Los Angeles is simply not getting enough out of its draft picks, and after Byfield and Clarke, their prospect pool deeply lacks skill and envisioned scoring. That began under the influence of Dean Lombardi, who justifiably attempted to pull every lever to keep a near-championship-caliber team afloat after its trajectory was thrown askew by Slava Voynov’s arrest and exit. But a great deal of it also comes from questionable drafting, development and roster construction under the Robitaille-Blake co-stewardship.
Since Adrian Kempe was deftly chosen 29th overall in 2014, the Kings have traded four first round picks and two players they’d selected with first round picks. Four first round draftees remain: Alex Turcotte, a fifth overall pick who has been held scoreless in 12 career games, is yet to earn his coach’s trust and has been included in trade discussions; Toby Bjornfot, who was drafted 22nd and has not yet defined himself as more than a third defenseman and was the focus of preseason waiver speculation; Byfield, who remains too young for a fair evaluation but ranks eighth in points among the top 10 forwards chosen in 2020 despite being drafted second overall; and Clarke, the eighth pick in 2021 who shows immense promise as an offensive defenseman.
While the jury continues to deliberate on trajectory, their suspect contribution has not been complemented at all by players chosen in the second round.
Between Tyler Toffoli’s selection in 2010 and their 2020 class, only four of 12 players chosen in the second round have played one game in the organization. It’s a group that includes Kale Clague (33 games) and Samuel Fagemo (13), who were waived and claimed, and Jaret Anderson-Dolan (97), waived earlier this week. The only second round pick since Toffoli to play more than 100 games is Arthur Kaliyev (137), who as many scouting reports foretold has not yet adapted his all-around play to match his lethal shot, and is yet to lock down the type of top-six role in which he’ll have a long enough leash to demonstrate it. He’s also too young to fairly evaluate, but their second round hits – defensemen Erik Cernak and Brock Faber, who averages nearly 23 minutes through two games – were traded before playing one game in L.A.
