Clif
Super Star
Appreciate you citing the thinking here. I’ll add that there are now a couple more players who’ve played 200+ games if the article updated today, and Spence and Laf are virtually assured to hit 200 games this year barring injuries. If extending to 2007, that adds 9 players who hit that mark. Voynov hit 190, but contributed to two Cups before he was rightfully 86’ed.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)
Which NHL teams have been most successful at the draft?
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.
Kings definitely hit their drafting lulls in the later days of Dean. They’ve have four drafts since 2014 without a first round pick at all.
7 high impact players since 2014 being just average sounds surprising. Means roughly a third of the league has drafted more than that. Source? Not doubting your reporting, I’d just love to see the teams and the players.
I’m already too long winded on this but the word i keep coming back to is relative. For what picks have been available to the Kings, I see success. For what picks have been available to the Ducks and Blue Jackets and Sabres, why have they struggled so long? I know development and drafting are different, but are we sure they’re drafting the “right” players?
