GDT: 2019 Draft Discussion: LA Kings pick 5th, 22nd overall 8 p.m. ET (NBCSN, SN, TVAS)

[Peter James Bond II]

How about Leason?

Agreed. Consider his size, his playoff he had, his improved skating and his WJC he was good and outscored JAD by several points. I like it when a player raises his game
at 19-20 and turns a corner...as if the Kings then get him in with the development team and they are capable of getting him better at everything. It's like some
young players stop improving skating and skills at 17-18 and worked hard to get drafted and maybe peak...and just then get bigger and stronger.

You wonder about a 19 / 20 yr old like Leason, still busting it and working with a development team to raise his abilities even more. It's not easy to
gain steps, speed, mobility as he did in a year. It made a big difference in his game....and he may be capable of more.

Afanasyev is also available and was mid 20's in mocks.

 

[kingsfan28]

I think there might've been some interesting comment had the Kings taken Ryan Johnson, son of Kings scoring legend Craig Johnson at #22. My god I feel old.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

It was a safe bet that if the Kings took a forward at #5, they were very likely going to take a defenseman at #22, and I'm sure it would have been vice versa had they selected Byram at #5.

My hunch is that with Seider and Heinola gone, they took the highest ranked defenseman in Bjornfot, who probably was slotted higher on the Kings' list than some of the forwards many prefer to have seen the team take.

There are a lot more forwards who are close to each other in terms of skill who are going to be there at #33. I think tomorrow we'll see more forwards taken, along with a goalie (or two).

 

[KINGS17]

Yep, I’ve heard a bunch of GM’s mention this tonight.

As they should. It takes more than just raw talent to be a great pro.

 

[Rekingsfan17]

With the Turcotte and Bjornfot picks it looks like the Kings are targeting a mixture of leadership/competitiveness/skill/versatility and intangibles. To me, that doesn't scream Kaliyev. Brink at least battles on the boards and drives the play. Robertson has a great shot, quick feet and was just 4 days over being in the 2020 draft. Hoglander has better hands, puck skills and is very athletic. Lavoie has good skating for his size, is strong and was one of the top 5vs5 point producers in the CHL. Puistola and Dorofeyev are both left shot wingers that are known as goal scorers and seem pretty equal talent wise to me (Dorofeyev might be slightly ahead).

With the attributes of the first round picks, I see the kings looking more at a player like Grewe who drives the play and plays with sandpaper/grit and is a good body checker.

 

[ru4reals]

Rhut Rho...

Yes yes trade that pick and get more picks. I'm all in for that. Haven't checked but as I can recall second picks in the second round have never been all that successful.

 

[King'sPawn]

If you like the Bjornfot pick, that’s perfectly fair. He’s not off the board. I personally don’t understand the reasoning behind passing one of the talented forwards left at #22 today, but whatever. Not the end of the world.

But let’s cut out the constant appeals to authority. Professional scouts don’t have some secret, forbidden knowledge. They have been and consistently are wrong across the board, and the hivemind of the Internet has indeed been proven correct. Half the scouts in 2008 thought Bogosian was a better pick than Doughty. Half the scouts thought Forbort was a solid pick over Tarasenko. And ALL of the scouts thought Nail Yakupov would be a bonafide star.

Scouts are human beings with biases and blind spots and they make mistakes. Period. It’s 2019. Fans have access to thousands of hours of junior and international hockey on their ****ing cell phones.

For ****’s sake, in 2014 Darryl Sutter was obsessed with sitting Tanner Pearson and instead playing Richards next to Carter when literally every fan on this very board was screaming to play Tanner and demote Richards. As soon as Sutter did exactly that, the team looked fantastic.

Sometimes fans are actually right, and the professionals don’t know what the **** they’re doing. I’m not saying Bjornfot over Kaliyev is one of those times, but it’s not unheard of.

You're right. Scouts make mistakes.

But people who actuslly watch and evaluate have more credence than some HFBoards posters calling the Kings morons by not picking a player other scouts say are good. Scouts you admitted are human.

If you watch Björnfot in isolation and don't like him, I disagree but respect your opinion.

If you are saying you don't like the player because of what you read about him, I will question your credibility.

Because those are the kinds of people who **** on the Simmonds pick, when he wasn't ranked at all by Central Scouting and there were no reports readily available.

 

[Steve Zissou]

I wanted Byram to fall to us - pipe dream, yes. Everything else would have been cherry on top if that happened.

But, we were also nearly the shittiest team in the league and fell all the way to 5th, so...

 

[unicornpig]

You're right. Scouts make mistakes.

But people who actuslly watch and evaluate have more credence than some HFBoards posters calling the Kings morons by not picking a player other scouts say are good. Scouts you admitted are human.

If you watch Björnfot in isolation and don't like him, I disagree but respect your opinion.

If you are saying you don't like the player because of what you read about him, I will question your credibility.

Because those are the kinds of people who **** on the Simmonds pick, when he wasn't ranked at all by Central Scouting and there were no reports readily available.

thats like 90 percent of the people posting here, thats why i find these hot takes so funny.

 

[kilowatt]

Yes yes trade that pick and get more picks. I'm all in for that. Haven't checked but as I can recall second picks in the second round have never been all that successful.

Still some great players to be had, lots of very good players have gone between 30 and 45.

Anderson-Dolan, Cernak, DeBrincat, Kyrou, Aho, Carlo, Jenner, Gibson, Saad, Rask, Faulk, Spooner

 

[Frolov 6'3]

I'm not sure why people assume a defenseman who doesn't score goals in bunches is somehow a "bottom-pairing" dman.

Indeed very weird. I know nothing about him and most likely i am not alone in that.

He scored 11 goals in th superelite anyway. Erik Karlsson had two more goals at the same age...

11G and 22P is decent output.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Central Scouting euro ranking #7 for a reason. Seider was #6.
He was Team Sweden Captain...no scrub is ever slelected captain of a national team. ever.
watch video clips above. Has the C on and is an excellent skater and competitor. No telling Kaliyev, Vlasic, Tomasino better..Kings have nailed rounds 1-2 4 years running

Elite Prospects - NHL Draft Center NHL CENTRAL SCOUTING TOP 31 EU

Thomas Hickey was Team Captain in '09.

I'm gonna laugh when he becomes a solid second pairing dman who eats up minutes and can play on the pk. I love revisiting these threads later on.

I'd love to be wrong.

But my big complaint is that's a positional redundancy, so he'd better be significantly better than the talent taken immediately after him, especially Tomasino, Pelletier.

If we just need a middle pairing minute munching vanilla d-man, go shopping at the deadline using a 2nd round pick.

Los Angeles Kings (TOR)	Pos.	Team	League
22. Tobias Bjornfot	LHD	Djugarden J20	Superelit
39gp-11g-11a-22pts | 6’0 202 | 4/6/01 | Shoots Left | Upplands Vasby, Sweden
The Kings seem to have their ear to the ground when it comes to Swedish prospects, so it’s a good bet they know about this confident two-way blueliner who distinguished himself as the top defenseman at multiple international tournaments. Bjornfot was Djugardens’ money maker on the back end and can skate nearly as well as Borberg, except the former knows how to maintain a tight gap and distribute the puck unselfishly.

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

For sure, Christian Ruutuu has done some magic for us in Europe.

You're right. Scouts make mistakes.

But people who actuslly watch and evaluate have more credence than some HFBoards posters calling the Kings morons by not picking a player other scouts say are good. Scouts you admitted are human.

If you watch Björnfot in isolation and don't like him, I disagree but respect your opinion.

If you are saying you don't like the player because of what you read about him, I will question your credibility.

Because those are the kinds of people who **** on the Simmonds pick, when he wasn't ranked at all by Central Scouting and there were no reports readily available.

I watched those full videos and then some. I like the player plenty.

Like I said above, positional redundancy, so he better have been bpa.

I don't think the scouts are dumb, Kings are dumb, whatever, I just think they drafted a maybe-better clone of every LHD in our system for the last 5 years when there was more offensive talent on the board. I wasn't looking for 'safe' picks.

It's fine, I'm over it, and I'm excited to see what day two brings, but I think there are very legitimate reasons to not like this pick.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

I understand what you mean and feel bad about it too.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Kaliyev just looks extremely nervous, also looked to be that way when the camera was on him at the draft. Even if the Kings don’t select him, I hope for the best for him.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Kaliyev just got Bo Callahaned

 

[Steve Zissou]

Even though he ended up @ 15 and it seemed like no team wanted anything to do with his lack of size, this kid has guts and a chip on his shoulder. Albiet, a short shoulder.

But make no mistake about it, this kid is gonna light the lamp in the NHL.

 

[kilowatt]

look im not saying we should look at the 2020 draft yet, but... looking at the 2020 draft, looks like a lot of highly skilled wingers will be available. if we end up with a top ten pick and can nab a first line winger, look out league.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Even though he ended up @ 15 and it seemed like no team wanted anything to do with his lack of size, this kid has guts and a chip on his shoulder. Albiet, a short shoulder.

But make no mistake about it, this kid is gonna light the lamp in the NHL.

I think some of these top pick USNT players are gonna bust, but he's gonna be one of the best of the bunch, and reveal that his goal scoring was the engine for some of their point totals.

 

[Steve Zissou]

Kaliyev just got Bo Callahaned

Kid looked busted up. Lots of us here noticed it. Hopefully he can hold his head high tomorrow after getting picked.

 

[Herby]

 

[deaderhead28]

Deleted

 

[Sol]

It’s time to bump the sutter thread again and laugh at all the people who were pissed we hired him!

Also bump the thread about Willie D as well since people said he's great for the team since he's like Sutter.

 

[deaderhead28]

Also bump the thread about Willie D as well since people said he's great for the team since he's like Sutter.

While you're at it,start bumping the threads of folks cliaming the Kings were contenders in 2016 and beyond.

 

[Legionnaire]

While you're at it,start bumping the threads of folks cliaming the Kings were contenders in 2016 and beyond.

Let's start on the Blues board...

 

[Statto]

With the number of forwards we saw dropping, I’m hoping Blake’s identified it as a potential opportunity to move one of the older players and their contracts out. If so it further justifies taking a D at #22 (which I’m fine with, once I got over my surprise).

If we can move #33 and one of Carter/Quick/Toffoli for a couple of 2nd round picks and depending on who is included a 5th round pick or similar, I’d be pretty happy. If we keep the pick I’m taking Lavoie