Prospect Info: Los Angeles Kings Top Prospect Rankings - #11

[King'sPawn]

Added to this poll: Daniel Brickley, D

#1 - Alex Turcotte, F, 59.1%
#2 - Gabriel Vilardi, F, 53.6% (tie-breaker)
#3 - Rasmus Kupari, F, 46.4% (tie-breaker)
#4 - Cal Petersen, G, 28.9%
#5 - Arthur Kaliyev, F, 33.3%
#6 - Jaret Anderson-Dolan, F, 44%
#7 - Mikey Anderson, D, 32.8%
#8 - Tobias Bjornfot, D, 35.3%
#9 - Carl Grundstrom, F, 50%
#10 - Kale Clague, D, 46.9%

Vote for one player, and post who you want to add to the next poll.

Only players who are eligible for the 2020 Calder trophy (so no Wagner, Amadio, etc). Calder eligibility is defined as:
- No older than 26 years old as of September 15th, 2019 (so Prokhorkin just makes the cut, if you wish to vote him in)
- Has not played in more than 25 games in one season or more than 6 games in two consecutive seasons. (so Matt Roy, at 25 games, just makes the cut if you want to vote him in)

List of players eligible to be nominated:
Aidan Dudas, F
Alexander Dergachyov, F
Andre Lee, F
Blake Lizotte, F
Bokondji Imama, F
Brad Morrison, F
Braden Doyle, D
Bulat Shafigullin, F
Chaz Reddekopp, D
Cole Hults, D
Cole Kehler, G
Drake Rymsha, F
Jacob Ingham, G
Kim Nousiainen, D
Lukas Parik, G
Matt Villalta, G
Mikey Eyssimont, F
Sheldon Rempal, F

Click to read more...

 

[kingsboy11]

Definitely Akil Thomas here. If he was a prospect of ours in 2015 he'd be our top prospect.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

add Blake Lizotte

 

[goosh]

Went with Fagemo, but mostly a coin-flip between him and Thomas for me.

Add Lizotte.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Still Fagemo for me.

 

[Herby]

I think 1-3 are obviously above the rest, 4-11 is more bunched up. I do think JAD is the best of the rest, I feel like if we had to hold on to anyone in 4-11 range the team would choose JAD.

My 4-11

4. JAD
5. Bjornfoot
6. Anderson
7. Kaliyev
8. Grundstrom
9. Peterson
10. Clague
11. Thomas

 

[BringTheReign]

Add Lizotte

My remaining picks:

11. Samuel Fagemo
12. Akil Thomas
13. Sean Durzi
14. Nikolai Prokhorkin
15. Johan Sodergran
16. Jacob Moverare
17. Blake Lizotte
18. Lukas Parik
19. Jordan Spence
20. Daniel Brickley

Pretty stoked overall on our prospect pool. For instance, I think Daniel Brickley is going to be an NHL player, even if it's only as a #5-6 guy, and he's #20. I think Moverare is the biggest dark horse candidate to move up the list this coming season. It seems like he's been having a renaissance over in the SHL.

 

[Mats26]

Nice top 15, probably the deepest we've ever had?
Next summer at the draft we will add more assets. We have 8 picks already. + Add picks for Toffoli, Lewis, LaDue, Campbell?
Could end up with 12 or so more picks.

 

[lumbergh]

Pretty crazy that a point-per-game player/all-star in the KHL who has won an Olympic Gold Medal and a Gagarin Cup couldn't crack the top ten on the Kings prospect list.

 

[jfont]

Pretty crazy that a point-per-game player/all-star in the KHL who has won an Olympic Gold Medal and a Gagarin Cup couldn't crack the top ten on the Kings prospect list.

and a player who will probably make the kings team this season before anyone in the top 10 (except for Grundstrom)

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Well, Like I said early on, NHL-readiness doesn't equal better prospect.

Clifford and Simmonds played in the NHL immediately and that doesn't make them better prospects than Turcotte. Porkins credentials are great, but let's not forget preseason hero Brandon Bochenski and guys like Kevin Dallman were KHL heroes too. Even now he doesn't project as anything higher than a middle sixer, which is why he's not on the rankings yet imo.

 

[Lt Dan]

and a player who will probably make the kings team this season before anyone in the top 10 (except for Grundstrom)

I think people have mostly given up on him

 

[kovacro]

Pretty crazy that a point-per-game player/all-star in the KHL who has won an Olympic Gold Medal and a Gagarin Cup couldn't crack the top ten on the Kings prospect list.

For me, he's not a prospect. He's been playing in the pro ranks since 2012 and will be 26 by the time the regular season begins. More of a known quantity than the kids on this list who are suspects until they hit the pro ranks and get a few seasons under their belt.

 

[lumbergh]

Well, Like I said early on, NHL-readiness doesn't equal better prospect.

Clifford and Simmonds played in the NHL immediately and that doesn't make them better prospects than Turcotte. Porkins credentials are great, but let's not forget preseason hero Brandon Bochenski and guys like Kevin Dallman were KHL heroes too. Even now he doesn't project as anything higher than a middle sixer, which is why he's not on the rankings yet imo.

Well, Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Carl Grundstrom also don't project as anything higher than middle sixers, so I don't get that argument. To me, these three are on the same level, but JAD has some leadership advantages. Prokhorkin has size and skill, JAD has speed and tenacity, Grundstrom has grit and scoring ability. Really tough comparisons. Prokhorkin just has a longer resume.

Prokhorkin is older than the other prospects, so he's not likely to make major jumps in potential, but you never know if his game will translate well. We'll just have to see.

 

[henkkj]

Kings prospect pool looking really deep. Made a little comparison between #3 Kupari and a likely #12 Fagemo. I must admit that I have never seen Fagemo play, so this comparison is based on statistics only. Fun fact: Fagemo is exactly 1 day older than Kupari.

Goals per game:

Kupari: 0,28
Fagemo: 0,33

Points per game:

Kupari: 0,77
Fagemo: 0,60

Avg. ice time:

Kupari: 14:21 min
Fagemo: 13:56 min

Only looked at regular season stats for their respective teams.

Pretty similar numbers, especially considering that the SHL is quite a bit stronger than the Finnish League nowadays and the fact that Fagemo played little less than Kupari on average. Going to be interesting to see how Fagemo does next year but seems like he's got a lot of talent.

 

[King'sPawn]

Well, Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Carl Grundstrom also don't project as anything higher than middle sixers, so I don't get that argument. To me, these three are on the same level, but JAD has some leadership advantages. Prokhorkin has size and skill, JAD has speed and tenacity, Grundstrom has grit and scoring ability. Really tough comparisons. Prokhorkin just has a longer resume.

Prokhorkin is older than the other prospects, so he's not likely to make major jumps in potential, but you never know if his game will translate well. We'll just have to see.

As an aggregate, Prokhorkin's career has been decent at best. Winning Olympic Gold and scoring a point per game is not an easy feat, I'm not trying to take away from that. His International resume (where he competes against the best peers around the world) as well as his playoffs, where the competition gets tougher, ranges between nonexistent and mediocre. His peak playoffs in the KHL is 6 points in 11 games, last year.

He never represented Russia at the junior level except in the Canada Russia series, which means he has no WJC, Ivan Hlinka, etc experience. Since NHLers couldn't compete in the Olympics, that watered down Russia's roster.

Compare that with Grundstrom or JAD, who either has a lot more experience playing against the best peers internationally (Grundstrom) or recognized as a leader in the times he has made the team (JAD), and those players just have better resumes at an early age.

Edit: I want to make it clear I DO like Prokhorkin, and I didn't mean to sound like I'm souring on him. I just like other prospects more, and right or wrong, International resumes play a role in my personal rankings.

 

[lumbergh]

As an aggregate, Prokhorkin's career has been decent at best. Winning Olympic Gold and scoring a point per game is not an easy feat, I'm not trying to take away from that. His International resume (where he competes against the best peers around the world) as well as his playoffs, where the competition gets tougher, ranges between nonexistent and mediocre. His peak playoffs in the KHL is 6 points in 11 games, last year.

He never represented Russia at the junior level except in the Canada Russia series, which means he has no WJC, Ivan Hlinka, etc experience. Since NHLers couldn't compete in the Olympics, that watered down Russia's roster.

Compare that with Grundstrom or JAD, who either has a lot more experience playing against the best peers internationally (Grundstrom) or recognized as a leader in the times he has made the team (JAD), and those players just have better resumes at an early age.

Edit: I want to make it clear I DO like Prokhorkin, and I didn't mean to sound like I'm souring on him. I just like other prospects more, and right or wrong, International resumes play a role in my personal rankings.

Agreed. I actually don't think Prokhorkin is part of the long term plan for this team, unless he comes in and just blows the doors off this season. I do think he's gonna come in, put up some points this year, and show that he belongs in the NHL. My original point is that the Kings' prospect pool is crazy deep. The fact that a player this talented is not in the top ten is a testament to the depth of pool.

The fact that he delayed transitioning to North America until age 26 gives me the impression that he's not all that committed to playing for the Kings. I still remember how Lombardi emphasized the importance of having the Kings logo tattooed on a player. With Prokhorkin, it feels like this year is a way to get his foot in the door in the NHL, but he doesn't really care if it's with the Kings or not.