When we started the draft preview, we knew that the Kings article was going to be the most difficult. I kicked around the idea of doing it myself—but there’s no way that it would resemble objectivity. Pretty quickly, it was apparent that we needed to find someone that was half-way respectable. We needed to find someone that would use a few less F-Bombs than I would to describe the Kings play over the last couple of years. Enter Keith from over at KingsCast—one of the best hockey podcasts that you can find on iTunes. Actually, it’s one of the best podcasts period… so if that’s your thing, check them out. You can also follow Keith on Twitter at @KingsCast for updates on the Kings and all things hockey. Without further adieu, here’s Keith’s look at the Kings upcoming draft and off-season. Please commend him on his restraint with the F-Bombs!
1. What was the biggest strength of last season?
The Kings greatest improvement last season was Shots on Goal Against (followed closely by faceoff percentage). In 2007-2008 the Kings were dead last in shots against. This year they were fourth in the league at 28.1%. This greatly improved (for obvious reasons) Goals Against Average which was 2.76. Terry Murray’s defensive system has helped the Kings achieve their goals set last offseason.
Yes, apparently Kings’ fans are big fans of the Double D.
2. What was the biggest weakness of last season?
The biggest weakness of last season for Los Angeles was Goals For. They sat at 27th in the league with 202. While it’s no real surprise that Terry Murray’s system has hampered the offense, this threw a huge spotlight on the Kings need for a scoring left winger). Terry Murray shifted the lines constantly last season which allowed scrubs like Kyle Calder and Matt Moulson to play on the top line.
3. What is the biggest strength of the pipeline/young players?
By far the biggest strength of the pipeline would be defense. With Thomas Hickey, Vyacheslav Voinov and Colten Teubert, the Kings defense is stocked (a previous liability). Dean Lombardi has done an excellent job of also drafting and signing solid and stable bottom defensemen in Alec Martinez, Davis Drewiske and Andrew Campbell.
4. What are the biggest holes in the pipeline/young players?
The Kings no longer have a potential top line center in their system. Brian Boyle is the most experienced center in the system with a decent amount of talent but he is no Top 1/2 center. The Kings are also lacking blue-chip talent on the wings (aside from Oscar Moller who will probably be a main-stay in the big club next season).
5. Who do you think your GM will pick?
Los Angeles loves “character guys” which is why I see them drafting Evander Kane at number five. He’s a gritty power forward and could be that second line center the Kings badly need.
6. Who do you think your team SHOULD pick?
The Kings should draft Magnus Svensson-Paajarvi. He’s big, he’s got great hands and he’s fast. He’s that scoring left winger that the Kings need. With that said, Dean Lombardi has not drafted outside of North America in three drafts with LA.
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Oscar Moller & Jonathan Quick are just 2 players part of the Kings youth movement. No Double D jokes here...
I honestly couldn’t have answered any of those questions better myself. Part of that makes me wonder the sanity of Keith, but mostly it just reinforces my thoughts on the Kings going into this off-season. I completely agree that Dean Lombardi is going to take a long, hard look at Evander Kane when the Kings are on the clock. Both Brayden Schenn and Kane look like the two-way, character guys that the Kings GM seems to love. Both play junior hockey in Canada, which has been the constant of all of Lombardi’s 1st round picks with the LA Kings. Both have the potential to fill a void that’s glaring both in their pipeline and on their NHL roster: Top 6 forward.
No matter where they end up, both Kane and Schenn are going to be very good NHL players. The only reason that I’d like to see Lombardi look elsewhere is because of Magnus Svensson-Paajarvi. The guy is absolutely tailor-made for the Kings more glaring needs. They need a high-end talent guy that can CREATE things offensively. From a pure talent perspective, MSP might be the best guy in the entire draft. He also happens to play left wing—which is an obvious hole on the Kings roster. Outside of Alexander Frolov (who is a free agent after 2010), they don’t have a legitimate left wing that could be considered a Top 6 forward anywhere in the entire organization. Not Los Angeles, nor Manchester, nor Redding, nor Ontario. Not even buried in the CHL. No where. Wouldn’t MSP perfectly address the Kings needs? Not to mention you could make the case that he would be the Best Player Available as well.
The Kings have been building their foundation for a couple of seasons—but Lombardi has come out and publically said that it’s the playoffs-or-bust this season. They need someone that can score from the wing. In fact, they need a few guys that can score from the wing! Whoever they draft, they’ll probably give the player a shot to compete for an NHL job immediately. MSP has been playing with grown men in Sweden in the Swedish Elite League—he’s the most likely to be able to immediately make the jump to the NHL.
The biggest problem with Magnus Svensson-Paajarvi is his name. It could literally take me the entire offseason to figure out how to pronounce his name. Can you imagine his name on the back of a Kings jersey? It would go from your elbow, across your back, back down to your other elbow. That just doesn’t look right.
A huge thanks to Keith from KingsCast for his help with the Kings Draft Preview. As mentioned before, their podcast is second to none—you should check it out over on iTunes. We’ll continue the previews here tomorrow with the Phoenix Coyotes and their #6 overall pick. As usual, you can check out the past previews here, as well as the upcoming schedule of teams that we’ll be previewing.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
@philly phan – Good thing that was just a nasty rumor. I’d hate to play against Jack Johnson when he matures. He would own us!
On the subject of Philadelphia, would the Flyers be interested in dealing Hartnell to LA for the #5 and a defenseman?
I love Scotty. I love the style of hockey he plays and I love that he will do WHATEVER it takes to help the team. Cheep Seats said it best when he talked about everyone talking trash about Hartnell but everyone of them would love to have him on their team. That all being said, it would depend on the defenseman. Due to the fact that the Kings haven’t always made the most logical trades with the Flyers, Do you think we could get the 5th and Johnson for Darrien Hatcher. It’s almost as bad as Pronger.
“PRONGER LOVES LA HE LOVE IT”