Or you can make excuses and bury your head in the sand and ignore the wasted second round selections on the likes of McKeown, Zykov, Cernak, Lintuniemi and Gibson.
And TB has had more than one solid draft. You and most of us would be singing their praises if the Kings had as successful of a draft as Tampa has had since 2010. How many drafts since then would you consider the Kings have been successful at since then?
I can answer that for you. Go five years back, half a decade ago.
Maybe you can educate us with write ups on all of these amazing, up and coming prospects the Kings have loaded up on since five years ago. I miss chuckling at the overinflated expectations that you'd share with us based on practices.
I know, sharing my observations and thoughts on the only Kings prospects in the off-season is such a ****head move. What do you do between July and September for the people who haven't watched the players at all?
How do you contribute to the discussion of prospects?
Oh, right. You wait several years after the fact and pretend like you know what you're talking about by piggybacking on the thoughts of others. You accuse people of bringing up the good drafts of Futa and company of living in the past but then bring up Al ****ing Murray from the 90s and mid-00s.
So please bring up some of those laughable posts where I talked about the Kings prospects. I'll bring up your posts from the same time span that don't even have the benefit of being entertaining.
Zykov - Traded for nothing and traded a 2nd/3rd/4th to get him.
McKeown - Traded for "the" rental of the deadline along with a 1st.
Cernak - Traded for nothing
Lintuniemi - High impact doubtful
The Kings have had five 2nd round picks since 2013: three are gone, Lintuniemi is not even Top 10 in a shallow prospect pool and Clague is too early to tell.
Most of us understand that drafting an NHL regular under the age of 22 outside of the first round is difficult; however, this staff has whiffed on every Top 60 pick they've had starting with the 2012 draft save for Pearson and--most likely--Kempe.
I know you have more of a scouting background than I do over here but I don't need a background in scouting to know the results haven't been there at the top of the Kings' drafts. ****...they would of screwed up 2010 as well with the Forbort pick if not for Toffoli in Round 2. Does it mean these guys are totally clueless? Of course not; however, they don't have much to hang their hats on since Pearson.
It's like we all kind of ignored it because the team was good and it appeared it wouldn't matter *as much* as before. Now they need reinforcements and we don't have the cavalry. I understand the lack of high picks factors in to this but it just places more emphasis on the importance of not missing on all of their 2nd round picks.
My scouting background and experience is the same as yours. Like you, I'm a fan who watches hockey players. The only difference is I may spend a bit more time watching the younger ones, but I just like to talk about hockey reasonably.
You are right, the Kings haven't had much to gloat about since Pearson. However, since Pearson/2012, they have had:
1-first round pick. Kempe, who looks like he could be a regular NHLer/middle six forward.
5-second round picks: Clague. Too early to tell. Cernak, who was traded too early, in my opinion. McKeown, who was traded with a first round pick for Sekera. Lintuniemi, whom I don't like at all. And Zykov, who played in his first NHL games this season, scored his first NHL goal, but had some setbacks due to injuries.
2-third round picks: Amadio, who I am a big fan of. He scored 50 goals in junior on a defensive minded team. Dergachyev, who is contracted in the KHL and having his development waste by playing sub 10 minutes a game.
5-fourth round picks. Jacob Moverare. Again, too early to tell, but I'm not expecting much from him. Austin Wagner, who I am a big fan of, and he led the WHL playoffs in goal scoring this year. Steven Johnson, who I expect nothing from. Justin Auger, who I don't expect anything from. Hudson Fasching, who has 3 points in 17 NHL games, and I have high hopes for him.
5-fifth round picks. Mikey Eyssimont, whom I don't expect much from. He led his team in scoring again, but he more or less just matched his production. Matt Schmalz, whom I fully expect not to be signed, and rightfully so. Alec Dillon, who after multiple injuries just hurt his career too much. Patrik Bartosak, who went full ******. Jonny Brodzinski, who I ultimately don't think (and never thought) will pan out as an NHL regular, but others think he has the skills.
3-sixth round picks. Jake Marchment. Good riddance. Matt Mistele, ultimately wasn't anyone special. Zac Leslie, jury's still out, but he's taking longer to adjust to the pro game, and likely won't play a game in the NHL.
6-seventh round picks. Jacob Friend. A character, stay at-home defenseman of whom I expect nothing at the NHL level. Chaz Reddekopp, who went from 30 points in 70 games to 43 points in 51 games, has size, and I think still has a lot of potential. Matt Roy, who I think will be more of a defenseman in the AHL. Spencer Watson, who I think is a longshot in the NHL but could be a good AHLer. Jacob Middleton, who was let go, and is more or less another Jacob Friend. Dominik Kubalik, who led the Czech league in goal scoring, but I don't anticipate much of a translation to the NHL level.
So... yes, the Kings have a very empty cupboard. There's no denying it. It's a combination of trading away key picks (like several firsts), missing on key picks (like Lintuniemi), injuries (like Zykov and Dillon), ******** players (like Bartosak), Europeans who either prefer or are obligated to stay overseas (like Kubalik and Dergachyev, not to mention Prokhorkin from 2012).
But the Kings have just as many 7th round picks in the past four years as they've had first and second round picks combined. Of those five second round picks, three have been traded away.
The point I've made numerous times over is that Lombardi is the much bigger culprit for the cupboard being bare than the scouting. Apparently that means I'm a homer who lives in the past, though.
But hey, this is just a hobby that I suck at, so what do I know?