LOS ANGELES, CA – The Los Angeles Kings addressed quite of few issues in last season’s NHL Entry Draft when they took defenseman Drew Doughty with the second overall pick. Doughty played in 81 of the 82 games last season and logged quite a bit of ice time for the Kings. With that said, General Manager Dean Lombardi and Head Coach Terry Murray are deep with young talent in the nets and on the blue line. With the only defenseman Jack Johnson and forward Kyle Calder the only notables eligible for free-agency, Lombardi has enough room under the salary cap to lock Johnson up to a long-term deal and still go out and look for that one missing piece to the puzzle the Kings so desperately need to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Los Angeles is deep in goaltending talent. Erik Ersberg and Jonathan Quick have become serviceable goaltenders that can be counted on for a 82-game schedule. Prospects such as Jeff Zatkoff, Jonathan Bernier, and Daniel Taylor have the Kings set in the nets for the coming years and could dangle one of the youngsters as trade-bait in this season’s draft. With Doughty and Johnson getting their feet wet for a 82-game season last year, look for them to anchor a much improved defense that saw the emergence of veteran Kyle Quincey. Matt Greene and Sean O’Donnell will continue to help Doughty and Johnson mature when paired with either of them. The Kings still have last season’s picks Colton Teubert (13th overall) and second round pick Viatcheslav Voynov waiting to make a splash in either Ontario (ECHL) or Manchester (AHL) before moving on to the big club. Young forwards Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, Alexander Frolov, and Wayne Simmonds all had respectable seasons for a team that finished 28th out of 30 teams in goals scored. Add veterans Jarret Stoll and Michal Handzus into the mix and the Kings are still a team of third and fourth line guys but no serious goal-scoring threat. The Kings were able to steal Justin Azevedo in the 6th round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He played with Manchester in 49 games and scored 12 times, finishing with 36 points. The brightest spot for Los Angeles was watching 2006 first round pick Trevor Lewis begin to emerge as a goal scorer with 20 goals and 51 points last season in Manchester. Don’t be surprised if Lombardi moves a couple of his players like last season to land a “name” player during the draft. The Vinney Lecavalier rumors are getting hot and heavy and supposedly the Kings are in the hunt for his services. Being third to last in goal scoring won’t help you find a playoff spot anytime soon. With that being said, Lombardi needs to make an impact with the Kings first pick in this years draft and focus on a wide-body that can finish near the net. That is why you will most likely hear these words come out of Lombardi’s lips in Montreal.
The Vancouver Giants Evander Kane (photo courtesy of the WHL)
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