Rumor: Planning Ahead: 2019 Off-Season Part 2

Choralone

Registered User
Oct 16, 2010
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Pronman came out with another list, ranking teams by their 23-and-under core: Pronman: Ranking NHL teams by their 23 and under core,... He certainly likes his lists, and I like summarizing them here, so....

As previously noted, he has the Kings' farm ranked # 4, but for the 23-and-under group as a whole, he has us ranked # 24 - reflecting the talent gap that grew when we were chasing cups and handing out picks, leading to today's dearth of high-impact young NHLers. He writes:

Pronman said:
The Kings have an elite farm system, but their rebuild still has a long way to go, as the bulk of their top young talent is still very young and outside the NHL. Part of the reason their ranking didn’t budge much was the uncertainty surrounding Gabriel Vilardi, who I was very high at on this time last year.
 
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kings11

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Sep 29, 2011
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Las Vegas
Pronman came out with another list, ranking teams by their 23-and-under core: Pronman: Ranking NHL teams by their 23 and under core,... He certainly likes his lists, and I like summarizing them here, so....

As previously noted, he has the Kings' farm ranked # 4, but for the 23-and-under group as a whole, he has us ranked # 24 - reflecting the talent gap that grew when we were chasing cups and handing out picks, leading to today's dearth of high-impact young NHLers. He writes:

Its about right.. If Amadio, Wagner, Grundstrom and Kempe have solid/good seasons then we'll rank higher especially considering some of the kids will be sprinkled in and then higher we go in the ranking
 

kings11

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Sep 29, 2011
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The ball has to go over the fence before it is a home run. They don't just let Mike Trout run around the bases when he steps in the on-deck circle.

That being said, this draft looks like a 35-50 HR guy in the on-deck circle.
Our 2 first rounders are likely NHL ready by next season, our third looks like he'll be here in 2-3 while our fourth rounder is looking like a faster, grittier and better scoring Tanner Pearson... Thats a HR in my books.. whether its 35 or 50 lol
 

KINGS17

Smartest in the Room
Apr 6, 2006
32,564
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I really like that Blake is acknowledging his shortcomings and deficiencies, and is thus bringing in Hextall to make sure he's "doing it right"
Critical self evaluation is key for an organization's success. Some mistakes are harder to correct than others. I think .time will have taken care of most of those by the time the new core reaches the age range of 22-25.
 

BigKing

Blake Out of Hell III: Back in to Hell
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Our 2 first rounders are likely NHL ready by next season, our third looks like he'll be here in 2-3 while our fourth rounder is looking like a faster, grittier and better scoring Tanner Pearson... Thats a HR in my books.. whether its 35 or 50 lol

<insert picture of Brown/Boyle/Tambellini wearing '03 jerseys on draft day>
 

bland

Registered User
Jul 1, 2004
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<insert picture of Brown/Boyle/Tambellini wearing '03 jerseys on draft day>
And the "steal of the draft" Pushkaryev as well.

The Kings did a much better job with the 2019 draft than they did in previous years, and that can certainly be noted if not celebrated. But yeah, the developmental team struggled to churn out even the odd role player over the last several years. Optimism is fine, but its not the same thing as realism.
 

Ziggy Stardust

Master Debater
Jul 25, 2002
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You can attribute that to scouting though can't you?

Sure, but you also have a GM in charge of hiring those scouts and giving mandates. And as we've seen stories with Lombardi at the 2006 draft, sometimes a GM overrides his scouts, or trades away valuable draft picks.
 

King'sPawn

Enjoy the chaos
Jul 1, 2003
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You can attribute that to scouting though can't you?

Acquiring the talent via the draft is really such a small portion of an organization's success.

- Establishing a developmental plan for individuals
- Identifying the "right" players to keep to influence the youth positively
- Helping direct the scouts WHAT to focus on
- Determining a plan to phase out older players without getting rid of too many, but giving the right volume of spots to compete for

Scouts don't do this. The GM puts the plan in motion, and it appears Hextall is going to be using his experience to advise the Kings on how to implement this.
 

kings11

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Sep 29, 2011
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In one of the best draft class ever? Yes, that’s really bad
Brown has a good pick but yeah... the missed really bad with Boyle and Tams... but did we really want Corey Perry.. :sarcasm:
but back for the point.. I don’t ever recall anyone saying that draft was a homerun for us? Brown was expected to jump to the NHL and he did. Boyle was a project who many viewed as a Forward but the Kings tried him at D. Tams was a sniper who lost his touch after mangling his hands.. neither Boyle or Tams were expect to be special.. I thought we were going to move up for either Getzlaf, Kessler or Richards but what’s done is done.
 

ru4reals

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Jul 4, 2007
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I don't see what's so hard to understand that the initial rage of the Bjornfot pick subsided contingent upon the 2nd round pick of Kaliyev. No one ever said he was bad. Only that for a draft in which we needed scoring pop, leaving all that scoring on the board to go for a d-man was rage-inducing. Yes, the draft strategy worked, even though they were sweating like a ****e in church over it. Everyone's happy to have both, but this board has fallen really hard upon it's need to say "I told you so" even harder than the Kings have sucked.

Amen to this. Couldn't have said it better myself, just can't put it together in writing like this. Love the people here constantly berating those who didn't like the pick initially. Read the bolded and RELAX.
 
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