By Zackery Robert
Lights camera action Off to Hollywood, The Los Angeles Kings have been drafting since their inception in 1967 and have been able to see the fruits of their labour finally pay off in 2012 and 2014 with two Stanley Cup victories, we will visit their drafting history and go over a few of their best and worst picks in their franchise.
Starting off we will take a look back to the 1984 draft and go all the way to the ninth round pick 171 where the Kings selected Luc Robitaille. Robitaille played 19 full seasons in the NHL and 14 of them with the Kings between 1986 and 2006. Robitaille was the Calder winner in 1987 for rookie of the year with an impressive 84 points in 79 games. This would be the springboard into a very successful tenure with the Kings, between 1986-1994 Robitaille would never go below a point per game in a season and would have four 100 point seasons, two 50 goal seasons and one 60 goal season. His second tenure with the club came during 1997-2001 where he would have three 30 goal seasons. Robitaille would come back for two more seasons with the Kings before retiring at the end of the 2006 season with 1394 points in 1431 games. He would have his jersey retired with the Kings on January 20th 2007, an amazing career for anyone, even more so for a ninth round pick.
Next up we will move all the way from the 80s, past the 90s and into 2000s, in particular 2005, where the Kings would be up to the podium 11th. This draft was famous for amazing players, Sidney Crosby, Carey Price, Tuukka Rask, and of course who the Kings would select 11th, Anze Kopitar. After his draft Kopitar would play one more year in the Swedish Elite League and then make his move to L.A. and the NHL. His rookie season went well with 61 points in 72 games and his career flourished from there. With 12 20 goal seasons and three 30 goal seasons to date and 60 or more points in 14 of his 17 seasons so far, Kopitar has been nothing short of a first line centre. Kopitar is also recognized as one of the best two way forwards of the 2010s with two Selke trophies to go along with one Lady Byng trophy in 2016. Another impressive stat is that in the Kings’ two Stanley cup winning playoff runs Kopitar had exactly a point per game in both playoffs, 26 points in 26 games in 2014 and 20 points in 20 games in 2012, it shows that when Kopitar is on his game the Kings can thrive. He has been at the core of their team for those 17 seasons and will go down not only as a hall of game player but a Kings legend.
Now this is where it gets tough, the Kings have a lot of more great picks all over the board as well. You have Drew Doughty, Johnathan Quick, Butch Goring. For what it’s worth I would go between Butch Goring and Jonathan Quick because Goring was a fifth round pick and in his, albeit short tenure, with the club in the 70s he put up 616 points in 658 games played, these numbers are ridiculous for a defenseman even in the 1970s and he did it right from his rookie season. However for this choice it will be Jonathan Quick, it’s hard to find a position more impactful than an NHL goalie, along with a quarterback or a pitcher, and Quick has a resume with the Kings better than all others before him. With two Jennings trophies, a Conn Smythe and Two Stanley cups his resume is tough to ignore. Quick ended his tenure with the Kings this season and ended it with 370 wins. Quick was a top five goalie in his prime for years in the league and allowed the Kings to be cup champions with his play in net. Quick deserves this spot, he was a third round pick who in hindsight would’ve been a top ten pick.
Now moving on from the best and moving to the ones that left much to be desired. We will start by heading to the Kings’ first ever draft and look at their number one overall pick, Rick Pagnutti. Pagnutti played zero games for the Kings and zero games in the NHL. He spent the majority of his pro career in the AHL before finishing in the NAHL in 1977. He put up good points in those leagues for a defenseman but he played in no games in the NHL and being a first overall pick for a brand new team this has definitely landed Pagnutti on this list.
Moving only one year after this 1967 draft we see the Los Angeles Kings at the number seven spot for the 1968 draft and again go for defence and choose Jim McInally. Once again this pick did not go quite how the Kings had hoped, McInally played in zero games for the Kings and zero in the NHL. He played for the AHL, IHL, and EHL during his playing career before retiring in 1971. The Kings first two ever picks in the NHL draft had not gone over very well. But so is the NHL draft you never know how your picks are going to go, sometimes a first overall pick isn’t a home run.
Third up on this list is coming in from the 1985 draft. With the ninth pick the L.A. Kings chose Craig Duncanson, the left winger was an OHL product who had a fairly nice draft year with 63 points in 53 games. He would follow that up in the 1986 season with 110 points in 61 games in the OHL. Sadly he was never able to reproduce anywhere near the success he had in the OHL to the NHL. Duncanson played a total of 28 games for the Kings scoring six points. He was subsequently traded to the Minnesota North Stars in 1990.
Current day kings have a pretty good mix of forward and defence prospects. However, given that their prospects pool is now beginning to run low on defence it would be better for the Kings to draft focused on the blue line for their first pick in the draft. The Kings have a total of five picks in this year’s draft as follows, 2nd, 3rd (PIT), 4th, 5th, 6th and given their standing in the league at the end of the season, their first selection would end up somewhere between 55-64. The Kings are a fast moving team with some quality forwards up front and some young defence in the back so bringing in a defence who can rush the puck and continue those breakouts would be ideal. A couple players like Etienne Morin or Aram Minnetian could help fit that mood and given that they may be closer to lower second high third round picks the Kings could have their choice of either when they’re up in the second round.
For more information on the 2023 NHL Draft class be sure to pick up your copy of the comprehensive DraftPro 2023 NHL Draft Guide.