On some levels, it seems like just yesterday when Anze Kopitar joined the LA Kings. On the other hand, it feels like way more than 20 years since it all began. Heck, it was two NHL work stoppages ago. And they both provided a key backdrop in the timing of his career.
Most recently, there was the 2012 lockout. That came just a few months after the Kings won their first Stanley Cup and actually delated the start of the following season. After LA players and staff spent a Summer with Stanley, it was back to work in January for the beginning of a shortened 48-game season.
Players and fans weren’t so lucky back in 2004, though. A lockout resulted in the cancellation of the entire 2004-05 season. Kopitar was just 17 years old at the time. Yet, it was a critical time period because he was eligible for the 2005 NHL Draft.
2005 Draft Lottery
Unlike the NHL Draft Lottery that most fans are familiar with in current times, things were quite different 20 years ago. For starters, the entire Draft had to be delayed due to the work stoppage. Originally scheduled for late June, everything was rushed once a new CBA was signed in late July. The 2005 Lottery itself took place on July 22, just eight days before the Draft.
Every team was entered into the Lottery, with each NHL club receiving either one, two, or three balls — depending on if they made the playoffs in the three prior seasons and if they had any first overall selections in the last four NHL Drafts. The Penguins had three balls that year, and the Kings had two.
LA didn’t win the Lottery. Pittsburgh did, and they were going to select the No. 1 ranked prospect at the time, Sidney Crosby.
Kopitar was the No. 1 ranked European skater. That’s not to say he should have gone No. 2 in the Draft, as it’s not uncommon for several North American players to be featured in the top handful of selections.
So, where would Kopitar end up?
2005 NHL Draft
Sure enough, Crosby went first overall. That was easy.
He was then followed by Bobby Ryan (Anaheim), Jack Johnson (Carolina), Benoit Pouliot (Minnesota), and Carey Price (Montreal) to round out the Top 5 selections.
“A lot of teams didn’t scout as much as they normally would have that because of the lockout,” Al Murray recently said to Mayor’s Manor. He was the Kings Director of Amateur Scouting back then and a few weeks ago we were reminiscing about Kopitar’s recent retirement announcement.
“Dave Taylor was LA’s General Manager at the time, and Dave told us to make sure we scouted and kept things going,” Murray continued. “We had access to continue to go and watch everything we needed to. So, we were fortunate that we were able to go watch all the hockey we needed to.”
The next five teams on the board were Columbus, Chicago, San Jose, Ottawa, and Vancouver.
LA had pick No. 11.
“We had Kopitar third on our list,” Murray declared.
After Gilbert Brule (Blue Jackets), Jack Skille (Blackhawks), Devin Setoguchi (Sharks), Brian Lee (Senators), Luc Bourdon (Canucks) heard their names called at picks 6-10, LA was finally on the board.
“Had everybody been able to scout that year and not had any restrictions, I think Kopitar probably would have gone higher, and we might not have had a chance at him,” Murray added.
Could Kopitar have gone to Anaheim? Minnesota? Or maybe even a Canadian team, like Ottawa or Vancouver.
Just think, Kopitar could have easily been taken by the Ducks or Sharks.
In the end, it was Taylor, Murray, and the Kings who took him at No. 11.
Laying a Foundation of Greatness
Kopitar went on to become the first player from his draft class to play in 1,000 NHL games. He’ll finish out this season with the Kings and then he’s ticketed for the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Forever linked with Crosby from 2005, Kopitar’s stats shine just as bright. His 1,458 games played (and counting) stand tops among all players drafted that year. Kopitar’s 440 goals, 843 assists, and 1,282 points all sit second among that class. He only trails his Pittsburgh counterpart
“The guys who should get most of the credit for watching all the European prospects throughout that season — and actually, it was a couple of seasons — were a Czech scout named Jan Vopat and a Finnish scout named Ari Vuori,” Murray made sure to share. “They were our two main European scouts at the time, and they watched Kopitar develop over a couple of year period.”
Why did Kopitar ever get to No. 11; how did he ever fall that far?
Was it as simple as other teams not having a big enough book on him because of the limited scouting views?
“He was Slovenian, which threw some people off,” Murray stated. “He played in Sweden for a couple of years, so we looked at him as a Swedish player because he played in that system, was evaluated in that system, and he had basically become a really solid two-way player. Our guys watched him a lot, and we followed him at the end of his season to the U-18 B-pool Championships. That tournament was in Slovenia that year, and then he was with the men’s team at the IIHF Worlds that year. He played exhibition games where we were able to follow him, and his dad was actually the coach of the team.
“It was really interesting to watch him go from a U-18 player — where he dominated at the B-pool level for Slovenia, even without a lot of players and talent around him — and then watch them go play in a men’s league. In those games, the men on the Slovenian national team would still defer to him. Like, who’s going to take the important faceoffs? Well, they looked at him. Then, in a key time in the game, they’d got the puck to him. So, there was a lot of respect for him from older players.
“Certain teams talked about him before the Draft, but there was a little bit of uncertainty maybe because a lack of viewings or a little bit of uncertainty because of his background. Whatever the reason, we were really happy he fell to us.”
There’s certainly something to what Murray was alluding to. The Blue Jackets were also believed to have Kopitar at No. 3 on their list, and he was still available when it came time for them to select at No. 6 that afternoon. However, their then-GM Doug MacLean opted to go with Brule, somebody who was reported to be as low as No. 8 on their list. Why? He’s famously been quoted as saying, “I’m not drafting a kid who pushes rocks up a mountain and jumps over milk crates and calls it training.”
Such is life at the NHL Draft table.
Kopitar went on to help his team win multiple Stanley Cups and been graced with several different league awards over his 20-year career.
To this day, Murray is still thankful how everything lined up for the Kings back in 2005. Yet, he isn’t surprised at all how the next two decades unfolded.
“He’s still playing at such a high level, a consistent level,” Murray noted, while conveying an obvious level of admiration and respect for Kopitar. “He’s such a good player, a reliable player — that’s probably as good a word I can use to described him. He’s elite, skill-wise, but he’s a reliable guy. He’s one of those guys you get that show up every year at training camp, and they’re always in shape. They’re always ready to go. There are never any issues over the summer, and they play like crazy all year long. Then, they go to the NHL Playoffs, or the World Championships at the end of the year to represent their countries, and then they do it all over again. Just a true professional and a guy you’re very proud to have your name associated with.”
The comments about Kopitar are as applicable today as they were during his Draft year.
“With our two scouts in Europe, and then from what I was able to see when I started watching him back then, there were no issues,” Murray remarked. “All the reports were: top shelf player, top shelf guy, can play in any role necessary. They interviewed him before I got a chance to interview him at the U-18 Championships and they couldn’t say enough about him as a player or person, and it was all exactly as they described him when I met him.”
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