LOS ANGELES — Far more often than not, when young forwards make the jump to professional hockey from college or major junior hockey in Canada, they ooze offensive skill but are lacking on the defensive side of the puck.

Indeed, when National Hockey League general managers, assistant general managers and scouts talk about their young prospects, a very, very common lament is that they need a lot of work on their play away from the puck, most notably, their defensive zone responsibilities.

In stark contrast, Los Angeles Kings center prospect Michael Amadio is at least one step ahead of the game, coming out of the North Bay Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League with some pretty solid defensive credentials heading into his first full season with the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Ontario Reign.

“My first year [in junior], I learned that there’s more to the game than just offense,” said the 20-year-old, 6-1, 190-pound native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. “[Battalion head coach Stan Butler] really made sure that I was responsible in my own end before I was able to do anything in the offensive end. He really preached that.”

“I tried to implement that in my game because I knew that at the higher levels, that’s what teams want,” added Amadio, who was selected by the Kings in the third round (90th overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft. “They want guys who are able to play in their own end—a two-way guy, not just one who can only play in one zone. I definitely tried to put that in my game, Hopefully, it’ll work out for me.”

Amadio’s defensive play stood out when the Kings were looking at him prior to the 2014 draft.

“A kid like Amadio—playing for Stan Butler for years—it’s not that other coaches don’t [pay] attention to teaching play away from the puck, but they play such a tidy, defense-oriented system that when you get a kid out of Stan’s organization, you’re shocked if they’re not really sound defensively already,” said Kings Vice President of Hockey Operations and Director of Player Personnel Mike Futa.

“I remember calling [Kings Director of Amateur Scouting Mark] Yanetti and saying, ‘this kid already knows how to play away from the puck, but he’s got such offensive instincts that I think he’s being limited by the system and his attention to detail—how well he’s being coached,’” added Futa. “The following year, when the reins were taken off and he was allowed to run free and be creative offensively, the results clearly exceeded what we thought.”

Amadio said that he was more of a playmaker before his final season with the Battalion.

“I’ve always been a pass-first kind of guy,” he indicated. “I always loved to set-up goals when I was younger. [Zach] Bratina—he was going to be the goal scorer on our team and when he was done, my coaches were always on me to shoot the puck—same for the L.A. development staff.”

At the time–just 12 games into the 2015-16 season–Bratina had scored 12 goals but was forced to retire from hockey due to the effect of multiple concussions, opening the door for Amadio on offense.

“We didn’t think we had a 50-goal scorer in Amadio at the junior level,” said Futa. “But he’s another one where the way the puck comes off his stick, he’s got some special attributes that’ll allow him to have many swings at being an NHL’er.”

“I went to Livonia a couple of times in the summer to work on my shot,” said Amadio. “That was definitely the biggest thing. I gained a lot more confidence in my shot and I was able to shoot the puck more, and when you shoot more, you get more scoring chances, obviously.”

Amadio’s defensive zone play and his shot were not necessarily the biggest things that caught the attention of Kings scouts.

“Every time I was there, he caught my eye,” Futa recalled. “Everything about the way he played was responsible. There was nothing flashy about it. It was just efficient. Reliable. When I went down to meet the kid, he was as pleasant as could you find, and you knew he was going to be coachable.”

“There are certain kids where you know they may not succeed, but you know they are going to leave everything on the table,” Futa added. “They will be dragged away in a box if they’re not going to get there. There will be no shortcuts taken. They’ll never make you look bad for going to bat for them because of their work ethic and character. [Amadio] had that across the board in spades.”

Amadio focused on his defensive play and setting up teammates, so his numbers suffered a bit as a result, which didn’t help his case for the draft. But the Kings didn’t see things that way.

“The biggest part was, ‘are we taking him a little early because these numbers don’t add up to where we’re taking him,’” Futa recalled. “But that’s the success our group has had with never getting caught up in the numbers or whether they’ve been passed over in the draft. If we believe in their character that much and we see the way it translates on the ice, you go for it.”

Like so many young players, Amadio had to be coaxed out of his shell before he could shine.

“This kid was always so quiet,” said Futa. “You’re talking to him and it’s like you’re squeezing the last bit of toothpaste out of the tube. ‘Talk to me, kid. Talk to me.’ But then you’d hear from his teammates and they loved him. When he was around his peers, he was the exact opposite. When Stan named him captain that was the perfect remedy because he was forced to come out of his shell, and his game came out of its shell, too.”

“Now you’ve got a guy who looks you right in the eye. He’s never going to be a guy like a [Nic] Dowd, who’s outgoing, outgoing, outgoing all the time. It’s natural for him to be loud and positive. But this kid has just come out of his shell and his game has, too.”

Futa also praised Amadio’s outlook on the game.

“You want people who don’t take the game for granted, people who still feel that they owe something to the game and they’re passionate, not people who think, ‘I’ve put in my time and the game owes me,’ Futa observed. “That’s clearly something with the majority of [young prospects], but especially for a kid like Amadio, you just feel that he has such respect for the game.”

That respect shows in his unselfishness and being a team first guy.

“I remember laughing—I went to North Bay to see him score his 50th goal,” said Futa. “He had a partial breakaway in the game I was at. He was at 49 and he tried to pass. I was laughing.”

“Here’s this kid who has a chance to score his 50th goal and he’s looking to pass, which speaks volumes for the type of kid he is. He was still being a teammate. It was more important for him to get that next assist, and I’m almost positive it was an empty net, too.”

“We’ve got some guys who shoot wide on that and he’s trying to pass,” Futa joked.

Given the whole package that Amadio possesses, his development seems to already be on an accelerated pace.

“I think there’s a chance for him to be, and we’re not heaping pressure on him by any stretch of the imagination because there’s too much there,” said Futa. “But to have a guy you get in the later rounds who has a chance to kick tires on top six minutes [is huge].”