Hickey, Teubert make cut

Good for them. I hope they can crack the Kings' line-up soon as well.

team captain? wow. that says a lot about this kid. sounds like a great character guy, which i love. great pick up for DL. there are so many prospects I can't wait to see skate.

Get them both in Manch or even in LA as soon as their Jr. seasons are over. Bring it on .

Hickey as Captain...Congrats to the kid...and congrats to DL..He obviously saw something in him that most others didn't.
I realize the jury is still out on whether that was a good pick or not, but I have a feeling that we're all going to be plesantly surprised at how good Hickey will be.
Just picture the future Kings D
Doughty
Quincey
JJ
Hickey
Teubert
Greene
Harrold

If they all pan out as we hope, this could be the best in the league...by far!

nykingsfan,
You forgot Voynov. He leads the monarchs in the plus category. Not bad for an 18 year old.
But I don't see Harrold working out. His game isn't earth shattering, and I don't see him beating out the rest of the D-men on your list.
Our top 6 D-men in the future are:
Doughty
Greene
Tuebert
Voynov
JJ
Quincey

Harrold, Hickey, Martinez should get traded.
Probably for a goalie.
Whatever happened to Piskula and Petiot.

But for a serious ankle injury, Hickey might of made the Kings this year. As it was, his chances of making the squad were reduced because he was coming off a serious injury. Even physically compromised, Hickey was one of the last cuts in training camp.

Make or not, Hickey has turned out to be a good draft pick. Just needs some injury luck and he likely makes the NHL soon. Props to DL and staff for the draft pick.

Now, if we can just pick up Tavares, Brayden Schenn or an equivalent forward in this year's draft....

I thought that team Russia would be suspending the Kings Russian players from playing in international play, based on them "breaking contract"?

I'm looking forward to watching these guys in the WJC. The NHL Network will be providing coverage.

Even if Hickey and Teubert don't pan out, we still have guys like Martinez and our recent Russian pick. Even if only one of those four pan out, our defense will consist of four young but proven NHLers (Doughty, Quincey, JJ and Greene), plus a veteran presence like O'Donnell or his eventual replacement. That would really be something.

Hopefully in the next couple of drafts we'll turn our attention back to forwards.

Looking ahead at the D pairs can be a lot of fun. I'm surprised people leave Voynov off the list though; this guy is the youngest player in the AHL, new to North America, is playing on a very young group in a tough pro league, and he is doing very well.

Although Lombardi has talked about not going 100% with "puck possession" guys in terms of defensemen, the only guys in the defensive group that could play in LA next year that are not possession type defenders are O'Donnell and Greene.

Estimated defense for next year:
LA:
Doughty - Quicney
Johnson - Greene
O'Donnell - Hickey
Harrold

*As much as everyone seems to dislike the guy, I think Gauthier is a solid penalty killer, a classy guy, and the Kings will miss his toughness.

Manchester:
Voinov, Tuebert, Martinez, Meyers, Campbell, Kidd, and one or two of the "older" guys like Piskula, Drewski, or Bagnall.

Don't forget about Voynov.

It really says something special about Hickey to be named Captain of such a proud team. If the nation of Canada is willing to put faith in Hickey in their world stage strive for greatness at his age and level, then I am willing to put faith in him as well.

I remember at the Vegas game against Colorado, when Hickey was paired the whole game with Doughty, thinking Hickey looked more poised and solid defensively than Doughty! It was just one game, and I am not a professional talent evaluator, but Hickey was quicker to get back on D, got more shots through to the net, and overall seemed calmer and more together than Doughty. This is not to say Doughty looked shaky at all, but seeing the two side by side, Hickey struck me as the better player. Obviously management does not fully agree with me, or Doughty would be in juniors and Hickey leading the Kings defense in ice-time, but nonetheless, I am very excited about Hickey and can't wait to see him at the WJC this year and on the Kings roster next year.

I also can't wait to see Tuebert play, since I didn't see him in pre-season at all, only at the development camp during summer. In a way, I'm more excited about him as a prospect than any of our others, save for Doughty.

And yes JonG, I too really hope we draft atleast 2 forwards with our first 3 picks in the next draft.

I would prefer not to finish in the bottom 10, but if we do, I hope we can snag that kid Magnus Svennson-Pajaarvi. If anything, just so one day at Staples I can yell at the top of my lungs "MAAAAAAGNUUUSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!"

Even more good news coming out of Canada today. Pierre McGuire is reporting in a video found at Tsn.ca that Hickey/Teubert will be the "shut down" tandem for the Canadian team and he likes their chances

dangit, forgot to sign in again. I know everyone has a distaste for anonymous posts, so the one that ends with "MAAAAGNUUUSSS!" was me.

Oh and Will Hutchinson, totally with you about Gauthier. He's a key component to our penalty kill. I'm hoping Tuebert can take his place next year, but his 500+ games of NHL experience will be sorely lost nonetheless, no matter how good Hickey and Tuebert are.

Vasquez,

Thanks for the head's up on the TSN website. Next season I'm hoping to see these defense pairings:

Doughty/Johnson
Teubert/Hickey
Greene/Quincey

Don't forget the pairing of right/left shot defensemen. If I'm not mistaken, Doughty, Teubert and Greene are all right-handed shots. For those who like Gauthier, he may be a nice guy and decent on the PK, but he has made plenty of knuckleheaded passes this season. I can't wait until we no longer have to worry about plugging the back end with journeyman players.

good for Hickey. a ton of people are gonna give Hickey no credit until he proves himself in the NHL, just because he wasn't ranked as highly by everyone and because he's been stuck in juniors. but this is impressive. next year, if he stays healthy, i think he'll make the team and prove he's an NHL-caliber defenseman.

Anthony,

Piskula's in Manchester. Petiot is in the Toronto Maple Leafs' system.

I don't see why you'd want to trade Hickey at this point, especially for a goal tender. What if Teubert or Voynov don't pan out?

sorry guys for my omission of Voynov. It wasn't intentional.
Imagine that...Too many talented defensemen to fit on the Kings roster. Did anyone ever think they would live to see the day when that would happen?

If you ask me, this is the defense for 2009-2010:

Quincey/Doughty
Johnson/Greene
Hickey/Teubert
Voynov

with Campbell and Martinez waiting in the wings.

Piskula and Bagnall are AHL lifers at this point in their development. Campbell might be ready before Teubert. Harrold might stick around for another year, if Hickey and/or Voynov or Martinez (the other smallish offensive-minded d prospects) are not ready yet, but Harrold is probably going to be moving on next year or the year after. O'Donnell? Only if Hickey or Teubert aren't ready, otherwise, I think not. Gauthier? Well, you've got Teubert and Campbell as big bodies in the pipeline, and they're both certainly going to get the nod over Gauthier if they're ready. And if not, then you've got O'Donnell to compete with. All this makes Gauthier a long shot if you ask me.

Five of the nine names I mentioned might not be ready next year. But some of them will be. And the others will be the year after. However you look at it, those top seven (Quincey, Doughty, Johnson, Greene, Hickey, Teubert and Voynov) it's reasonable to have pretty high hopes for.

Please stop for second and consider the offensive firepower in that D line-up. Only Greene is not an offensive threat.

The Kings just have TOO MANY great defensive prospects---Many more than any team deserves.

There oughta' be a law.

heh heh.

Someday, this team could be the DEFENSIVE equivalent
of the 80s Edmonton Oilers.

Congrats to Teubert and Hickey. And a extra thata boy to Hickey. Captain of a Canadian National team?!!! Nice!

I also think we'll package 2 of those deffensmen with some forward to get a top 2 defenseman or top 3 forward. I'm not willing to plug names, but if we are in position for the playoffs and the timing is right, I think DL will make a big move.

Here's a good question. Who would you be willing part ways with to get, lets say, Luongo? Would anybody make that move right now. Or would you be willing to wait a year or two for our prospects to show their stuff.

Luongo? Okay, I'll give you Preissing, Armstrong, Calder, Gauthier, Bagnall and a conditional 2015 fifth round pick. Wait for Bernier, the #1 ranked goalie prospect in the world. (yes, yes, yes, he's not lighting the AHL on fire; so what? Bring him up in February, see what's what.)

And personally I wouldn't make a trades to improve the team at the deadline if we're in the hunt for the playoffs. I would still make trades to jettison old people in favor of picks.

Duckhunter, good question, but I doubt DL would give up the youth for a goalie or even a defensmen for that matter. If anything he will package a grouip of prospects for a top pick in the draft.

I take my hat off to DL, he is doing something that other GM's havent been able to do for ??? He is building a franchise that players will want to come to and play, not just a stop over untill something else comes up. We may actually have a shot at top UFA's this this year without having to give up the farm. So I say no way will DL do anything even if we are close.

"Anthony,

Piskula's in Manchester. Petiot is in the Toronto Maple Leafs' system.

I don't see why you'd want to trade Hickey at this point, especially for a goal tender. What if Teubert or Voynov don't pan out?"

He wants to trade him because he's not Karl Alzner. Our internet GM feels DL blew it by not drafting him, so by default it was a terrible pick and Hickey has NO SHOT AT MAKING THE TEAM, and should be traded while he still has value.

I agree that we should have a good shot at landing a good UFA this coming off-season. I don't think we'll attract a Hossa type, but a second line scorer should be within reach.

In my mind it was totally unrealistic to chase Brooks Orpik and those types of players last summer, because we had no discernable foundation in place. If we continue to show progress on the back end, it's not such a stretch to say that we're only a forward or two away from being a very competitive team.

Does anyone out there know much about Hickey? How good is he on the offense/defense? Does he play to his size or bigger/smaller?

I've no clue really, but I've always thought Lombardi would have traded that No. 4 over all if there had been a willing trader. Anyone have inside info on this? If so, I hope Hickey steps up and becomes a great defenseman.

I've never seen Hickey play at all and I'm looking forward to this tourny.