2018 NHL Entry Draft Discussion

[Herby]

Tomorrow will mark the 10 year anniversary of this historic moment.



Oh and this one as well,

It probably took the Kings one good look at Tuebert in the rookie camp to realize they royally screwed up that whole process. What a terrible feeling for the scouts, especially since they traded up for this guy.

Tuebert has to be one of the all-time worst players to be picked in the 1st round, he did get some NHL time with a tanking team so no way can he be called the worst. But ECHL at 19 and 20 (ECHL for a first round pick is game, set, match on his career), never established himself as a decent AHL player, wasn't even qualified after his ELC and ended up in a middle of the pack DEL.

I doubt any of us ever see a worse pick by the Kings the rest of our lives.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

It probably took the Kings one good look at Tuebert in the rookie camp to realize they royally screwed up that whole process. What a terrible feeling for the scouts, especially since they traded up for this guy.

Tuebert has to be one of the all-time worst players to be picked in the 1st round, he did get some NHL time with a tanking team so no way can he be called the worst. But ECHL at 19 and 20 (ECHL for a first round pick is game, set, match on his career), never established himself as a decent AHL player, wasn't even qualified after his ELC and ended up in a middle of the pack DEL.

I doubt any of us ever see a worse pick by the Kings the rest of our lives.

This article is like a kick in the nuts.

Erik Karlsson was there for the Kings to select, but they passed on him.

"Obviously [Karlsson] should have been the pick at 13," Kings director of amateur scouting Mark Yannetti said. "We took the wrong player."

Karlsson instead went to the Ottawa Senators at No. 15. It was part of a wild first round that included big hits and misses, almosts and what-ifs, and a flurry of trades.

After selecting Doughty at No. 2, the Kings were on the clock a second time at No. 13, a pick they had acquired in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres moments earlier.

Yannetti said the plan was to add depth on defense.

"At that time we were building, and our philosophy was, you build from the blue line out," he said.

"So we build [defense], then center, then goalie."

Yannetti said Los Angeles considered picking Karlsson at No. 13 but that there was no consensus among the scouts on whether he'd develop physically.

"You couldn't watch him play and not be awed by his skating and his skill," Yannetti said. "But he was 5-10 and there wasn't much to him. … Would the Kings have thought he was going to be a D1 (No. 1 defenseman)? No, we didn't think he'd be a D1. Did the Kings think he'd be a D3? Yes, and a good D3."

Instead of Karlsson, Los Angeles selected a more physical player, Colten Teubert (6-3, 185) from Regina of the Western Hockey League. He never played for the Kings; he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers on Feb. 28, 2011, and has spent the past five seasons in Germany.

Yannetti said the Kings picked Teubert because of his size and strength, two elements the organization felt it was lacking.

"Immediate need changes," said Yannetti, who joined the Kings in 2006-07, soon after Dean Lombardi was hired as GM. "We went from having the worst defensive depth in the League when we arrived to the best defensive depth in the League in the span of three years. We went from being a team that was pushed around quite a bit in our first few years to a team that was not pushed around ever. You fill this immediate need in two areas that by the time a player is [NHL-ready], you don't have that need anymore. Then you skip over better players to address a certain need."

 

[Brodeur]

Here's my mock draft aka bad fan fiction, also with some "mock" trades before the draft. Admittedly I'm just throwing spaghetti against a wall and a lot of the more fun trade scenarios might have to wait until after the dust settles on July 1st:

Colorado: LW Jeff Skinner (1 x 5.725 mil)
Carolina: LW A.J. Greer, 16th overall

Colorado has the luxury of knowing they'll either get the 4th overall pick this year or Ottawa's first rounder next year. So here they look for immediate help and reunite Skinner with his junior teammate Gabriel Landeskog. Greer was a Patrick Roy era pick who has stalled a bit.
Carolina is looking to reshape their squad and Skinner looks to be the first guy on the chopping block. I think it was Elliotte Friedman who said that Carolina was looking at a prospect+1st for Skinner. The 16th overall pick gets them back in the neighborhood of their pre-lottery slot. Before the lottery luck, Carolina's scouts probably focused their efforts on the guys in the 10-20 range.

NY Islanders: G Philipp Grubauer (RFA)
Washington: RW Joshua Ho-Sang, 41st overall, 2019 2nd rounder

The Barry Trotz to the Islanders rumors are already starting and Trotz had Grubauer the last few years in Washington. Islanders could look to stabilize their goaltending situation and they have some extra picks thanks to the Travis Hamonic deal.

Washington likely can't afford an expensive backup goalie, so they add some picks to help make up for the ones dealt for recent playoff rentals.

Chicago: D Ryan Murray (RFA)
Columbus: D Connor Murphy (4 x 3.85)

Change of scenery for a couple of similarly aged D. Murphy didn't quite to seem to fit in Chicago. There are rumors of a Brandon Saad for Justin Faulk swap which would give Chicago an overload of RH D. This trade would balance that out potentially and Chicago could hope that there's some untapped potential with Murray.

Meanwhile Columbus' current management inherited Murray, so they might not feel compelled to give him a long term deal. Murphy is a local kid as his dad was an assistant coach on the early Blue Jackets squads. Murphy would slot in well behind Jones/Savard.

New Jersey: RW Nino Niederreiter (4 x 5.25), LW Tyler Ennis (1 x 4.6)
Minnesota: LW John Quenneville, D Ben Lovejoy (1 x 2.66)

Devils GM Ray Shero and new Minnesota GM Paul Fenton worked together in Nashville from 1998-2006.

The Devils use their ample cap space as an asset (ie, they didn't give up a ton for Palmieri/Johansson). Niederreiter gives them much needed 2nd line depth, albeit with an expensive contract for a guy with a career high of 25 goals. Ennis would likely be a buyout. Moving Lovejoy opens up a permanent spot for Steve Santini.

Meanwhile Fenton opens up a decent chunk of cap room to help shape the roster in his own image. If he doesn't make a move, Minnesota wouldn't have much cap space after extending Matt Dumba and Jason Zucker. I doubt Fenton would want to go into next season status quo. Lovejoy is a serviceable 3rd pairing D to play behind Spurgeon/Dumba. Quenneville is an okay prospect that they could stash in the AHL for another season.


1st Round
----------------------
1. Buffalo - D Rasmus Dahlin
2. Carolina - RW Andrei Svechnikov

Not much insight to add here.

3. Montreal - C Jesperi Kotkaniemi

Dilemma for Montreal as they ideally would want to trade down and take Kotkaniemi. But there may be limited options as they can't drop too far and miss out. Here they keep it simple. Bergevin can point to Columbus "reaching" for Pierre-Luc Dubois or Edmonton taking Leon Draisaitl a pick early to cool the negative press backlash.

TRADE: Ottawa trades #4 to the Rangers for #9 and #28

4. Ottawa=>NY Rangers - LW Brady Tkachuk
Sens move down for an extra asset while still being in the range to get a top 10 guy. Brady Tkachuk was recruited to Boston University by David Quinn who was just hired by the Rangers. Tkachuk would be a nice complement to go along with their 2017 1st rounders Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil.

5. Arizona - LW Filip Zadina
6. Detroit - D Quinn Hughes
7. Vancouver - D Noah Dobson

With Ekman-Larsson extended, the Coyotes have some options with their pick. Maybe for PR reasons they would have preferred Tkachuk, but Zadina is a fine addition here.

Detroit goes with the local Michigan guy in Hughes. Current Wings coach Jeff Blashill got to test drive Hughes at the World Championships.

TRADE: Chicago trades #8 to Edmonton for #10 and #40

8. Chicago=>Edmonton - D Evan Bouchard
9. NY Rangers=>Ottawa - D Adam Boqvist
10. Edmonton=>Chicago - RW Oliver Wahlstrom

Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli has openly pined for a RHD. While Bouchard wouldn't come in overnight, he'd be a great long term add. Here they leapfrog Ottawa for their choice in D.

Ottawa settles for Boqvist who has long been described as a young Erik Karlsson. With Karlsson's time in Ottawa potentially reaching an end, Boqvist could be his long term replacement.

Chicago adds an extra pick while still ending up with the guy they would have taken at #8.

11. NY Islanders - C Barrett Hayton
12. NY Islanders (via Calgary) - D Ty Smith
13. Dallas - C Joe Veleno
14. Philadelphia (via St. Louis) - LW Joel Farabee
15. Florida - RW Vitali Kravtsov
16. Colorado=>Carolina - LW Grigori Denisenko

Islanders retooling with a couple high character guys in Hayton/Smith. Then the run on wingers begins. After years of avoiding Russians, Carolina could add Denisenko to go with Svechnikov.

TRADE: New Jersey trades #17 to Los Angeles for #20 and #82

17. New Jersey=>Los Angeles - LW Dominik Bokk
18. Columbus - C Rasmus Kupari
19. Philadelphia - RW Martin Kaut
20. Los Angeles=>New Jersey - D K'Andre Miller

Devils don't have picks in the 2nd/3rd round, so they maybe interested in moving down especially if they think they can land a LHD later. Kings add a potential sniper in Bokk. Mark Yannetti specifically mentioned that the Kings have five guys they're hoping to take and he feels a little powerless since all of them might be gone. So a small trade up can perhaps ensure them one of their targets.

TRADE: San Jose trades #21 to the Rangers for #26 and #70

21. San Jose=>NY Rangers - D Bode Wilde
22. Ottawa (via Pittsburgh) - C/LW Isac Lundestrom
23. Anaheim - C Ty Dellandrea
24. Minnesota - D Rasmus Sandin

Rangers added some decent LHD prospects at the deadline and add a toolsy RHD here in Wilde. San Jose added some picks as the middle man in the Mike Hoffman spot, but could look to add more as Doug Wilson emptied the cabinet in recent years.

TRADE: Toronto trades #25 to Detroit for #30 and #67

25. Toronto=>Detroit - RW Serron Noel
26. NY Rangers (via Boston)=>San Jose - C Jay O'Brien
27. Chicago (via Nashville) - D Jared McIsaac
28. NY Rangers (via Tampa Bay)=>Ottawa - C/LW Ryan McLeod
29. St. Louis (via Winnipeg) - D Alex Alexeyev
30. Detroit (via Vegas)=>Toronto - C Liam Foudy
31. Washington - D Jett Woo

Detroit has been lacking RH shooting wingers for awhile and could use some size in their lineup. Noel drops a bit from his consensus ranking, if only because I'd be alarmed about his 27% shooting percentage this season (similarly I'm bullish on Tkachuk since he only shot 6%).

Sharks' head scout Tim Burke is stationed in the Northeast and they have reached for local Boston guys in the past. O'Brien didn't get much press since he opted to stay in high school rather than play in the USHL. But he's getting some late buzz and received an invite to Team USA's WJC summer evaluation camp.

Toronto could go for the London/Hunter connection with Liam Foudy even though Mark Hunter resigned as top amateur scout recently. After London dealt its "veterans", Foudy unexpectedly seized the opportunity and potted 18 goals in the final 27 games. He followed that up with an impressive combine.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

Tkachuk is already committed to Boston University (or was it Boston College?) He's probably going to stay for at least a year and then make the jump I think.

He already played 1 year at Boston univ and did pretty well. 8 goals, 23 assists, 31 point Freshman season. 61 PIM and +15.
He had a good U20 WJC too. 7 games, 3 goals 6 assists. I just saw an interview he did on TSN ans was very cool. Wants to make NHL this year, but fine with going back for his Sph yr. He's working out with Gary Roberts this offseason.

Brady Tkachuk at eliteprospects.com

 

[Basilisk]

How come nobody ever wagers about who we're gunna pick in the draft? C'mon! put money on it!!!!!

 

[kingsboy11]

He already played 1 year at Boston univ and did pretty well. 8 goals, 23 assists, 31 point Freshman season. 61 PIM and +15.
He had a good U20 WJC too. 7 games, 3 goals 6 assists. I just saw an interview he did on TSN ans was very cool. Wants to make NHL this year, but fine with going back for his Sph yr. He's working out with Gary Roberts this offseason.

Brady Tkachuk at eliteprospects.com

complete brain fart

 

[Peter James Bond II]

How come nobody ever wagers about who we're gunna pick in the draft? C'mon! put money on it!!!!!

Good idea...like first goal of the game. I think a thread should be started and you get 5 selections, in order of preference. 10 pts if your top pick is it, 8 if your 2nd pick, 6 for 3rd choice,
4 for 4th choice and 2 for your 5th choice.
And do pick #51 second round too. ...you can make 'trade pick' as one of your choices too.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

Allright...Yannetti said he's / they're targeting 5 players..."and all 5 may be gone before our selection"
So...we can surmise the 5 are pretty highly rated and not a darkhorse (at #20) like Ryan McLeod, or an Akil Thomas.

So...take a stab at 'The 5' - Farabee, Kravstov, Kupari, Veleno, Noel. (6th, would choose Denisenko. Noel..interesting to note his shooting % was an incredible 27%. I am sure Yannetti knows this andthe Kings want players who can put pucks in the net and has good upside...decent numbers at WJC.

 

[kingsfan28]

Yannetti:
"When you draft for immediate team need, I think you make mistakes. When you draft for an overall NHL need you’re better off. The game is not going to get any slower, you can never have a guy who is going to be too smart to play on your team. So there are things that we need and the NHL values. We’ve drafted for immediate need before and we need to stat away from that. When we’ve done that in the past, we’ve had pretty tragic consequences, in my opinion. Forward or defenseman, we will take the best player available. We won’t look at position.”

Yannetti Talks LA Kings Outlook Heading Into 2018 NHL Draft

 

[kingsfan28]

It probably took the Kings one good look at Tuebert in the rookie camp to realize they royally screwed up that whole process. What a terrible feeling for the scouts, especially since they traded up for this guy.

Tuebert has to be one of the all-time worst players to be picked in the 1st round, he did get some NHL time with a tanking team so no way can he be called the worst. But ECHL at 19 and 20 (ECHL for a first round pick is game, set, match on his career), never established himself as a decent AHL player, wasn't even qualified after his ELC and ended up in a middle of the pack DEL.

I doubt any of us ever see a worse pick by the Kings the rest of our lives.

While this is true, we still walked away from that draft with Doughty and Voynov. Imagine if they Kings drafted Hugh Jessiman in 2003, instead of Brown .

 

[LAKings88]

Yannetti also talked about hoping they trade back if their 5 are already selected.

 

[LAKings88]

It probably took the Kings one good look at Tuebert in the rookie camp to realize they royally screwed up that whole process. What a terrible feeling for the scouts, especially since they traded up for this guy.

Tuebert has to be one of the all-time worst players to be picked in the 1st round, he did get some NHL time with a tanking team so no way can he be called the worst. But ECHL at 19 and 20 (ECHL for a first round pick is game, set, match on his career), never established himself as a decent AHL player, wasn't even qualified after his ELC and ended up in a middle of the pack DEL.

I doubt any of us ever see a worse pick by the Kings the rest of our lives.

And to think that Edmonton actually traded for him.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

 

[LAKings88]

Jonatan Berggren seems to be on the rise. Smart, sound defensively, good speed. Might be an option if available at 20.

 

[LAKings88]

1st round : Kravstov,Farabee,Kupari
2nd round : Lundkvist or Berggren

I think Lundkvist will be a steal . He will be a top 4 dman someday with Klingberg like numbers .

Lundkvist and Berggren both seem to be rising into probable first rounders.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

Jonatan Berggren seems to be on the rise. Smart, sound defensively, good speed. Might be an option if available at 20.

Seen that too. He led Team Sweden at U18 WJC. ..love what some say about him.
Steve Kournianos - SportingNews/The Draft Analys - April 28: "Pesky waterbug with a nonstop motor who uses his speed and anticipation to turn a harmless dump-in into a quality scoring chance."

Cam Robinson - DobberProspects - April 26: "An absolute wrecking ball of a player who has been posting tremendous numbers in the J20 circuit. Logs miles of ice as he forechecks with impunity, distributes the puck and knows how to finish as well. "

Jonatan Berggren at eliteprospects.com

I like Swedish players, as MANY reach their potential and SEVERAL surpass it. Examples of 'overachieving Swedish players' Klingberg, William Karlsson (sure, was #1 pick, but no one ever expected 43 goal potential) Viktor Arvidsson (2, 30 goal seasons) 'obscure' players like Janmark-Nylen (good young player on Dallas) Jesper Bratt (19 yr old New Jersey) had a great rookie season, a 6th rd draft choice? 5th in scoring on the Devils? ..and several others. NOT saying this only happens with Swedish players...but I bet there are more Swedish players than any others, percentage-wise, that have this...looking back, Lidstrom was a third round pick, Erik Karlsson was passed by 14 teams in the draft and the Kings picked Teubert over him! And look back at Norstrom...not much was expected on him, when the Kings got him from the Rangers. I just think most Swedish can skate and have offensive talent that does not come out in the SHL...some of the SHL players can't hit 10 goals in that league, come here and score 20 like nothing. Not much was expected of Kempe and Folin this past season and did better than most anyone expected...in the draft, I would value Lundkqvist as a possible selection at 20 for the Kings...or if the Kings do not have one of the 5 they want, trade back a bit and get Lundkqvist or Berggren...or Hallinder. Possible consider Lundestrom at #20

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

And a familiar face in this group who fell to the Kings in 2003.

 

[LAKings88]

At least we turned Olli into Ziggy.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Thank God they didn’t blow the 13th pick like they did with every other selection at that draft.

 

[LAKings88]

Thank God they didn’t blow the 13th pick like they did with every other selection at that draft.

Boyle could have been servicable. But those two late picks were wrecks.

 

[raswilliam]

This article is like a kick in the nuts.

Karrlson was ranked like 45th in draft. The sens went for the homerun pick and scored. I was pissed they didnt pick tyler meyers.

 

[Brodeur]

This article is like a kick in the nuts.

Interesting to read that Erik Karlsson had heard the Ducks were interested. That had always been the rumor that Anaheim traded down from 12 to 17 thinking they could still get him and add extra assets. In the end, they added picks 35 and 39 for moving down. They missed out on Karlsson at a cost of drafting Eric O'Dell and Nicolas Deschamps with those extra picks.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

What has Toffoli done that is going to want to warrant a team taking him on at the expense of one of the better goal-scorers in the league this decade?

He has one season of more than 50 points, one season of more than 25 goals. He isn't a physical player, is average at best defensively and has been arguably the Kings worst player the last two postseasons he has played in.

Can't remember who said it, but he is Michael Ryder, he is a one-dimensional slow skater who has a good enough shot to beat goaltenders when given time and space. He is nothing special.

I dont know.

I do know you cant call a player abysmal when he does hit 24 goals and say he has had ‘one good’ season when he scored 31 goals. All on a defensive team. Thats not good, thats fantastic. Its always ridiculous to come up with points as argument with snipers anyway. They wont rack up a lot of overrated assists.

Looking forward to your posts about Toffoli next season already. I have a feeling he will be your new whipping boy.

 

[lexlavender]

I don't think Toffoli is entirely a lost cause yet, but we're reaching the point both him and Pearson need to show that next step or else they're done. With a Healthy Carter, this year is the year both of their leashes run out.

 

[lexlavender]

And again, in the right deal I wouldn't mind shipping either of them out. But its certainly not at the point where we need to dump them either.