The Kings top 20 Prospects (as voted by you)

[KingCanadain1976]

Loktionov was a 5th rounder and was easily a top 20 prospect immediatley. When drafted he was only like 5'10" and 165lbs. Perfectly alright with a smallish high skill player that drops in the draft being in a top 20 list. It's not like he's that small and he's 18, possible he grows another inch or two, and if he doesn't oh well. Richards is what 5'10"? 5'11 at most? He's perfectly fine playing on the Kings.

I think what did Vey in more than anything was the fact that Toffoli and Pearson were just better than Vey in every aspect and there was no room for Vey. That more than anything sealed Vey's fate in LA.

Where it is possible he grows which in case what he makes 5 11 most (3 inches is the most he ll grow and i doubt that much but for discussion lets say he does.) Then i would consider reevaluating him. He would still have to be outstanding offensively imo to get a shot. He would have to outplay Zykov Toffoli Auger Sabourin to make the kings. He will make Mancheaster and be traded for picks when he shows he can produce.

As for Lokti he wasn't physically strong enough and was pushed off the puck to much to stick with the kings. Again you need to be able to play physical to make it for the most part on the kings. Also lets not forget we have great center depth. He wasnt going to make it as one and couldn't make it as winger.

Well thats one way to think about Vey I guess I however point to the fact we have carter richards kopitar and stoll Hes not going to beat out any of them. Hes a top 6 center without a place to play. He had to go

 

[KingCanadain1976]

This guy:

Deal actually was Garon and a 3rd for Huet and Bonk, but to me that deal always broke down as Bonk for Garon; Huet for a 3rd

just did a goggle search Garon was drafted in the 2nd round so i don't see how he applys http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8464999 at least according to that link

 

[KingCanadain1976]

The Kings like won't make a decision on Watson for 2 years at least and 5 years at most. Who knows where he'll be then after the development team is done with him.

Sorry but who care about 2-5 years later the topic is top 20 king prospect now not 2-5 years from now.

 

[tigermask48]

just did a goggle search Garon was drafted in the 2nd round so i don't see how he applys http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8464999 at least according to that link

This just dawned on me and I feel dumb but that isn't Garon. That's Huet... I knew something looked off about "Garon" (missing the plastic throat protector or something) but yeah it's Huet in that pic.
His point does stand as Huet was a 7th rounder though.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

This just dawned on me and I feel dumb but that isn't Garon. That's Huet... I knew something looked off about "Garon" (missing the plastic throat protector or somethin) but yeah it's Huet in that pic.
His point does stand as Huet was a 7th rounder though.

opps my mistake i didn't know it wasn't Garon lol Goalies drafted late are different thing then forward as goalies are hit and miss and take long to develope. When i made my comment about a 7th round pick not getting a 3rd i should have said player.

 

[tigermask48]

opps my mistake i didn't know it wasn't Garon lol Goalies drafted late are different thing then forward as goalies are hit and miss and take long to develope. When i made my comment about a 7th round pick not getting a 3rd i should have said player.

No worries responded more to correct us both about the pic than to argue the point. As far as players go, I guess the closest other trade like that I can think of would be Drewiske for a 5th to the Habs. Signed as a free agent and got an alright return. It's tough to find an example of that in LA due to how poor drafting was for so long outside of the early rounds.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

No worries responded more to correct us both about the pic than to argue the point. As far as players go, I guess the closest other trade like that I can think of would be Drewiske for a 5th to the Habs. Signed as a free agent and got an alright return. It's tough to find an example of that in LA due to how poor drafting was for so long outside of the early rounds.

that would sorta be right i guess as well. I was just saying it was a rare for a 7th round pick to do anything. Let alone a 5 9 7th. I hope he proves me wrong but for right now i can name 25 more deserving of a ranking imo. I actually think he should have got a 4th but a 5th was ok all things considered.

 

[King'sPawn]

This just dawned on me and I feel dumb but that isn't Garon. That's Huet... I knew something looked off about "Garon" (missing the plastic throat protector or something) but yeah it's Huet in that pic.
His point does stand as Huet was a 7th rounder though.

Garon caught right handed, not left

Back to the list discussion though, interesting list you made! Obviously we have some disagreements (Miller's near the bottom of my list, for example), but that's what makes the discussions more fun. You've seen the Manchester players a lot more, so it always leaves me re-looking at my list as well.

 

[Jason Lewis]

Garon caught right handed, not left

Back to the list discussion though, interesting list you made! Obviously we have some disagreements (Miller's near the bottom of my list, for example), but that's what makes the discussions more fun. You've seen the Manchester players a lot more, so it always leaves me re-looking at my list as well.

I know of a lot of people who are pretty satisfied with Miller. See him turning into an Alec Martinez 2.0 kind of guy. Kid can skate like crazy that's for sure.

 

[T2M]

Sorry but who care about 2-5 years later the topic is top 20 king prospect now not 2-5 years from now.

That's part of the challenge of making a top 20 list, especially the bottom 5. You have to make a call on a guy who isn't likely to get a chance for 5 years. It's not like the top of the list who will most likely be getting a callup within 3 years of being drafted (I'm convinced that every player who pulls on that Kings sweater now has to finish up his 2 years of junior and 1 in the AHL before he gets a shot to stick in LA). That's the challenge our scouts have. They have to figure out who they think has an NHL career in 5 years. If you have 20 of those players in the system, you're golden, but when you get to the bottom five in a top 20 list, those are players who you have to reasonably weigh where you think they may turn out at 22 or 23 years old, even when you're valuing them today.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

That's part of the challenge of making a top 20 list, especially the bottom 5. You have to make a call on a guy who isn't likely to get a chance for 5 years. It's not like the top of the list who will most likely be getting a callup within 3 years of being drafted (I'm convinced that every player who pulls on that Kings sweater now has to finish up his 2 years of junior and 1 in the AHL before he gets a shot to stick in LA). That's the challenge our scouts have. They have to figure out who they think has an NHL career in 5 years. If you have 20 of those players in the system, you're golden, but when you get to the bottom five in a top 20 list, those are players who you have to reasonably weigh where you think they may turn out at 22 or 23 years old, even when you're valuing them today.

ok ill make it simple there are at least 25 players that are bettter then watson in our system
In no order at all
1 pearson
2 mcnabb
3 Zykov
4 porhorkin
5 kempe
6 forbert
7 berbre
8 bartosak
9 mcKeown
10 c millar
11 a androff
12 A lintuniemi
13n shore
14 dowd
15 weal
16 Mersch
17 lowry
18 kitsyn
19ebert
20 k macDermid
21 amadio
22 s johnson
23 a dilon
24 j marchment
25 mistle

i think i made my point and im sure i missed a couple of players I don't see any good reason to move him up past any of theses people.

 

[King'sPawn]

ok ill make it simple there are at least 25 players that are bettter then watson in our system
In no order at all
1 pearson
2 mcnabb
3 Zykov
4 porhorkin
5 kempe
6 forbert
7 berbre
8 bartosak
9 mcKeown
10 c millar
11 a androff
12 A lintuniemi
13n shore
14 dowd
15 weal
16 Mersch
17 lowry
18 kitsyn
19ebert
20 k macDermid
21 amadio
22 s johnson
23 a dilon
24 j marchment
25 mistle

i think i made my point and im sure i missed a couple of players I don't see any good reason to move him up past any of theses people.

Wouldn't this be a matter of opinion, which is the whole point of the discussion?

Watson's near the bottom of my list too, but that doesn't mean I'm incapable of misreading/poorly evaluating a player.

 

[Jason Lewis]

Most prospect lists are opinion. I like the sheer offensive prowess of Watson. THAT is my lone opinion. There are definitely holes in his game, but I am always a fan of the low risk high reward style player. If they pay off they can be a steal. Watson is that kind of guy to me and a player that I always enjoy watching develop.

Doesn't mean he is a better overall prospect compared to guys like Mistle or Amadio.

 

[tigermask48]

ok ill make it simple there are at least 25 players that are bettter then watson in our system
In no order at all

Proceeds to list prospects seeminingly in order from best to worst.

You putting a list together doesn't prove anything other than your opinion is different from some of ours and there's nothing wrong with that.

Re-reading through the list and a couple other things that stood out to me, Brodzinski falling where he fell is somewhat surprising, and Kitsyn after a rather disasterous year not falling out of the top 20 was a bit of a shock as well.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

Wouldn't this be a matter of opinion, which is the whole point of the discussion?

Watson's near the bottom of my list too, but that doesn't mean I'm incapable of misreading/poorly evaluating a player.

well i guess i trust the opinion of our scouts that drafted 8 of said players in my list ahead of Watson. Logic to me says if they drafted them ahead of him they would consider all 8 better prospects at the times of the draft as i will assume they drafted the best player (or prospect) available. Unless Watson has done something since the draft to be better then the 8 i can't see anyone arguing with our scouts. Okay that leaves me 12 more players to argue are better then him in our top 20 list which this is a discussion about. I think Zykov Pearson McNabb Forbert Dowd Bartosak Weal Andreoff Berube Shore Mersch and Prokhorkins are easly ahead of him (there are more but thats 20 ) I don't see who comes out for him to be in the top 20 sorry

 

[KingCanadain1976]

Proceeds to list prospects seeminingly in order from best to worst.

You putting a list together doesn't prove anything other than your opinion is different from some of ours and there's nothing wrong with that.

Re-reading through the list and a couple other things that stood out to me, Brodzinski falling where he fell is somewhat surprising, and Kitsyn after a rather disasterous year not falling out of the top 20 was a bit of a shock as well.

lol believe it or not i was going off the top of my head but i was looking at a list of players in the sports forecaster. You may call it my opinion but i believe our scouts made the decesion on 8 of them. I believe they drafted the best player available and for whatever reason waited till there second last pick to take watson which means to me the 8 before him were better in our scouts minds at least.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

Most prospect lists are opinion. I like the sheer offensive prowess of Watson. THAT is my lone opinion. There are definitely holes in his game, but I am always a fan of the low risk high reward style player. If they pay off they can be a steal. Watson is that kind of guy to me and a player that I always enjoy watching develop.

Doesn't mean he is a better overall prospect compared to guys like Mistle or Amadio.

ok jason i ask you if my logic is flawed some how. Our scouts should draft the best player available hense making the 8 players drafted ahead of watson a better prospect in there eyes or am i missing something with that thinking.

 

[Jason Lewis]

ok jason i ask you if my logic is flawed some how. Our scouts should draft the best player available hense making the 8 players drafted ahead of watson a better prospect in there eyes or am i missing something with that thinking.

You draft the best player available in the first few rounds because it can be a fairly obvious thing. Even if it isn't obvious which one stands out usually there is a group that is so close it doesn't really matter which one you select. Some are more surefire than others in that regard but it doesn't necessarily mean they are BETTER. They just might be safer. One team will have one ahead of the other and that all comes down to scouting and the scouts opinion. After that it becomes a hard matter of opinion and upside. There are always late round bloomers that 29 teams apparently don't see. If only it were so simple as player X > player Y in rounds 1 through 7. Especially in those late rounds. It all comes down to scouts and opinions.

If we are arguing about a player drafted in the late round as being significantly better or not as good as some other players drafted in the 6th, 5th, or even 3rd and 4th rounds...well, that's like trying to sift through a bowl of M and Ms to find out which one tastes the most like chocolate.

In regards to Watson, he probably has more raw talent and potential than dozens of other players selected before him. HOWEVER, he has deficiencies in his game that a lot of teams weren't willing to take a chance on in an earlier round, the Kings included. How do you think a guy like Datsyuk slips to the last round? He was coined as too small and Russian. No one said he wasn't talented or a good player. There were just factors that people didn't want to roll the dice on. Toffoli's skating is something that kept him out of the first round even though he arguably has 30-40 goal scoring potential.

 

[kingsfan]

ok jason i ask you if my logic is flawed some how. Our scouts should draft the best player available hense making the 8 players drafted ahead of watson a better prospect in there eyes or am i missing something with that thinking.

Your logic isn't 'flawed' just your opinion is different. Just because the Kings drafted Watson towards the end of the draft doesn't mean he's not a good prospect. The Kings staff, as good as they are, don't hit it right all the time. They did pick Bryan Cameron ahead of A-Mart and Dwight King one year, Teubert ahead of Voynov another, and there is other examples. Some fans opinion differs from yours, and if they choose to rank Watson or someone else higher than others drafted in the same draft, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's a virtual guarantee in five years the order of value of the guys the Kings drafted this year will have changed, possibly significantly.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

Your logic isn't 'flawed' just your opinion is different. Just because the Kings drafted Watson towards the end of the draft doesn't mean he's not a good prospect. The Kings staff, as good as they are, don't hit it right all the time. They did pick Bryan Cameron ahead of A-Mart and Dwight King one year, Teubert ahead of Voynov another, and there is other examples. Some fans opinion differs from yours, and if they choose to rank Watson or someone else higher than others drafted in the same draft, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's a virtual guarantee in five years the order of value of the guys the Kings drafted this year will have changed, possibly significantly.

i never once said he isn't a good prospect only there are a lot or better ones imo the kings saw more reason to draft nine other players ahead of him. To me it makes since that if they drafted someone ahead of him they see them as better prospect or they should have picked him instead. I respect others have the right to there opinion but to me it makes no since to rank him ahead of the 8 others drafted ahead of him. Everyone on my "list" deserves to be ahead of Watson imo. There are probably people i missed I am just saying i don't see any reason that a 5'9 player that over 208 people were picked ahead of him should make the top 20 king prospects. If in time he sticks and shows he can make the next level sure move him up the ranks but until he proves a bit more i wouldn't rank him in my top 20 and with the 25 better players imo i can't see why anyone would.

 

[Captain Mittens*]

Scouts will tell you when they expect a player to get drafted. The Kings for example knew that only one other team knew about Pushkarev, the Red Wings. The Kings had the Red Wings first rounder so they knew they could get him in the second round.

The Kings also knew they were the only ones who knew about Fukufuji. So they took him in the last round.

Draft position means nothing

 

[KingCanadain1976]

Scouts will tell you when they expect a player to get drafted. The Kings for example knew that only one other team knew about Pushkarev, the Red Wings. The Kings had the Red Wings first rounder so they knew they could get him in the second round.

The Kings also knew they were the only ones who knew about Fukufuji. So they took him in the last round.

Draft position means nothing

so your trying to tell me no one knew about Watson's 68 points in 65 games? come on now it not like the ohl isn't scouted alot

 

[King'sPawn]

so your trying to tell me no one knew about Watson's 68 points in 65 games? come on now it not like the ohl isn't scouted alot

He didn't say that at all.

The scouts have a pretty good idea of where players will be available. Just because Watson is a small, high risk player doesn't mean he isn't valuable, or he's definitely a worse prospect than players drafted before him.

He is high risk. He's not someone I would count on, but other people have valid, defensible reasons for ranking him higher than other players drafted before him.

For example, I have Amadio and Middleton much higher than Lintuniemi, even when he was picked much earlier. They are "safer" players. They are players I am higher on.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

He didn't say that at all.

The scouts have a pretty good idea of where players will be available. Just because Watson is a small, high risk player doesn't mean he isn't valuable, or he's definitely a worse prospect than players drafted before him.

He is high risk. He's not someone I would count on, but other people have valid, defensible reasons for ranking him higher than other players drafted before him.

For example, I have Amadio and Middleton much higher than Lintuniemi, even when he was picked much earlier. They are "safer" players. They are players I am higher on.

yeah thats exactly what it says to me He trying to saying that a unknown would be drafted in later rounds cause know one knows about him However i highly doubt any team didnt know about watson.

ok why would a team draft someone ahead of a player if hes not better I don't understand any reason a team would do that. answer me that and i may change my opinion till then i will believe a team only picks the best player for that organization. if they pick for organizatonal needs that means to me hes a better fit in the organization hense should be rated higher.

 

[kingsfan]

i never once said he isn't a good prospect only there are a lot or better ones imo the kings saw more reason to draft nine other players ahead of him. To me it makes since that if they drafted someone ahead of him they see them as better prospect or they should have picked him instead. I respect others have the right to there opinion but to me it makes no since to rank him ahead of the 8 others drafted ahead of him. Everyone on my "list" deserves to be ahead of Watson imo. There are probably people i missed I am just saying i don't see any reason that a 5'9 player that over 208 people were picked ahead of him should make the top 20 king prospects. If in time he sticks and shows he can make the next level sure move him up the ranks but until he proves a bit more i wouldn't rank him in my top 20 and with the 25 better players imo i can't see why anyone would.

Your not seeing my point. Refer to the bolded part of your post. These lists are NOT about what the Kings see in a player, its about what the poster sees. THAT'S why where the Kings drafted a guy matters nothing in a thread like this.