 6, 2018 and Jan. 5, 2019) and Jeff Petry (Dec. 31, 2018 and Jan. 14, 2019) as the third player in NHL history to score within the opening 25 seconds of an overtime period multiple times in a single season. #NHLStats" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ↑ "LA Kings Sign Alex Iafallo to a Four-Year Contract Extension". NHL.com. April 12, 2021. Retrieved April 12, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Pierre-Luc Dubois traded from Jets to Kings, signs eight-year, $68M extension". Sportsnet. June 27, 2023. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Bulldogs capture 2017 Frozen Faceoff for first NCHC title". NCHC. March 18, 2017. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Denver Survives, Claims 8th National Championship". Inside Hockey. April 9, 2017. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
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