I'm curious if anybody else agrees with this take that Blake and Co arent willing to see this rebuild to the end
The cup window and "going for it" begins in 2 years when Kopitars 10mil comes off the books. We'll have cash to burn on keeping who we want and bringing in any needs along with hopefully a minimum contract Kopitar as a high skill 3C. Then any prospects who are breaking out you can bridge tampa style for 2 years to when Doughtys contract ends and hopefully rinse and repeat with Doughty on League minimum as a high skill Top 4 D. That gives you about a 6 year window when they can push for a cup and largely negate any cap issues as they have plenty of cash coming off the books throughout that time.
The problem is that it wasn’t a great draft, so you’re trading junk for slightly better or slightly worse junk. If next year is expected to be much better why would another team let LA swap picks into a better draft class? It would be a poor move by a GM unless it was to target a specific guy which is unlikely given it was a fairly vanilla draft crop. If you can’t find a trade partner it’s better to draft projects that might make the NHL than skilled guys that you seriously doubt will.
How dare you play the long game.
frozenroyalty.net
i think you are grossly misrepresenting their draft thoughts by saying "Hughes wasn't their main target, probably wasn't even close". He simply was mentioning 2-3 guys that they would be willing to give up assets in order to move up for who dropped. Those are guys they don't expect at their spot. So at their spot, Hughes was heir guy. It's two different things here. One is a move up and one is staying where they were at.1st part of Gann's wonderful interview confirms my thoughts/worries.
Frozen Royalty Exclusive: LA Kings Director of Amateur Scouting Mark Yannetti On the 2022 NHL Draft – Part 1
LOS ANGELES — The 2022 National Hockey League Draft was held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, July 7-8, 2022. But without a first-round pick in this year’s draft, the Los Angeles Kings were…
"“We had identified three players, in two different tiers, that we’d like to move up for,” added Yannetti. “We started at pick 35, and worked our way down to 43 or 44, and couldn’t even get close to making a deal.”"
Hughes wasn't their main target, probably wasn't even close. They're pretty flattering of his potential though, made me feel a little better there. Eager to see what they say re later rounds because my god that's a lot of projects and injuries.
Can't necessarily blame them for inability to move this year any more than on Wallsteadt last year if people weren't willing to play ball but it's still a failure.
I will be surprised if this draft ends up more than just a black hole/footnote with no one really making an impact, like 2011 or 2016.
Yeah. I watched a bit of his game, and I can see why teams may not rate him *highly* but I am completely gobsmacked the best goalie in the most recent tournament was passed over by everyone.
Sorry, but i think your being unrealistic. Sure trading up is fun and exciting. It feels like your team wants this guy badly and goes to get him. Who doesn't love that. Last year was super exciting. But the reality is, 90-95%+ of the time, teams stay put and pick BPA. That's what they did here. If they didn't like the guy, they'd have happily traded down. Last year trading up so much was completely abnormal for teams to do so much (all picks except for their first pick).
The "blocking" isn't about individuals taking others spots, its the organization's desire to use the prospects to improve the veteran players chances instead of using the veteran players to enhance the growth of the high-end prospects.
Ok, I can see that.
It’s not about acquiring a new #1 center, it’s about changing the teams style to suit the upcoming kids who may supplant him, instead of holding on to years gone by with an aging star center.
Exactly, you are mad because you wanted a different player and did not want/like the Hughes selection. Hey me too buddy...we agree there. But THEY obviously do not agree with the two of us as to what player was the better selection for them (including trade down). They felt he was BPA and were happy with the selection. But you were making the point that they were not happy and he wasn't their guy and it was not even close. That's way off base. Now it likely is what YOUR opinion of the player is at 51 and who else was available, but clearly not their opinion. You are putting words in their mouth which is simply not true.
I'm sorry if I'm putting words in your mouth, but you seem more frustrated because there's a lot less "sexiness" and projectability to these picks. Nobody is saying "all Hughes needs to do is improve his consistency, and you have a top-6 player."
lakingsinsider.com
1st part of Gann's wonderful interview confirms my thoughts/worries.
Frozen Royalty Exclusive: LA Kings Director of Amateur Scouting Mark Yannetti On the 2022 NHL Draft – Part 1
LOS ANGELES — The 2022 National Hockey League Draft was held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, July 7-8, 2022. But without a first-round pick in this year’s draft, the Los Angeles Kings were…
"“We had identified three players, in two different tiers, that we’d like to move up for,” added Yannetti. “We started at pick 35, and worked our way down to 43 or 44, and couldn’t even get close to making a deal.”"
Hughes wasn't their main target, probably wasn't even close. They're pretty flattering of his potential though, made me feel a little better there. Eager to see what they say re later rounds because my god that's a lot of projects and injuries.
Can't necessarily blame them for inability to move this year any more than on Wallsteadt last year if people weren't willing to play ball but it's still a failure.
I will be surprised if this draft ends up more than just a black hole/footnote with no one really making an impact, like 2011 or 2016.
