Los Angeles Kings college pipeline still strong but Europe less so

[HF Article]

Photo: Kings prospect Matt Roy’s growth over the course of his sophomore season has helped make the Michigan Tech Huskies one of the nation’s stingiest defensive squads (courtesy of Dave Reginek/Getty Images)


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The Kings have always had a tie to collegiate hockey. The pipeline in the pro ranks includes former NCAA talents like Michael Mersch, Kevin Gravel, Derek Forbort, Nic Dowd, Joel Lowry, Nick Shore and Johnny Brodzinski. Now, the Kings are looking at a much thinner and less diverse group of NCAA prospects. They, nevertheless, are running the gamut of player development phases with the three defensemen they have playing in the collegiate ranks.… read more

The post Los Angeles Kings college pipeline still strong but Europe less so appeared first on Hockey's Future.



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[Raccoon Jesus]

Nice one Jason!

...when was the last time we really had a deep European pool? I can't even remember. DL and staff seem really focused on the homegrown boys more than they're strictly ignoring Europe imo (Kempe, Dergachev fit the "Kings" mold from Europe, but they're not the typical style of play).

 

[regulate]

Well Jason, I have to say I am disappointed with the Kings European prospects (except Kempe) as it does not appear, short of Bartosak having his charges dismissed or Prohorkin changing his mind, that we really have anything to be excited about. Not sold on Alexander Dergachyov. He looked very slow in world Juniors to me. And LaDue, another prospect that we hope would help or RHD depth does not sound quite as intriguing as he did previously.

But how can you not get excited about Amadio, who literately swept or placed very high in most categories on both sides of the puck and had a ton of praise from opposing coaches in the OHL coaches poll. And a 3rd rounder to boot. Marchment and Middleton also with pretty good reputations among the coaches.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I think what Jason points out about LaDue though reminds me a bit of Gravel's last year.

What else can some of these guys do at that level except improve offensively?

 

[regulate]

I think what Jason points out about LaDue though reminds me a bit of Gravel's last year.

What else can some of these guys do at that level except improve offensively?

Some of the comments I have read about LaDue came from the Kings development staff (about stagnation). So that is a bit of a concern. Maybe they are trying to push him a bit about the time is now if you want to play professionally.

 

[Jason Lewis]

I think what Jason points out about LaDue though reminds me a bit of Gravel's last year.

What else can some of these guys do at that level except improve offensively?

Something I didn't mention in the article but has been mentioned to me by people with the Kings.

Gravel was brought up as an example of a player who had a peak penultimate year, followed by a stagnant final one. Perfect.

As far as improvements go, that's tough. Almost all of them need to grow their all around games. Make reads better, quicker. Increase minutes and maintain the good in their games.

The guy that actually stands out to me right now as one who could be a really good late rounder is Matt Roy. Starting to watch him a lot closer and he looks pretty strong. Great growth year.

 

[kingsfan28]

As long as we don't draft guys like Esa Pirnes anymore, I good with it.

 

[jfont]

Are the Kings targeting any college free agents this year?

If so, who? From what I've read, there are a couple of really good defensemen available and one of them plays the Kings style...