And just for clarification this is the age range of the Kings top 10 scorers
33
31
36
27
24
26
21
26
26
21
Seems to be a little bit more of a favorable age range than the Ducks. Considering 8/10 would be tied for 3rd or better in scoring on the Ducks. So let’s not use them.
But please let’s keep just throwing out hot takes ESPN/FS1 style instead of actually looking up stats.
I think his post is foolish, especially the takes on Byfield and Kaliyev who looked very good in the AHL this year.
I think the one area his points are kind of valid though is at the top of each organizations youth movement.
I know it sucks for us admit it as Kings fans but the Ducks absolutely have killed it the last 2 drafts. Zegras is a special talent, can do things with the puck and has vision that not many in the league have, he probably compares pretty favorably as far as value right now to QB who was a #2 OA, and they stole him at #9. I think a case can be made that 2 years into that draft he is the #1 prospect from it. Last year they get Drysdale at #6 and he was a star in the AHL and looked pretty solid as an 18 year old d-man in the NHL. Not many 18 year old d-man play in the NHL, and there is a reason for that. They also somehow got Comtois in the 2nd round because he sucked in his draft year. They don't have the young depth the Kings do (no one does) but their Top 3 is better than ours and it's more balanced, the Kings are going to have to stop collecting centers and start to address defense the wing and goaltending.
Kind of the same thing with Ottawa. Stutzle looks like a future star, and much like Zegras this year, he kind of answered the biggest concern on him, how well he was going to finish at the pro level. Tkachuk is a physically dominating player at 21, not many guys in the league like him, he has been a noticable presence from the moment he turned pro as a 19 year old. This is the type of thing I talk about when I say you have to hit HR's with top 5 picks and ground rule doubles won't cut it, a Tkachuk caliber player is the kind of guy you want to come away with if you are picking top 5 in the draft. A guy who immediately steps in and just makes a difference. Norris scored at a 25G/50P pace as a 21 year old and is also pretty well rounded defensively, the Karlsson trade has a chance to be one of the worst of recent memory, Ottawa has locked up their 1C and 2C from it.
I know people like to preach patience and for this season that is ok, a lot of the Kings guys are young but this coming season there has to be additional steps made from a few of the Kings top prospects, there has to be tangible signs at the NHL level that they can become players like the guys on Anaheim and Ottawa have shown. The way the league is today, most guys who are stars (especially ones taken high in the draft) are either good NHL players or have shown promise in the NHL by around age 20.
No one touches the Kings prospect depth, especially at forward, but I do worry about the ceiling of our prospects as a whole, as well as the imbalance. I'll give QB the benefit of the doubt and say he lives up to it and is our future 1C, he had a good year in the AHL, looked the part in his call-up and well, the league doesn't miss that much on top 2 picks, so trust the historical data and pencil hm in as a future star. But who steps up to be his Robin? Vilardi has to do it in the NHL obviously, does Gabe solve his massive inconsistency issues and turn into a prime Jason Allison? It's just tough because in todays game the skating is so much more important than it was 20 years ago and Gabe's is bad, real bad. But he showed some amazing flashes during his offensive streaks early and late in the season, that ofcourse was sandwiched between about 25 games where he looked like the love child of 2014 Mike Richards and 2020 Jeff Carter. Is it Alex Turcotte? Josh Norris was a dominant two-way center in the AHL in his age 20 year, including a a 45/90 offensive pace, Turcotte's development and likely arrival is behind what you'd like for a Top 5 pick but if he can have a season like that in the AHL it makes his chances to be QB's #2 center look better, but he has to be more healthy, more consistent and more productive offensively to live up to be the future 2C and provide a solid ROI for the immense draft capital the Kings used on him. Kaliyev is the other guy, and Arty did do everything that was asked of him in the AHL as far as what his NHL style will be. He doesn't have to dominate the NHL this coming season, and considering where the Kings took him in the draft he probably will return great value regardless, but if he's going to be a Rantanen type offensive player in the future for the Kings (and I think that's his ceiling), a similar season to Rantanen's age 20 season (20G, 40P) isn't unreasonable, especially with the disaster the Kings have on the wing. If we are talking a year from now and Arty hasn't established himself as a decent goal-scorer in the NHL it may be time to pump the brakes on his longterm ceiling. I am optimistic, I think he's got a chance to be very good, but there are some things he has to overcome.
