Justin Azevedo interview
Here's an interview, after today's morning session, with Justin Azevedo, the Kings' sixth-round draft pick this year. Azevedo has attracted some attention after being named the Ontario Hockey League's most outstanding player. He had 43 goals and 81 assists in 67 games last season with Kitchener. I'll be heading down to the camp this afternoon to check it out in person and grab some more interviews. For now, here's Azevedo...
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Question: Can you talk about your draft-day experience, and what you thought about being picked by the Kings?
Azevedo: Well, of course going into the draft I didn't have any idea where I was going, but coming to L.A. is unbelievable. I don't think anyone can complain about being here. Being here has been a good learning experience. Everyone here has been very nice and really upfront. They make it a lot easier to adapt to the atmosphere here. I'm just looking forward to the rest of the week here.
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Question: Having been through the draft process a couple times and not hearing your name called, did you have any expectations going into this year's draft?
Azevedo: Well, I had a feeling that I was going to be drafted, but I had no idea when or where I was going. The whole thing was something I couldn't really change. Everything was up to the GMs. All I could really do was play my own game and hope for the best. I was fortunate to get picked by a great franchise here.
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Question: People have taken notice of your stats, but what can you tell people about the way you play the game?
Azevedo: I think I'm a playmaker. I think I have good vision and I can find people all over the ice. And I think I can put the puck in the net too. I scored, whatever is was, 43 goals this year, so I think I can score and I can set up. I think the key is that I just have to show up and give it all I've got every time I'm on the ice.
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Question: You've taken some knocks because of your lack of size. Is that something that frustrates you at all, when people talk about that?
Azevedo: Well, not so much anymore, but it did for a while. I've heard about it my whole life, growing up, but it's something that I dealt with and now it doesn't really get to me. The way I see it is, you just play your game and everything will be all right.
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Question: Is there anything in particular you think you're going to have to adjust as you take a step up?
Azevedo: I think everything can use an adjustment, always. Just this week already, I've learned a lot, things about being in the offensive zone. There are things that they have taught us. You always have to adjust in order to improve your game, and I think every aspect of my game will have to adjust in one way or another.
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Question: Obviously the goal is the NHL, but do you have reasonable expectations for the near future here?
Azevedo: Well obviously the main goal is to make the big team, but if that doesn't happen then Manchester for sure. I think that would be my next goal, to make that team.
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Question: I know you've only had a couple days out there, but do you have any impressions of your fellow prospects?
Azevedo: There are a bunch of great players out there. You've got Oscar Moller, you've got Doughty, you've got a bunch of great guys out there. Being able to play with them is an honor. I don't know if they think the same about me. I hope they do, but it's been a lot of fun out there so far. I'm just looking forward to the rest of the week.
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About the bloggers
Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.com.
Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews.com.
I like this kid. I hope he makes it and proves everyone wrong.
I hope this kid is the steal of the draft.
They counted out Napoleon. (And Theo Fleury.) Don't count out Azevedo. He's got some great skills.
This kid is pretty curious. Not being terribly familiar with him, is the knock just his size? You look at a list of the previous fifteen or so winners of the OHL MVP, scoring title, and some of the other awards he's recently earned, and it's a list of pretty solid NHLers.
I suppose the one sign that maybe he's not cut out for the bigs because of size are Cory Locke and David Ling who also had similar creds and didn't (or haven't yet for Locke) cut it. Unfortunately, these are the only three guys under 6' in the last 15 years with these honors. But each guy is different...
Rich,
any word on when the NHL is going to release the schedules yet?
I watched the developement camp yesterday and azevedo was one of the forwards that stood out, along with Weudrick, and Roe. Azevedo is 5'7 or 5'8 but he looks built like a truck, and he did a great job of getting plays going, and holding off defenseman to protect the puck, I really don't think his size is going to be an issue. He's short and weighs around 185, he's solid. Looks alot bigger then Cammy for sure. He also has a great shot... That's another thing I noticed.
Cap'n,
The other knock is that Avezedo had inflated stats this season in the OHL because he was a 19 year old playing in a league with mostly 16, 17 & 18 year olds. Regardless, I am certainly rooting for Justin to have great success in the future, and I hope we all get to enjoy watching him skate in a Kings jersey while proving all of his detractors wrong...
to captain material:
ive hard that another concern is that his stats have been inflated due to playing with tavares, i could be wrong but im pretty sure i remember reading that somewhere.
Thanks for the review Jonny...BTW...just listened to your band on Myspace...damn, nice to hear some good punk with all the crap out there these days!
Hey Rich. Thank you for your hard work. I really appreciate it throught I don't comment often.
What do you think about the latest Schneider & Kubina rumor--appearantly the Kings are interested in those two??
Captain Material-
It's his size and the fact he only plays at one end of the ice that scared teams off. Purely an assumption on my part but if he's as competitive as everyone says he is, then it should be reasonably easy to get him to play all three zones. Great thing is at 20 he'll be in Manchester this Fall.
Captain Material-
It's his size and the fact he only plays at one end of the ice that scared teams off. Purely an assumption on my part but if he's as competitive as everyone says he is, then it should be reasonably easy to get him to play all three zones. Great thing is at 20 he'll be in Manchester this Fall.
Thanks for the interviews Rich, it's nice to get to know these kids. Please keep them coming.
4ndr3y -
Just curious, where are you hearing that? I'd heard Schneinder's name in connection with OTT, but not LA. He kind of makes sense, but have to wonder where the club thinks $5.75 is reasonable for him when $4M wasn't for a guy we already had here onboard with re-building, which he may not be.
Kubina is over 30 and has two more years at $5M, so make of that what you will...
Tavares plays for the Generals, Azevedo played for the Rangers- Tavares has nothing to do with his stats.
The concern actually was that his stats were inflated because he played with Boedker (#8 overall), but that is not really true. His primary linemates were Halischuk and Spaling.
Also, the OHL is not primarily 16, 17, and 18 year olds. The NHL-CHL transfer agreement pretty much forces 19 year olds to remain there unless they make the NHL, as even if they are granted special status to play at 15, very few have completed the 4 years of junior eligibilty or meet the age cutoff to play in the other NA pro leagues. Besides, when guys like Azevdo are putting up those kinds of numbers, the other teams are going to be putting their best D out against them.
That said, numbers put up as a 19 year old should be still be viewed with a grain of salt.
His size is a huge concern. I'd love to see a pic of him going up against Boyle during training camp.
Captain Material. The Schneider & Kubina rumor can be found on this page-->http://nhlline.ca/fa_frenzy.html
I think Schneider/ Kubina vould bring some needed veteran
apearance. Both Could be traded at the deadline.
If I'm correctly informed Kubinas NTC would be waived if he gets traded till 30th Avgust.
Your opinion Rich??