Yanetti is in the average range which I can't fully hold him accountable for as he has been overruled by GMs in the past, but being overruled has both helped and hurt him. This draft, however, was extremely vanilla, as though he was going for lower ceiling safe picks, and he had full control over it. Our 1st round pick was not bad, but it was a reach and there were better options available (still I like the pick). I like our 3rd and 5th round picks, and I'll give him credit for taking a gamble with our 120th overall but for a team that needs size I do not see it addressed in even the slightest.
Still time will tell.
Los Angeles Kings
ROUND | OVERALL | NAME | POS | COUNTRY | HT | WT | TEAM |
---|
1 | 31 | Henry Brzustewicz | D | USA | 6-2 | 203 | London (OHL) |
2 | 59 | Vojtech Cihar | LW | CZE | 6-1 | 180 | Karlovy Vary (Czechia) |
3 | 88 | Kristian Epperson | LW | USA | 6-0 | 180 | Saginaw (OHL) |
4 | 120 | Caeden Herrington | D | USA | 6-2 | 204 | Lincoln (USHL) |
4 | 125 | Jimmy Lombardi | C | CAN | 6-0 | 175 | Flint (OHL) |
5 | 152 | Petteri Rimpinen | G | FIN | 6-0 | 176 | K-Espoo (Finland) |
6 | 184 | Jan Chovan | C | SVK | 6-3 | 190 | Tappara Jr. (Finland Jr.) |
7 | 196 | Brendan McMorrow | C | USA | 6-0 | 173 | Waterloo (USHL) |
7 | 216 | William Sharpe | D | CAN | 6-0 | 195 | Kelowna (WHL) |
If you use 200 games as the metric, then Kuprai was a successful 1st round pick and Kaliyev was a good 2nd round pick... that bar is simply too low. The true test of a GM (or in this case Yanetti) is how many high impact players he drafted, or steals in the late rounds.
Since 2014 the Kings have drafted 7 high impact players (
average), 2 of which have been late round steals (
above average). But then when you look at the level of impact, versus other organizations, I'd rate the Kings slightly below average. End result, the Kings have been pretty
average when it comes to drafting.
In the below article, the Kings are rated
17th out of all teams when it comes to drafting (article is form 2024)
This series will take a look at how teams have performed in the draft and how those picks are shaping the NHL today. This isn’t meant to be a deep evaluation of how teams develop and build their rosters. Instead, it is a look at which teams have shown to be the best at identifying players in the...
www.sportsnet.ca
17. Los Angeles Kings
Skaters drafted: 60 |
Percentage who played 200 games: 21.67% (13 players)
Notable hits: Tyler Toffoli, Tanner Pearson, Adrian Kempe, Erik Cernak, Mikey Anderson
Toffoli and Pearson contributed to the 2014 Stanley Cup win and Kempe and Anderson are key pieces on the current roster, but the Kings have been forced to turn to free agency and trades to plug a lot of holes when draft picks didn’t pan out.