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Kings Article: 2021 LA Kings Draft Preview: A Look At Potential 1st Round Picks with Mark Yannetti

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FrozenRoyalty

FrozenRoyalty

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Feb 5, 2008
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Pretty honest and sober assessment of the top prospects. Bottom line...This is not a good draft.
 
Just as I suspected, the Kings love Beniers. I truly think if the Kings had won the lottery this would have been the Kings pick. This is the type of player this scouting staff dreams about taking. Maybe in this draft its ok, but in most years I just want more out of a guy that Seattle is rumored to possibly be taking at #2. If Seattle takes Beniers then overachieves this season and misses out on getting a true 1C prospect it may hurt their building process.

I don't think the Luke to Quinn comparisons would be made if they weren't brothers. Luke is way bigger and stronger and shoots the puck better. Quinn is an elite skater with generational game sense which Luke doesn't have. Luke is a good player, more well rounded than Quinn but it's very unlikely he sniffs being the type of player Quinn is. I wouldn't hate the Kings taking him at 8, but he projects more as a Muzzin caliber player than a star like Quinn is.

But yeah, this doesn't seem like a very strong draft. I am thinking more and more that there is a strong possibility the Kings take Wallstedt. It fills an organizational need and with how poor the rest of the draft is it might be a good year to take a goalie high. Keep in mind that all of the 4 remaining goalies in the playoffs were all 1st round picks.
 
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Herby said:
Just as I suspected, the Kings love Beniers. I truly think if the Kings had won the lottery this would have been the Kings pick. This is the type of player this scouting staff dreams about taking. Maybe in this draft its ok, but in most years I just want more out of a guy that Seattle is rumored to possibly be taking at #2. If Seattle takes Beniers then overachieves this season and misses out on getting a true 1C prospect it may hurt their building process.

I don't think the Luke to Quinn comparisons would be made if they weren't brothers. Luke is way bigger and stronger and shoots the puck better. Quinn is an elite skater with generational game sense which Luke doesn't have. Luke is a good player, more well rounded than Quinn but it's very unlikely he sniffs being the type of player Quinn is. I wouldn't hate the Kings taking him at 8, but he projects more as a Muzzin caliber player than a star like Quinn is.

But yeah, this doesn't seem like a very strong draft. I am thinking more and more that there is a strong possibility the Kings take Wallstedt. It fills an organizational need and with how poor the rest of the draft is it might be a good year to take a goalie high. Keep in mind that all of the 4 remaining goalies in the playoffs were all 1st round picks.
Click to expand...

Berniers is safe. He is a McDonald's vanilla soft serve cone. He won't hurt you and is leader material. High floor/lower ceiling. Maybe they want him because he is a Turcotte clone who is healthy and they are going to trade Turcotte.

The Kings love him because the Kings are risk averse and unimaginative. They always pick the safe guy rather than gamble.

That said, Berniers is a very good prospect and he will win you games. I am more in the Johnson/Guenther camp but I will not complain one bit if Berniers drops to us.
 
I'm 99.999% sure the Kings would have taken Powers at #1 OA if they won the Lottery. But i do agree that they really like Berniers and would have loved him at #2.
 
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Thank you, Gann!
Great job, getting Yannetti’s views.
I wish he did cover Lucius and Wallstedt. Did you make the list of
Players, or did Mark?

Interesting about Coronato. Maybe he could be a sleeper at 8.
Whether or not, he ‘should go 11-15’....there are no guarantees with
Any of these prospects. It’s true few 18 year olds are ever attaining
40+ goals in the USHL...then Mark adding he really has no negatives.

I wonder if they will try to trade up...or trade down..or trade the pick
For a player as part of a package. This year could be any 3 of those,
More than normal.

Can you get his take on Tkachyov? Have seen little to nothing
From the staff on him. Would love Yannetti’s views.
 
Peter James Bond III said:
Thank you, Gann!
Great job, getting Yannetti’s views.
I wish he did cover Lucius and Wallstedt. Did you make the list of
Players, or did Mark?

Interesting about Coronato. Maybe he could be a sleeper at 8.
Whether or not, he ‘should go 11-15’....there are no guarantees with
Any of these prospects. It’s true few 18 year olds are ever attaining
40+ goals in the USHL...then Mark adding he really has no negatives.

I wonder if they will try to trade up...or trade down..or trade the pick
For a player as part of a package. This year could be any 3 of those,
More than normal.

Can you get his take on Tkachyov? Have seen little to nothing
From the staff on him. Would love Yannetti’s views.
Click to expand...

Coronato is one of the most underrated prospects in the draft, IMO. He rarely gets talked about much on HF. When I went and saw a few Steele games in 19-20 to see Power and Brisson play he stood out as a 17 year old. This year he completely exploded in what was an insanely good USHL due to Covid KO'ing some of the other leagues. He is all over the place in the ranking services but he is the type of player that the Kings system is lacking (shocking I know). Maybe with the uncertainty of this draft it could be the type of aggressive pick they should make. An Ivy kid too, so you know he has a lot between the ears.
 
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Herby said:
Just as I suspected, the Kings love Beniers. I truly think if the Kings had won the lottery this would have been the Kings pick. This is the type of player this scouting staff dreams about taking. Maybe in this draft its ok, but in most years I just want more out of a guy that Seattle is rumored to possibly be taking at #2. If Seattle takes Beniers then overachieves this season and misses out on getting a true 1C prospect it may hurt their building process.

I don't think the Luke to Quinn comparisons would be made if they weren't brothers. Luke is way bigger and stronger and shoots the puck better. Quinn is an elite skater with generational game sense which Luke doesn't have. Luke is a good player, more well rounded than Quinn but it's very unlikely he sniffs being the type of player Quinn is. I wouldn't hate the Kings taking him at 8, but he projects more as a Muzzin caliber player than a star like Quinn is.

But yeah, this doesn't seem like a very strong draft. I am thinking more and more that there is a strong possibility the Kings take Wallstedt. It fills an organizational need and with how poor the rest of the draft is it might be a good year to take a goalie high. Keep in mind that all of the 4 remaining goalies in the playoffs were all 1st round picks.
Click to expand...

Don't forget that he didn't share what the Kings think of any particular prospect. That said, a lot of NHL scout like Beniers.
 
Herby said:
Coronato is one of the most underrated prospects in the draft, IMO. He rarely gets talked about much on HF. When I went and saw a few Steele games in 19-20 to see Power and Brisson play he stood out as a 17 year old. This year he completely exploded in what was an insanely good USHL due to Covid KO'ing some of the other leagues. He is all over the place in the ranking services but he is the type of player that the Kings system is lacking (shocking I know). Maybe with the uncertainty of this draft it could be the type of aggressive pick they should make. An Ivy kid too, so you know he has a lot between the ears.
Click to expand...

As stated in the article, it was CSB's rankings...
 
AzKing said:
The Kings love him because the Kings are risk averse and unimaginative. They always pick the safe guy rather than gamble.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna call BS here. I only need to point to Gabe Villardi and the risk of tossing away the 11OA pick in 2017. You think he was the safe pick?
 
Crown Royal said:
I'm gonna call BS here. I only need to point to Gabe Villardi and the risk of tossing away the 11OA pick in 2017. You think he was the safe pick?
Click to expand...

Vilardi was the very definition of safe pick in 2017. That's not a criticism...just reality.
 
Others have mentioned it, but the way he talked about Coronato has to make you go "hmmmm" he's either bluffing or that's a guy they really like, and if there was ever a year to take a big swing, it's this one.
 
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AzKing said:
Berniers is safe. He is a McDonald's vanilla soft serve cone. He won't hurt you and is leader material. High floor/lower ceiling. Maybe they want him because he is a Turcotte clone who is healthy and they are going to trade Turcotte.

The Kings love him because the Kings are risk averse and unimaginative. They always pick the safe guy rather than gamble.

That said, Berniers is a very good prospect and he will win you games. I am more in the Johnson/Guenther camp but I will not complain one bit if Berniers drops to us.
Click to expand...

Turcotte wasn't their first choice though at #5, they wanted Byram at #5, so it would shock me to move up to select a similar player in Berniers. Yannetti is setting up smoke screens here, he wants a big D man, it's pretty obvious with the way he down played Hughes compete level at the end there....Hughes is exactly the type of player we need to move forward and be a contender in 3-4 years.

I do agree that we'll probably be selecting another vanilla player, so Johnson might not be the pick. But now I worry we'll go with Raty, a sure fire 3C :(. Darkhorse is still Lambos for me.
 
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AzKing said:
Berniers is safe. He is a McDonald's vanilla soft serve cone. He won't hurt you and is leader material. High floor/lower ceiling. Maybe they want him because he is a Turcotte clone who is healthy and they are going to trade Turcotte.

The Kings love him because the Kings are risk averse and unimaginative. They always pick the safe guy rather than gamble.

That said, Berniers is a very good prospect and he will win you games. I am more in the Johnson/Guenther camp but I will not complain one bit if Berniers drops to us.
Click to expand...

Maybe you should review the picks the Kings have made over the past few drafts, there have been more skill reaches than safe picks. Far, far more.

If anything they need to make safer choices this time around, because this asset list has a serious lack of players who can win battles along the walls and in front of either net.
 
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“I would say that the perception of this draft is that it’s a lower quality one than most of the earlier drafts. I do think the top ten or 15, or maybe a top seven—each team will have their own thoughts about where the talent gap falls. Once you get past where that line is, I think the [talent level] drops.”

giphy.gif
 
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terrorinthebang said:
“I would say that the perception of this draft is that it’s a lower quality one than most of the earlier drafts. I do think the top ten or 15, or maybe a top seven—each team will have their own thoughts about where the talent gap falls. Once you get past where that line is, I think the [talent level] drops.”

giphy.gif
Click to expand...

There's good reason - leaving open room to trade down. If he were to say "there's a top 8" he's essentially committing to the Kings staying.
 
Herby said:
Coronato is one of the most underrated prospects in the draft, IMO. He rarely gets talked about much on HF. When I went and saw a few Steele games in 19-20 to see Power and Brisson play he stood out as a 17 year old. This year he completely exploded in what was an insanely good USHL due to Covid KO'ing some of the other leagues. He is all over the place in the ranking services but he is the type of player that the Kings system is lacking (shocking I know). Maybe with the uncertainty of this draft it could be the type of aggressive pick they should make. An Ivy kid too, so you know he has a lot between the ears.
Click to expand...
Matt Coronato as the Kings 2nd round pick 39th overall would be good!
 
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