To the Calgary Flames in a three way deal.
Kings get the 12th overall pick.
Calgary gets Cammy.
Ducks get the 17th and 28th pick overall.
I’d hate to say it… the winner is the Ducks, moving down 5 spots and getting an extra first round pick. That’s pretty good.
Almost 4pm Pacific time, the draft is coming soon! Most of the speculation for the #pick have been debunked by DL himself. It is well known that the Kings will be picking at #2 and will likely select Doughty at that pick. Can’t complain about that pick, you really can’t screw up this draft with it being so deep with defensemen. Even though I prefer Bogo because he is tougher and grittier Dman. Doughty would be a fine selection.
Theres also a lot of chatter about Cammy being traded, I believe he will be traded today…just a gut instinct. Although I have been wrong before about Cammy being traded at the Deadline.
Should be an interesting day for King fans! I will update accordingly to the draft and who we pick and other chatter from Analysts about the Kings.
There is a ton of rumors flying around about the Kings, and rightfully so. Kings are the major players in this draft. With 15 picks in the draft and having the #2 and # 28 overall picks in the first round. It shouldn’t be surprising that the Kings are mentioned in a lot of trades. The Malkin rumors are rampant, most doubt that it will come to fruitation. I have to believe that the Penguins have talked to his agent about his asking price and it is too high for the Penguins to keep him with all the other players they have or will commit to for a long time. Simply put, Malkin isn’t going to fit into their future plans unless his price comes down.
The logistics of this potential trade doesn’t make sense. For one the Kings are still building their team by drafting and raising their homegrown prospects so to speak. Pittsburgh won’t get equal value for Malkin, no matter how you slice it, #2 overall pick and Cammy for Malkin is not equal value at all. This could be our WTF trade that Dean has referred to many times in the GM breakfast meeting with season ticket holders.
Another rumor flying around is the Kings getting Spezza and Ottawa’s first round pick to the Kings for the #2 overall and Cammy. This seems more feasible to me, though like the Malkin rumor. I have a hard time seeing the Senators wanting to part ways with a young player who is a points machine.
Thing is the Kings don’t need more scoring, the Kings need Defensemen. Assuming Dean is getting offers, I am thinking he is waiting for an offer that includes a defenseman, because after all there is plenty of Defensemen in this draft to be had.
Should be an interesting 24 hours…
Well draft is coming very soon, and we will know who we got. By trade and by selection. Kings insider and reporter Rich Hammond thinks “something” will happen based on his instinct and who he has talked to. I definitely think Cammalleri gets traded. I’m just basing this on how the trade could conceivably work. I do think Pitkanen of the Oilers will be traded to the Kings for Cammy. It just won’t be straight up. I think Lombardi will want to move up from that 28th overall pick. Possibly Cammy and the 28th pick to the Oilers for Joni Pitkanen and the Oilers 22nd overall pick. Potentially having the Kings picking Defenseman Colten Teubert if he is there.
Another trade scenario is that the Kings actually trade down from the #2 Spot. I think this is feasible, the Kings aren’t going to move down many spots. So I think the Blues will be a likely trading partner at #4 since the Kings have several targets like Filatov, Bogosian, Doughty. One of them should be available. I have my doubts that the Kings will actually trade down from the #2 pick. Either way, the Kings will be very active in this draft since they have 15 picks and will look to use the assets they have to shore up that glaring problem on the team…Defense.
This was a vid done by LeftKinger, he does very good hockey videos. Great stuff.
Things are getting underway for the Kings to shape up their future even more. Some basic facts about the draft…the Kings have a grand total of 15 picks in the draft. Though we will likely know ONLY 2 picks on Friday since we have 2 first round picks. I kind of wish the draft was like the NFL’s where they would do the first 2 rounds and the rest later. I don’t want to sit through HOURS of draft coverage….but I suppose the NHL needs to milk up all the ratings it can get by having the second round on day 2.
The big question I have is whether the Kings select Bogosian, Doughty or even Filatov. at the # 2 pick. Perhaps an even bigger question is whether the Kings even make a pick at the number # 2 selection. We know that Lombardi has talked with the Filatov’s and there have been some rumblings there. Including USA Today says that we are picking Filatov.
Another thing to watch for is trades, Dean is likely going to trade Cammy on draft day. The general feeling from all accounts at the GM breakfast meetings and the Season Ticket holders meeting, is that Cammy isn’t coming back period. Cammy never struck me as a Dean player anyway. Pukeland er Eklund has up a trade between the Oilers and Kings. Kings would send Cammy to the Oilers and Kings get Joni Pitkanen. I don’t mind that trade so much. However I doubt that trade happens, because if anything Deano isn’t predictable on Draft Day. He probably has another team lined up for all we know.
Anyway here is the draft picks we have lined up for this draft…
The following lists the Kings round-by-round selections in this year’s draft:
Round Overall Selection 1 2nd 1 28th (From Dallas) 2 32nd 2 48th (From Calgary) 2 61st (From Detroit) 3 63rd 3 81st (From NY Rangers) 3 88th (From Philadelphia) 4 92nd (From Tampa Bay) 4 101st (From Vancouver) 5 123rd 6 153rd 6 179th (From Dallas) 7 183rd 7 185th (From St. Louis-Anaheim)
That is the million dollar question. Dean has stated a couple things that have caught my eye. He said he is NOT necessarily looking for experience or any particular style. In fact Rich Hammond (who is a god to King fans) was cool enough to answer one of my questions. Since he is an insider for the Kings, he states-
I don’t believe style of play will be a major factor in terms of selecting a new coach. In all the times I’ve talked to Lombardi, I’ve never heard him preach about a particular style of play. I think he’s much more focused on finding the right person and letting the coach play whatever style he feels fits the team. – Rich Hammond
So really anyone looking for a job as a Head Coach for the Kings will get a look. We know one requirement, and that is the same requirement Dean expects from FA’s. They have to want to be here in LA and build the franchise into one that wins. In other words you have to buy into Dean’s philosophy.
In my opinion after doing some research, some of the signs point to a coach named Craig Hartsburg.
As I am typing this right now, he is rumored to have taken the Senators job. For right now those are just rumors. Anyway Hartsburg has done some work with some of our younger kids in the system already. So there is a familiar face for the players when they come up through the ranks. Not only did he coach the Soo Greyhounds which Wayne Simmonds plays for as well. He also coached in the 2008 WJC for Canada. There are several King prospects on that squad. Players like Hickey, Bernier, and possibly Doughty assuming we draft him in a week or so. I think Hartsburg is an interesting choice, he also has NHL experience, albeit not stellar record. That being said it can’t hurt him that he already has been at this level.
First off, I was quite surprised as many people were at the news of Marc Crawford being fired. I wasn’t surprised so much at the fact he got canned, more so than the fact the timing of the firing was a little odd. With the draft coming up, FA period soon after, and rookie camps. It was a little odd, but better now then in November or December. It is well known that several King players most notably Lubo have disliked Marc Crawford’s methods for coaching. So in the end like Donald Trump says, “You’re Fired!”.
One of the things I realize now is that the Kings are now in a transition mode. They have finished the first phase of the rebuild, which was to bring along the young promising core of Kopitar, Sully, Brown, JMFJ etc. Now that the Kings have brought them along, Dean probably took a long hard look at whether Marc Crawford is the man for the next phase of the complete rebuild of this Franchise. It is weird, because I have defended Marc Crawford based on his track record in Quebec/Colorado as well as Vancouver. I guess the only answer to my question is that Marc Crawford’s coaching methods have grown stale in the NHL.
Here is Lombardi on ITK about the fact the next coach needs to be able to communicate with the players.
“I’m open to anything, but I think it’s fair to say that when you talk about having experience with kids, I don’t know how many of us have really had experience, necessarily, with this generation of players. Clearly I think it’s safe to say that the ability to not only deal with young players but young people, that’s a two-pronged thing. Being up there in Toronto, at the combine and meeting the kids and meeting the parents, it just keeps reaffirming what I believe about the need to communicate with young people. It isn’t like when (assistant GM Ron Hextall) was out there and you just had to kick him in the (butt) and he did what he was told.”
So Crawford got canned because of the communication issue, I think. The next coach is going to have to deal with the next wave of youngsters coming through the pipelines. More on the next coach candidates tomorrow.
Been awhile…however this blog moved from Blogger.com because it was outdated there. Here there is much more maneuverability or flexibility. Plus it is a lot more crisp as far as the layout goes. I’ll keep tinkering around with it until I feel happy with it.
I will get to the Crawford analysis pretty soon here, and what potential candidates would fit in LA and would want to build the team into perennial contenders. More on that later, as well as the Draft which is a little over a week away. So a busy off-season is coming up for the Kings.
