2020 Entry Draft Order for LA Kings discussion

[KopitarFAN]

Under the league’s proposed draft lottery changes for this year, the Kings won’t drop further than 5, but it still sounds like everything relating to the lottery and the draft is TBD.

Seems like with each passing day it becomes more likely they have late September/October draft, but who knows, if the season gets called off in late may or early June (unlikely), then they probably have the draft somewhat on schedule. Only time will tell.

 

[kingsfan28]

Under the league’s proposed draft lottery changes for this year, the Kings won’t drop further than 5, but it still sounds like everything relating to the lottery and the draft is TBD.

I keep hearing it happening in June, but how would that even work, especially with no real cap set? What about all the trades that happen on draft day, how do you factor in trades when the season isn't even complete.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I keep hearing it happening in June, but how would that even work, especially with no real cap set? What about all the trades that happen on draft day, how do you factor in trades when the season isn't even complete.

That’s likely why a majority of teams are against having a draft before the season is over, but we don’t even know when that day will come and I think their rush to get a draft going is driven by having some new, live content that their TV partners are pushing for.

 

[KopitarFAN]

One thing that hasn't been talked about much when comes to a June draft is development camp, if they think it's safe for some teams to resume the season, then that's probably doable. Where a late draft is an issue is that won't happen, as European and CHL seasons normally start in mid-September.

 

[kingsfan28]

That’s likely why a majority of teams are against having a draft before the season is over, but we don’t even know when that day will come and I think their rush to get a draft going is driven by having some new, live content that their TV partners are pushing for.

Like the NFL draft did. The problem is, their season was over. The NHL is going to find a way to screw this up trying to "do the right thing".

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

I like Drysdale a tonne but think drafting him because he's the BPA is wrong! Unless the Kings have designs on dealing Doughty and Kopitar and blowing this all up!And drafting Drysdale to keep him away from the Ducks is equally wrong. Kings should make a trade with the Devils who are dying to get themselves a RD-man like Drysdale to fill the shoes of the soon departing PK Subban and his 9 M( 8 M actual money for both seasons) cap hit for 2020-21 and 2021-22. Make the trade and get Devils 6th and 17th overall for a plethora of our picks(4th),(35th,48th) in the 2nd(which by the way New Jersey has no picks in the 2nd) and throw in a 3rd rounder(77th) and have them toss in a 4th(99th) rounder! Futa would have had balls enough to do that!

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

Ottawa could end up with the top 2 picks ... Scary thought.

As for L.A. I have hope they'll jump into one of those spots, but to keep it focused on OP's premise (and keep it simple by assuming everyone is available at #4 besides Lafreniere), I'd go Stutzle, Byfield, then Holtz.

I think the most likely, as of today, is that Holtz is the one still available and I'm am completely okay with that.

Rossi is very tempting but smallish centers worry me.

I like Rossi too but not only is he small but nearly a year older than a lot of the top prospects not named Lafreniere. And besides that the Kings are flush with smallish centres. Maybe not the skill set as Rossi but...

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

After making a deal with the "Devil"s then I would turn my attention to trading the 6th pick in front of the Buffalo Sabres who are salivating at the prospect of getting a legitimate(Not Mittelstadt and Cozens is a RWinger at the NHL level) 2nd line centre,Rossi ahead of Montreal who also want/need and like him. Its then I'd call GM Marc Bergevin and get back some of the picks traded to the Devils...say the Canadiens 61st(2nd Round) and 96th(3rd round). Montreal would be tickled pink I imagine. And the Kings could draft with the 8th pick a Hakan Loob clone! The Kings would have after all the smoked cleared two first rounders 8th and 17th overall,two second rounders 59th and 61st! The 66th choice in the third round plus 96th,97th and 99th in the fourth round! Of course would still have the 109 choice,128th pick,159th and 190th! And with these picks the Kings would focus on getting some front line R-Wingers and L-Wingers a L-D,R-D,goalie and a couple of centres since you can't have enough of those!

 

[Sparky206]

Id prefer 4th, 35th, 48th over 8th, 17th. I think being able to take your pick of the 2nd tier prospects with two other top 50 shots is worth more than getting the last of the 2nd tier prospects that nobody wanted and a 17th which is no guarantee to pan out better than two shots in the early in the 2nd which you would think have a decent chance for one of those to reach their projected potential.

 

[kingsboy11]

Here's how I think its going to go, assuming everyone stays where they are with Detroit 1, Ottawa 2/3, Us 4 and Ducks 5.

Obviously Lafreniere is going #1 no matter what.

I think Byfield is a no doubter #2 pick, but our draft is going to depend on what Ottawa does with its 3rd pick. Do they go with another forward in Stutzle or do they go with a defenseman that could one day play next to Chabot or even be better than Chabot. I think the Kings will take the odd man out of those 3 players. If it goes Byfield and Stutzle, then they'll go with Drysdale. If it goes Byfield and Drysdale, then they'll go with Stutzle. If by some chance Ottawa passes on Byfield twice I'd think they would sprint up to stage taking the BPA. I don't really see a scenario where we trade down if that happens. If by some chance a team behind us wins the lottery then we may be more open to a deal, but I think this top 10 is solid all the way through where I think the Kings would be content with where they are at.

With regards to our 2nd round picks, I think its a different story. Our prospect pool has been built up tremendously over the last 3 years. I'd say if this was 5 or 6 years ago, Fagemo and Thomas would've been our top prospects. Going by the Mayor's ranking they're barely top 10. That shows how good our pool has become. I think given with where we are at right now and the trend that we are going that we should be more diverting our focus from quantity of prospects to quality, so I can easily see a scenario where Blake and Yannetti see a player (Bjornfot) and take the gamble that he won't be there by the time your first 2nd pick is there. We got 3 2nd round picks this year and a potential of 3 in next years draft, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them be a little more aggressive trading up into the late 1st round if there is a prospect that they really want.

But I can also seeing them easily to continue hoarding prospects and building up the pool even more mostly as trading assets that could come in handy once we are ready to start competing again. You could also look at it long term and think once guys like Kopi, Brownie, Carter are all gone and Vilardi, Turcotte, Kaliyev take their spots, then who do you have to replace the roles that those 3 had before they were given the reigns and just sort of having an endless cycle of prospects.

And as always with prospects, not all of them are going to hit and we've had this discussion about development recently. I think as a whole, we are very good at making NHL players and better than most teams. Certainly not the best, but certainly not the worst.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

After making a deal with the "Devil"s then I would turn my attention to trading the 6th pick in front of the Buffalo Sabres who are salivating at the prospect of getting a legitimate(Not Mittelstadt and Cozens is a RWinger at the NHL level) 2nd line centre,Rossi ahead of Montreal who also want/need and like him. Its then I'd call GM Marc Bergevin and get back some of the picks traded to the Devils...say the Canadiens 61st(2nd Round) and 96th(3rd round). Montreal would be tickled pink I imagine. And the Kings could draft with the 8th pick a Hakan Loob clone! The Kings would have after all the smoked cleared two first rounders 8th and 17th overall,two second rounders 59th and 61st! The 66th choice in the third round plus 96th,97th and 99th in the fourth round! Of course would still have the 109 choice,128th pick,159th and 190th! And with these picks the Kings would focus on getting some front line R-Wingers and L-Wingers a L-D,R-D,goalie and a couple of centres since you can't have enough of those!

This looks like the script from Draft Day. Will Costner play Blake in the NHL remake of the movie?

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

Here's how I think its going to go, assuming everyone stays where they are with Detroit 1, Ottawa 2/3, Us 4 and Ducks 5.

Obviously Lafreniere is going #1 no matter what.

I think Byfield is a no doubter #2 pick, but our draft is going to depend on what Ottawa does with its 3rd pick. Do they go with another forward in Stutzle or do they go with a defenseman that could one day play next to Chabot or even be better than Chabot. I think the Kings will take the odd man out of those 3 players. If it goes Byfield and Stutzle, then they'll go with Drysdale. If it goes Byfield and Drysdale, then they'll go with Stutzle. If by some chance Ottawa passes on Byfield twice I'd think they would sprint up to stage taking the BPA. I don't really see a scenario where we trade down if that happens. If by some chance a team behind us wins the lottery then we may be more open to a deal, but I think this top 10 is solid all the way through where I think the Kings would be content with where they are at.

With regards to our 2nd round picks, I think its a different story. Our prospect pool has been built up tremendously over the last 3 years. I'd say if this was 5 or 6 years ago, Fagemo and Thomas would've been our top prospects. Going by the Mayor's ranking they're barely top 10. That shows how good our pool has become. I think given with where we are at right now and the trend that we are going that we should be more diverting our focus from quantity of prospects to quality, so I can easily see a scenario where Blake and Yannetti see a player (Bjornfot) and take the gamble that he won't be there by the time your first 2nd pick is there. We got 3 2nd round picks this year and a potential of 3 in next years draft, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them be a little more aggressive trading up into the late 1st round if there is a prospect that they really want.

But I can also seeing them easily to continue hoarding prospects and building up the pool even more mostly as trading assets that could come in handy once we are ready to start competing again. You could also look at it long term and think once guys like Kopi, Brownie, Carter are all gone and Vilardi, Turcotte, Kaliyev take their spots, then who do you have to replace the roles that those 3 had before they were given the reigns and just sort of having an endless cycle of prospects.

And as always with prospects, not all of them are going to hit and we've had this discussion about development recently. I think as a whole, we are very good at making NHL players and better than most teams. Certainly not the best, but certainly not the worst.

For the most part I like and hear what you're saying! Ottawa is in the drivers seat. I think they are like the Kings and stacked at Centre and RD is fine with them too having spent heavily in recent years on (2018- 26th overall)Bernard-Docker and (2019-19th overall)Thomson(both first round picks) at RD. They also just signed RD Artyom Zub from St Petersburg and they have Nikita Zaitsev for 3-4 more years! And the Sens have Centres out the wazoo...even after they dealt Pageau and Namestnikov...White,Tierney,Anisimov,Chlapik,Norris,Logan Brown,Hawryluk,Pinto,Peca,Kastelic and Batherson. Now some of these will be turned into Wingers but the fact remains does Ottawa really need another Centre or RD? Now none of these Centres could be as good as Byfield and none of the RD-men as good as Drysdale, but do they really need or want them?

 

[bland]

Stutzle looks like a very dynamic player, but I really hope somebody else drafts him.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I think 4 is more of a wildcard than that. HFBoards has Stutzle much higher than others typical have had, even if more recent publications move him to 3-4. Many have Raymond and Rossi, even Holtz and Perfetti over Drysdale . 2-7 is basically wide open.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Stutzle looks like a very dynamic player, but I really hope somebody else drafts him.

Some also shared that thought about Elias Pettersson...

 

[bland]

Some also shared that thought about Elias Pettersson...

Who?
Go ahead, I'll wait...

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Who?
Go ahead, I'll wait...

I just posted an article in another thread about the rift among the Canucks' staff where their head scout wanted Elias Pettersson and Benning wanted Cody Glass or Casey Mittelestadt. Those two went right after Pettersson, who had a slight frame but was a dynamic player heading into the 2017 draft. This article also touches on that subject:
Ed Willes: In picking Pettersson, Canucks prove you can’t lose them all at draft

Look at where Jeff Marek had Pettersson ranked in his draft year.
Sportsnet's 2017 NHL Draft Prospect Rankings for January - Sportsnet.ca

ISS had him ranked 20th.
ISS Hockey Releases FINAL Rankings in its 2017 NHL Draft Guide - ISS Hockey

In their draft preview, THN had Pettersson ranked 9th.
2017 NHL draft: Ranking the top 120 prospects - TheHockeyNews

Look at the feedback from Canucks fans, even some of them were upset with the selection of Pettersson.
Elias Pettersson | #40 | C

Some reports labeled Pettersson as a "swing for the fences" type of prospect as his draft ranking was all over the place.
2017 NHL Draft Profile: Elias Pettersson Could Be the Steal of the Draft For the Red Wings

Even some posters at the time of his draft called him a "reach" at 5th overall.
C Elias Pettersson - Timra IK, Allsvenskan (2017, 5th, VAN)

Sounds like many thought they were glad their team wasn't picking Pettersson.

 

[AlphaBravo]

I don't see Ottawa drafting two forwards with their picks, considering Drysdale is also ranked high and is very talented. It's just human nature to split the picks with a forward and defenseman. I could see them drafting two forwards if Drysdale was a mid- to late round 1st round ranking. But he is not. I think the odds are higher than 90% that we get one of Stutzle or Byfield.

 

[Brodeur]

Make the trade and get Devils 6th and 17th overall for a plethora of our picks(4th),(35th,48th) in the 2nd(which by the way New Jersey has no picks in the 2nd) and throw in a 3rd rounder(77th) and have them toss in a 4th(99th) rounder!

Seems a little pricey to move up from #4 to #6.

Comparables:

2008: NYI traded #5 to Toronto for #7, #68, and a 2009 2nd

NYI traded #7 to Nashville for #9 and #40

2004: Columbus traded #4 to Carolina for #8 and #59

2003: Florida traded #1 and #73 to Pittsburgh for #3, #55, and Mikael Samuelsson

And then in 2012, Garth Snow channeled his inner Mike Ditka and offered up his entire draft (#4, #34, #65, #103, #125, #155, and #185) to Columbus for #2 but were declined.

In 2006, Boston offered #5 and #37 to Washington for #4, but were turned down after Boston's rep told Washington that they'd be hypothetically taking Nicklas Backstrom.

In 2007, St. Louis wanted Jakub Voracek offered up #9 and #24 to Edmonton for #6 and were turned down. At the time, most thought there was a top tier of 6 or 7 depending on how you felt about Alexei Cherepanov. So Edmonton didn't want to drop out of the supposed top tier. With the 2020 Draft, it seems like that 2nd tier extends to at least 8 maybe 9 with Sanderson's recent ascent.

In 2015, New Jersey offered #6 to Columbus for #8, #34, and #129 but were turned down since Columbus figured Philadelphia wasn't going to pick Zack Werenski at #7.

While Drysdale would be a nice fit of BPA and need, the Devils could still land a D with Arizona's 1st or Vancouver's 1st. Plus the early projections for next year seem to have a lot of D in the top 15.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I don't see Ottawa drafting two forwards with their picks, considering Drysdale is also ranked high and is very talented. It's just human nature to split the picks with a forward and defenseman. I could see them drafting two forwards if Drysdale was a mid- to late round 1st round ranking. But he is not. I think the odds are higher than 90% that we get one of Stutzle or Byfield.

I tend to agree in a way but Ottawa's got D. Chabot, Brannstrom, Lassi Thomson, Bernard-Docker. They have the luxury of piking two BPA if they like and two dynamic offensive threats to go with that stable would be nice.

 

[No Name The Nameless]

I don't see Ottawa drafting two forwards with their picks, considering Drysdale is also ranked high and is very talented. It's just human nature to split the picks with a forward and defenseman. I could see them drafting two forwards if Drysdale was a mid- to late round 1st round ranking. But he is not. I think the odds are higher than 90% that we get one of Stutzle or Byfield.

Holy moly. Those are odds I'd love to exploit.

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

Seems a little pricey to move up from #4 to #6.

Comparables:

2008: NYI traded #5 to Toronto for #7, #68, and a 2009 2nd

NYI traded #7 to Nashville for #9 and #40

2004: Columbus traded #4 to Carolina for #8 and #59

2003: Florida traded #1 and #73 to Pittsburgh for #3, #55, and Mikael Samuelsson

And then in 2012, Garth Snow channeled his inner Mike Ditka and offered up his entire draft (#4, #34, #65, #103, #125, #155, and #185) to Columbus for #2 but were declined.

In 2006, Boston offered #5 and #37 to Washington for #4, but were turned down after Boston's rep told Washington that they'd be hypothetically taking Nicklas Backstrom.

In 2007, St. Louis wanted Jakub Voracek offered up #9 and #24 to Edmonton for #6 and were turned down. At the time, most thought there was a top tier of 6 or 7 depending on how you felt about Alexei Cherepanov. So Edmonton didn't want to drop out of the supposed top tier. With the 2020 Draft, it seems like that 2nd tier extends to at least 8 maybe 9 with Sanderson's recent ascent.

In 2015, New Jersey offered #6 to Columbus for #8, #34, and #129 but were turned down since Columbus figured Philadelphia wasn't going to pick Zack Werenski at #7.

While Drysdale would be a nice fit of BPA and need, the Devils could still land a D with Arizona's 1st or Vancouver's 1st. Plus the early projections for next year seem to have a lot of D in the top 15.

The Devils have a definite need at RD and Drysdale is head and shoulders above the likes of Helge Grans and Braden Schneider the other 2 RD likely to go in the first round of the 2020 draft. If I'm the GM of New Jersey(interim Tom Fitzgerald) and have a chance at Drysdale I gobble it up because he can play a regular shift and man the PP for certain! And will fill the shoes of soon to departed PK Subban at a vastly cheaper sum...for at least 3 years anyways! Then with the 10th and 17th picks provided they haven't dealt them away they can snag more firepower. In my 2020 mock I have them taking Drysdale,Quinn and then what ever falls to them with the LA picks! But say they make no deal...then they could take Rossi(not likely)Perfetti(slightly better),Quinn and Gunler or Foester! Perhaps they take Sanderson but I doubt that!

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

I tend to agree in a way but Ottawa's got D. Chabot, Brannstrom, Lassi Thomson, Bernard-Docker. They have the luxury of piking two BPA if they like and two dynamic offensive threats to go with that stable would be nice.

Would love to see Ottawa take 2 forwards! Don't want Stuetzle at all and I don't care how fast he is. He's going to play where on the Kings if they select him? Centre,LWing...Don't like it period!

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

Did anyone notice that the Sens and Kings have a boatload of picks in the top 77! Ottawa has 8 in top 74 and the Kings have 7 in 77 picks! That's a lot draft capital on which to rebuild and that's in the first 2 1/2 rounds. Toronto on the other hand has 10 picks in the last 105 picks of the draft so they own that if I can say that! And Montreal owns 16 picks with multiple(2-4) picks in every round except the first and the sixth!

 

[regulate]

Seems like with each passing day it becomes more likely they have late September/October draft, but who knows, if the season gets called off in late may or early June (unlikely), then they probably have the draft somewhat on schedule. Only time will tell.

On TSN today they said the appetite for a June draft by the league appears to be waning. Nothing set in stone, but interest dwindling due to the amount of opposition from many teams.