I think the depth, variety and pure high end skill level of the Kings prospect pool is being maligned here because it lacks a specific type of player that frankly is sexier than valuable.
Next to nobody has a pool that includes likely #1 centers, defensemen, wingers and goaltenders. It just doesn't happen. The Kings have their potential 1c now, two very high end forwards in Turcotte and Kaliyev, a terrific collection of depth forwards who favor offensive hockey, and several longterm swings at the fences.
The defensive mix is outstanding. There are a half dozen who project to be likely NHLers, two of which who are already regulars.
The big take away is that the Kings haven't been bad enough that long to have all the bases covered. The majority of their prospect pool has come from just the last three drafts, and expecting to see a clear cut stud in every position is misguided, and its especially unsound to use that as an excuse to gut a plan you have just committed to because you aren't seeing fruit dangling from saplings.
The Kings had glaring holes, and to Blake and his scouting team's credit, they chose to get the house in order first before looking for gamebreakers.
So how do they get the true game breakers?
Are the Kings going to suck enough the next two years to be near the top of the draft to draft players like that? If that is the plan I am cool with it, lets tell Drew we are sticking with the slow rebuild and hope he wasn't bluffing and ok's a move to a contender. Kopitar, Doughty, Quick, Kane, Toews, Keith, Malkin, Crosby, Fleury, Stamkos, Hedman, Kucherov were all drafted by their teams, with 8 of the 12 being Top 4 picks. So that is the best true and tested way of adding game-breaking foundational players. And there are certainly a few potential franchise altering players in the next couple of drafts after this one that could be someone you put with QB and have 2 dominant centers going forward. I agree with your sentiment that they haven't had a ton of time to cover all the bases, but the bases are not secondary players, the Kings are loaded with secondary players, the bases are 1 more elite forward and 1 more elite defender. Goaltending you can solve in other ways, especially with a Bill Ranford as coach, although I wouldn't mind them even addressing that this year with Wallstedt rather than adding yet another future 2nd liner or 2nd pairing defender. I am usually against drafting goalies high but this draft is just different with how poor it projects. But if the rumors of bringing in 27-30 year old 2nd liners and 2nd pairing defenders on short term contracts is true, it's unlikely the Kings will suck that bad barring a Doughty injury or trade. If it's trade or FA, those types of players that have traditionally been needed to build a dominant team with a multi-year championship window just very rarely if ever hit the trade market, that is what makes the Eichel situation so unique, we may not see a player of his age and caliber hit the market again through Byfield's entire prime, not hyperbole its just rare for a star 1C his age to be available. Or do you want to add the game-breaker through UFA? Most young stars sign long term 2nd contracts that puts their UFA age anywhere between 27 and 30, most of those players choose to re-sign again with their current teams and the ones that do hit the market you are competing with the entire league and LA has traditionally not been a destination for FA's for a variety of reasons. Would you be open to Blake just saying F it and if Landeskog is on the market offering him a 7 year deal for more than any other team? The Kings could do it with all their players on ELC's and many of them not ending until the same summer Kopitar is off the books. It's possible but idk seems unlikely.
It just seems that Blake has 3 options he has to figure out this summer.
1. He can tear it down more and try and pick very high the next 2-3 years.
This is the same thing as staying the course assuming Doughty isn't BS'ing and requests a trade in mid-July if the roster is still trash. This continues the trend of how the Kings played to finish out last season, where they were one of the worst teams in the league over the final 20 games. This strategy can probably get Blake out of the Doughty contract which could be a negative contract by the time the team might be able to contend again. Kopitar finishes out his final productive years in a mentor role to Byfield and all the other young players, someone you can still market ticket sales around, put on billboards etc. Not unlike the role Getzlaf had in Anaheim. The best case scenario here is you are really bad and get atleast one superstar prospect between 2022 and 2023, two would be gravy but if you get say 1 star forward in one draft then pick say around 4-7 in another draft and get a potential 1D all the holes are filled with guys under 23. The players at the top of these drafts are likely immediate NHL'ers at 18 who could be capable of being difference makers almost right away. We are talking better prospects than QB, this also gives you insurance if QB isn't a huge star that you have another guy with just as good or even a better chance. The Kings rebuild right now is very very heavily dependent on QB being a stud 1C, if he is anything less than a star 1C its very likely doomed because there isn't another potential 1C in the system.
The worst case scenario, other than drafting a bust (unlikely) is the team either somehow overachieves or there are a lot of bad teams trying to do the same thing. Buffalo and Seattle for instance could both be really bad next year. But a Kings team without Doughty would be Buffalo level bad. You also are at the mercy of the lottery, 2022 and 2023 looks like its going to have 3 potential superstars in each draft, you could finish 3rd behind Buffalo and Seattle and miss out due to the lottery. There is also concern about promoting losing, but many of the best players in the league entered into losing situations and came out of it ok. Blake would have to keep Kopitar and would probably do what DL did and bring in older vets who are good in the room and good around young players.
2. He can trade his significant prospect capital, specifically the overflow of likely 2nd line centers for a current and future 1C in Jack Eichel.
As has been discussed here a ton, there are certainly valid risks, but it's a rare opportunity that Blake probably won't be presented with again in the rest of his time as Kings GM. The positive scenario is Eichel returns to the level he played at before as he enters his prime and QB develops into a Barkov caliber player (probably his ceiling). The Kings have no concerns at the most important and valuable position on a roster, essentially having two 1C's (between Eichel, Kopitar and then QB taking over for AK) for the next 5 seasons minimum to build around. QB likely doesn't see a top checking center or top pair d-man much at all in his first 3 years and has limited defensive responsibility until AK leaves. Eichel's contract would end at age 29, giving Blake the possibility of re-signing him and having some good years left with what is hopefully by then another stud star center in QB, a big difference than if Eichel were say 27. Wingers are easier to acquire through trade, UFA and later in the draft than C's like this are. If QB reaches potential and Eichel is the same player he was in Buffalo the wingers don't even have to be great with C's like that. If your 2C projects as someone like Vilardi, Turcotte or Kupari as it does now you will have to likely put a very good winger on that line for it to be an offensive juggernaut. Again those are easier to acquire than centers, but as evidenced by the Kings the last 15 years, they don't grow on trees either. Another thing to consider, the Kings aren't going to be cup favorites next year, no matter who they add, but this allows the Kings to keep Doughty and Kopitar and with the addition of Eichel it's very likely the Kings get a wildcard if not a 3 seed in the pacific. With players like those 3, plus if maybe a few things go right like Kaliyev or Vilardi emerge as a solid wingers next to Eichel and maybe Kempe finally figures it out, on the backend Toby and Anderson could potentially take a step this year, especially Toby. If that happens the Kings atleast give themselves a fighters chance. As witnessed by Montreal this year there is some value to just getting in. The two best teams in the division project to be Vegas and Edmonton, and we saw what happened to them in this years playoffs. As I've said before, this trade is more done for down the road, transitioning the Kings from the Kopitar/Doughty era to the Eichel/QB era but it does give you a little benefit of likely seeing playoff hockey next spring at Staples.
The negative is Eichel isn't the same player he was in Buffalo. The Kings would do due diligence medically and wouldn't trade for him if he is damaged goods so I'm less worried about a career ending injury, but he certainly could be a lesser player (say like a RyJo himself) and the doctors and medical tests might not be able to identify that before the trade. Also there is the chance that QB is RyJo too. The Kings could win with with a RyJo caliber 2C in QB or Eichel playing behind an elite 1C caliber Eichel or QB but it's obviously a much tougher challenge than having 2 elite 1C's. Also, in that scenario once QB's contract is up you have a $10m 2nd line center no longer being eased by the 1C on an ELC. For the next three years having three players making $10m a year, especially two on the wrong side of 30 isn't ideal either and kind of limits Blake. The good news on that front is the most likely Kings that would be needing potentially big extensions if all goes well would be QB and Kaliyev, and they will both be FA's when Kopitar's contract expires. If that final year of Kopitar's contract has QB as the 2C, Kaliyev as a scoring line winger and Kopitar as the 3C their cap hits would be a combined $12 million, that is more than manageable
3. Attempt to bring in players still in the primes of their career on shorter term bigger money deals and/or trade for secondary or depth players from cap strapped teams.
I see almost no benefit in this if the goal is to eventually compete for SC's, but it's being discussed a lot here with some people close to the team saying it might be the path they go down.
The positive is this keeps Doughty from running his mouth and you don't have to give up any of your prospect capital? If you sign Brandon Saad, sign or trade for a 2nd pairing d-man you can possibly sneak into a WC or 3 seed, as discussed above the division is going to be a joke. I think the chances of making a run are less than the big trade scenario one would be, because it's Kopitar and a rookie QB as the likely centers as opposed to Eichel and Kopitar. This gives the Kings more cap flexibility going forward and more time to evaluate prospects to see how they project. Blake would have a better chance to evaluate what he's giving up and not miss out on trading Vilardi right before he becomes a 20-40 type player or Turcotte if he turned into a modern day Mike Richards. However there is also a chance that guys like Turcotte, Kupari and Vilardi could see their stock fall next season, no guarantee it goes up.
The negatives. You enter into black hole territory for the next couple of years, no Stanley Cups and no top picks. You still don't have anyone young that projects as truly elite outside of QB and you are looking at picking in the teens for the next couple of years making it very difficult to find a franchise talent in the draft, so you're likely adding even more secondary pieces to an already muddled prospect pool filled with them. If that is to stockpile more prospects to increase the prospect capital and make a trade in 2-3 years there is no guarantee that anyone even resembling a star is on the market, and almost zero chance a player as good as Eichel is available. There is a realistic chance Kopitar begins to fall off with no veteran center to pick up his role, and a Kopitar fall-off negates any positive a Brandon Saad or any Tampa player may bring and KO's any playoff hopes but not enough to fall into a position to draft really high (unless we win the lottery).
I didn't include signing someone like Landeskog, someone is going to give him 7 years at the money he wants, which the Kings are unlikely to do even if they could, and the Kings would have to offer significantly more than anyone else to get him to come to a bad team that plays 50 games a year in a state with a a 12% state income tax. Same thing with Hamilton, and the rumors on him anyways are that it might be a sign and trade to get the 8 years. Sorry but giving guys in their late 20's 7 or 8 year deals and in Hamilton's case giving stuff up, no thanks and unlikely anyways.
