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Even though, by this afternoon, everyone was fairly certain the Kings would draft defenseman Drew Doughty with the No. 2 pick, there was a nervous moment for Doughty just before the draft started.

Sitting in the stands with his family, Doughty watched as Kings GM Dean Lombardi and Calgary GM Darryl Sutter had a long conversation and shook hands. Doughty thought the worst.

``I kind of buried my head in my hands,'' Doughty said. ``I said, `Oh, no.' I really wanted to be a L.A. King.''

Doughty, who grew up as a fan of the Wayne Gretzky-era Kings, was concerned that the Kings had just traded their No. 2 pick to Calgary. Doughty was quite relieved to learn that while the Kings did trade a first-round draft pick, it was their No. 28 pick and had nothing to do with him or the No. 2 pick. A few minutes later, Doughty became a King.

Here's the path the Kings took to drafting defenseman Colten Teubert with the No. 13 pick tonight...

The Kings acquired a 2008 first-round pick from Dallas in the trade last season that sent Mattias Norstrom to the Stars. That pick ended up being the No. 28 overall pick.

The Kings sent that No. 28 pick, along with the No. 17 pick they acquired by trading Michael Cammalleri to Calgary, for the Ducks' No. 12 pick, which the Ducks had acquired from Edmonton.

The Kings, eyeing defenseman Colten Teubert, thought they could move down from the No. 12 spot and still get Teubert. They had a deal in place, with an unnamed team, to move down two or three spots but Buffalo, which held the No. 13 pick, was nervous about missing out on its targeted player. The Kings and Sabres talked, and the Kings agreed to trade the No. 12 pick for Buffalo's No. 13 pick, plus a third-round pick in 2009, UNLESS the Kings and Sabres coveted the same player.

How did they resolve this? Each GM got out pen and paper and wrote down which player he wanted to draft. They agreed to make the 12-13 swap if they coveted different players, so that the third, unamed team wouldn't swoop in and steal Buffalo's targeted player. They showed each other the papers. The Kings wanted Teubert; the Sabres wanted Tyler Myers.

The Kings and Sabres made the swap. Buffalo took Myers at No. 12 and the Kings took Teubert at No. 13.

And it's just that simple...

Here are some quotes from Dean Lombardi after the first round of the draft. I didn't get to ask him about Dan Cloutier because he had to cut the call short. I'll get it tomorrow.

On his analysis of the two picks...
``Doughty's hockey sense is off the charts. I think everyone has a handle of what type of player he is and the special player he could become. ... I think we got (toughness) from Teubert and I think that element was lacking in our group.''

On the decision to trade back up in the first round...
``We set a target from (picks) 11 to 13. That's where we had to be to assure ourselves that we had (Teubert). I was offered some good players (for Cammalleri) who could help us now but they didn't help us in terms of this young core we have put together.''

On how the three-team trade came together...
``I couldn't get anyone to trade with me outright. What was clear to me was that I couldn't get into where I needed to be (to get Teubert). To give up Cammalleri, we had to be in that layer, where Teubert would be there. I couldn't get there outright (trading with one team), so I had to work at sprucing it up a little. ... (Pick No.) 17 was not enough for me to get what I wanted. I thought he was going in the 13-15 range so I was going to teams in the 11 to 14 range. I'm going to teams saying, `If I get 17, would you take 17 and 32?' You start laying out your cards. We (Lombardi, Brian Burke and Darryl Sutter) were all upfront about what we wanted.''

On the decision to trade down from No. 12 to No. 13...
``There was a choice. I could have traded and moved down two spots if I wanted to get cute with it. There was an opportunity for me to move back two or three spots and take a chance that (Teubert) would be there. Finally I went to (Buffalo) and said I won't trade with this other team if you tell me who you're taking. So we wrote down who we both wanted and kind of turned the paper over. Sort of like blackjack, showing your cards. We didn't have the same player written down, so we made the trade.''

On the idea that this is the most important draft in franchise history...
``I got pressure put on me by my owner (team governor Tim Leiweke), who said, `I want the best Kings draft in history.' ... That's a little internal pressure, which is good. ... I guess we won't know unti we're down the road a little ways, but I don't know which draft isn't important.''

On the decision to trade Michael Cammalleri...
``This kid is obviously a good player, but it became fairly clear to me that he was probably going to be a one-year asset, and it's very clear that our ownership wants a young nucleus. ... I think that arbitration process, people said the Kings won but you never win. Quite frankly it's a lose-lose situation. That was certainly a factor going forward. OUr chances of losing him and not maximizing our value were pretty good.''

Sorry about that, folks, but you should be able to comment now. I apologize and I thank you for the patience. I'm curious to hear what everyone thought of today's action. In fact, a poll might be in order. I'll get a few of the Lombardi quotes up tonight...

Here's what I know...

-- It's probably 94 percent certain that the Kings will choose Drew Doughty. Dean Lombardi has not said so explicitly, nor will he, but I wouldn't say something like that if I had serious doubts. I'm leaving a five-percent margin of error, in case the Kings get overwhelmed by a trade offer tomorrow, and a one-percent margin of error in case they discover tomorrow that Zach Bogosian can stop pucks with his teeth and score on 80-foot slap shots.

-- The likelihood of any trade, at this point, is fairly low. I really believed that the Kings would be able to package Cammalleri or Visnovsky, but it doesn't seem that the trade market in Ottawa is as strong as some anticipated it would be. There seems to be a willingness among some teams to wait and see how free agency shakes out.

-- A Kings move back into the top 15 of the draft is possible, but not probable, at this point, given the trade market. Lombardi did comment on this point, and said, ``I'm not sure I can get (a pick) high enough that I just don't sit. You put your lines in the water and see what happens.''

Again, I'll admittedly hedge my bets on the last two, because as I write this, there's still about 17 hours until the draft, and anything could happen. But that's what is out there at the moment.

Here's what TSN said in a story today:

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One report out of Ottawa had 2008 Hart Trophy candidate Evgeni Malkin on the move from the Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins, while Jason Spezza's name continues to be mentioned as possible trade bait. The latter claim was quickly disputed by the Senators' chief deal maker.

"You guys make up more stuff than I can ever imagine," Ottawa general manager Bryan Murray told reporters on Thursday. "I heard a rumour last night that Pittsburgh was moving one of their star players. I talked to their manager today to see if I could be included in the discussions and they kind of laughed at me."

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Pretty much says it all.

I'm still waiting to hear from Lombardi. Chances are, he will call about five minutes after I walk out of the office. But if there's an update to be made tonight, I'll certainly make it.

The Associated Press just moved this draft-preview story with the following tidbit from Dean Lombardi. I'm expecting to get him on the phone myself shortly.

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With his staff "bunkered down around the mattress" of his hotel room, Lombardi said Thursday he was busy fielding calls from as many as 20 teams, and weighing whether to trade the pick or use it on one of a solid corps of defense prospects ranked behind Stamkos.

"Probably 50-50," Lombardi said, regarding what he'll do.

Here's what Dean Lombardi told the Canadian Press today. It's pretty consistent with a) what he said after the Crawford firing and b) the exact same thing that's said by every GM every year before the draft. They're keeping options open, etc., etc. An enterprising reader could probably go back 12 months and find almost-identical quotes. So we'll see what happens. Quotes like this speak to how fluid the situation is...

``On the first front, I figured I had two legitimate offers for the pick outright that I presented to ownership last week. But it was very clear the direction they want to go, which is more committed towards putting together a solid nucleus.

"As far as moving down in the draft, those are still options. That still has to remain in the equation. And I would suggest that that could go right up until we make the pick. I think the deal outright for the pick, you're probably in or out for sure the day before.

"The one where you're moving moving down, as I've done in the past, can sometimes not happen until right up to making the pick. I've had one legitimate proposal that deserves consideration in terms of moving back."

Finally, we have some clarity in terms of how many draft picks the Kings will have next week -- the number is 15 -- and where they are. Click below to see how the picks from other teams were acquired.

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 Anaheim)

As part of its coverage of the NHL draft combine, TSN did an interview with Dean Lombardi, during which he doesn't tip his hand about which direction he's leaning (although we all know it's a defenseman) and talks about a couple of the prospects in particular.

Lombardi on TSN.ca

TSN.ca is doing an extensive blog about the NHL's draft combine in Toronto, where general managers and scouts are getting a look at some of the top prospects. The only mention of the Kings so far is about Dean Lombardi talking to Nikita Filatov. I think it would be more interesting to read about Lombardi talking to Doughty or Bogosian, but oh well. The blog is a good read...

NHL draft combine blog

As part of Dean Lombardi's North American tour to visit draft prospects, he met with Zach Bogosian this week. Here's a short story from the Peterborough Examiner, with a couple quotes from Bogosian and the assertion, from Bogosian's father, that Bogosian wouldn't mind playing for a West Coast team.

Kings visit Bogosian

If you read Don's interview with Drew Doughty a few weeks ago, Doughty made no secret of the fact that he wants to play for the Kings. Doughty, one of the top prospects in next month's draft, could very well end up being a King, if the team doesn't go with Zach Bogosian.

Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times, stuck in Detroit for the Stanley Cup Finals, caught up with Doughty today and he talked more about his desire to be drafted by the Kings.

Playing for Kings would be 'dream come true' for No. 3 draft prospect

Dean Lombardi, Michael Futa, Mark Yannetti and the gang are out all over the continent this month, having sit-down meetings with prospects and their families, and the group will be in Toronto tomorrow for the draft combine. I'll do my best to get an update on how things looked in Toronto.

Finally...the end. Here's the last part of the interview with Mark Yannetti and Michael Futa. It focuses mainly on where the organization stands now and where it's heading and (hopefully) will give you some idea of their vision for the future. I hope everyone found the interview worthwhile! Here's the last part...

OK, I thought this would be the final installment, but there's still another one to come. In this part, Michael Futa and Mark Yannetti discuss what it's like to work for Dean Lombardi and discuss how it can be both challenging and rewarding. It's a bit of an insight as to what it's like to work for the Kings these days...

Here's the second-to-last installment of the interview with Michael Futa and Mark Yannetti. Unfortunately, the final installment will have to wait, since I left my recorder at home this morning. Oops. This part is some real meat-and-potatoes stuff about the job these guys do leading up to the draft...

In this third installment of the interview, Futa and Yannetti talk about preparing for all the different scenarios they might face on draft day, plus they discuss how there is a consensus, among the staff, about which player to select with the No. 2 pick...

Here's the second part of the interview with Mark Yannetti and Michael Futa, in which they start to go into some detail about what their lives are like these days, and how hectic the weeks leading up to the draft can be...

Here's the first part of the long interview I did on Saturday with Michael Futa and Mark Yannetti, the Kings' co-directors of amateur scouting. The interview took place after I sat in on their session, so you'll read a couple references to that morning's meeting.

For a little background, Futa and Yannetti were named to their roles on June 5, 2007, so this is really their first year overseeing the Kings' draft efforts.

Previously, Yannetti worked as a scout for the Kings and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Futa spent the previous five seasons as the general manager of the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League.

What follows is the start of a lengthy, wide-ranging interview. As you'll see, it starts with a simple question but a long, involved answer in which the guys discuss their work and their philosophy. After this, the questions and answers will get more specific. Here's the first part...

The NHL has created nhlentrydraft2008.com, which is a great resource for many of the top prospects, with bios, photos, videos, a sortable database of prospects and other features. It's definitely worth a look...

I will be able to start posting some of the quotes from the extensive interviews with Mike Futa and Mark Yannetti later today -- stuff I really think you'll enjoy -- but I wanted to take a few minutes to answer some questions people had about the Saturday meeting.

Q: Does this mean the Kings have the final draft list done already?

A: No, it's still very much a work in progress. As Yannetti said, they'll be looking at guys up until draft day, and they always have to be prepared for possible changes.

Q: Did the Q word come up by chance?

A: Assuming you're referring to the first name of a recently-let-go coach, no.

Q: I agreed to not reveal certain details, such as specifics about how players are evaluated and which players are being discussed. Don't think of me as ungrateful, but isn't that really the only part of this that interests us?

A: That's for you to decide, but I think you'll enjoy the quotes that came out of it, if you didn't particularly enjoy hearing about the generalities of the day.

Q: When you say "later round prospects", do you mean late-first round guys or potential 3-4-5 guys?

A: More like sixth- or seventh-round guys, it seemed.

Q: Did you get the impression the Kings staff are in agreement on whom they will pick at #2, whomever that may be?

A: Yes, I do get that impression. I asked Futa and Yannetti about this specifically, so you'll see the full answer a bit later. But the short answer is, yes.

Q: Did the question of whether to trade down ever come up?

A: Not specifically. But if you're talking about the No. 2 pick, I don't think it will happen.

Q: Has DL ever made any comments about the various published rankings? Does the org use them in their own evals? I guess, does DL think that they are an accurate and useful tool at all? If they are useful, to what extent are they used?

A: No, he hasn't made any comments, but given what we know about Lombardi, I seriously doubt he takes scouting-service rankings into serious consideration. If he did, I don't think Thomas Hickey would have pulled on a Kings sweater last June.

Q: You say they talked about latter rounds. Was that intentional on their/your part?

A: Not on my part, and I don't believe on their part. I was initially supposed to come in on Friday but it got changed to Saturday. I think that's just who they happened to be discussing.

Q: What I am really curious to know, is that after all the reporting you've done since the DL era began, and especially after this recent meeting you attended (very jealous:), in your opinion, do you think the Kings are headed in the right direction?

A: This is a good question, one for everyone to discuss, and it deserves a better, longer answer so I will address it in the near future.

Q: What kind of food did they serve there Rich? Did they offer you coffee or anything?

A: They're always very gracious hosts, and there's plenty of food in the room to sustain the scouts, but I didn't have anything.

The Kings gave me the unique opportunity today to sit in for a while as Dean Lombardi and his staff continued the process of evaluating prospects for next month's entry draft.

It's a fascinating process, the scope of which is hugely complicated but yet somehow seems very orderly and organized. As part of the agreement to let me sit in, I agreed to not reveal certain details, such as specifics about how players are evaluated and which players are being discussed. That certainly made sense to me, as I can understand why the Kings wouldn't want to reveal their tactics and thought process to other teams.

But in general, I'll do my best to give you a picture of how it went...

We did this a few weeks back, but I'm interested to see if opinions are changing at all about which player the Kings should take with the No. 2 pick. You've had a chance to see the highlight videos and see the Central Scouting rankings, so has your mind changed at all? For the sake of argument, we'll assume that Steven Stamkos is going first. A wild guess...

Finally, here's Luke Schenn:

Schenn stats, info

Here's Alex Pietrangelo:

Pietrangelo stats, info

Here's Tyler Myers:

Myers stats, info

Here's Nikita Filatov. The quality of this video is a little lower, but you should still get the idea...

Filatov stats, info

Here's some Drew Doughty highlights, courtesy of a cool video done by Toronto Maple Leafs TV:

Doughty stats, info

It occurred to me today that perhaps many people don't get to see highlights of these draft prospects we talk about so much. So I figured today would be a good opportunity to post some clips of these guys, and let you get a look at Zach Bogosian, Drew Doughty, Tyler Myers, Alex Pietrangelo, Luke Schenn and, yes, Nikita Filatov. We'll start with Bogosian. Stick with it, for the end-to-end goal in the final minute.

Bogosian stats, info

The NHL Central Scouting Bureau has released its final rankings for the 2008 draft...

1. Guess who? Steven Stamkos, center, Sarnia (OHL)
2. Zach Bogosian, defenseman, Peterborough (OHL)
3. Drew Doughty, defenseman, Guelph (OHL)
4. Tyler Myers, defenseman, Kelowna (WHL)
5. Luke Schenn, defenseman, Kelowna (WHL)
6. Alex Pietrangelo, defenseman, Niagara (OHL)

The list of top North American players can be found here

Don Fulton tracked down Alex Pietrangelo, who has been out of commission recently because of a bout with mononucleosis. But Don tracked down yet another defensive prospect who might end up in the Kings organization in June...

Heres's another one of Don's great prospect interviews, this one with defenseman Colby Robak. Don also has an interview with Jonathan Quick and we're also in the process of setting something up with Marc Crawford. For now, here's Colby...

Here's the interview that Don Fulton was able to grab with defensive prospect Tyler Myers. I have a couple of these backed up, so I'll try to get them out there today. Don does a great job of tracking down these prospects...

The draft lottery went exactly as slotted:

1. Tampa Bay
2. Kings
3. Atlanta
4. St. Louis
5. N.Y. Islanders

OK, FINALLY I have a little time to start putting some of the Lombardi stuff up here. And since tomorrow is the draft lottery, and the draft seems to be the big topic of discussion these days, I'll start with Lombardi's thoughts on the draft. I had him address two areas, one being the concern, expressed here and elsewhere, that the Kings might not take Stamkos if they got the first pick. The response to that was:

``I'm all for communicating with the fans and media, but I'm not going to tell anyone what my plans are. What I was trying to say (in previous comments) was that we're doing our job and looking at everything out there.''

And what, I also wanted to know, is ``everything out there''? Does that mean the possibility to significant movement on draft day? Perhaps packaging some of those picks to move up? Lombardi said:

``Go back and watch my history. I don't want to say I'm a pioneer, but with the whole idea of moving, I think my record for moving is to be active. You don't move just to move. The high number of picks gives us flexibility in a lot of ways. Having those picks, particularly in the first three rounds, that might be the
difference in moving up. That's part of training your staff. As much as you prepare, still have to make split-second decisions. You force your staff to react quickly when things come up. You have to make that split-second decision but we're more prepared than we were last year.

``We've got the cards to play, in terms of draft picks, but you still have to play them. We have to look at every angle. In the end, you might end up doing nothing. That doesn't mean you won't look at 100 different things. You might move up, you might move down or you might move some of those picks into next year. You have X number of spots you need to fill in your organization every year, so maybe you wait

Monday's NHL draft lottery will be televised, on Versus in the U.S., TSN in Canada and the NHL Network for everyone, at 5 p.m. Pacific time. It's also going to be on NHL.com. It's only the second time that the lottery will be televised. Here's the full press release from the NHL...

Yet another prospect interview from Don Fulton, this one with Zach Bogosian, a defenseman for the OHL's Peterborough Petes, one of the great team names in all of hockey. Bogosian's season is over and Don caught up with him. Next, Don will get to work tracking down D.B. Cooper, Natalee Holloway and the guy who tipped off Jacques Demers about Marty McSorley's curved stick.

Don Fulton tracked down Luke Schenn, a defenseman for the WHL's Kelowna Rockets who is likely to be a top-five pick in this year's draft. Schenn's team is in a playoff series against Thomas Hickey's Seattle Thunderbirds, with the deciding Game 7 to be played tonight. Here's Don's chat with Luke:

Here's the second half of Don's interview with Drew Doughty...

Don Fulton, who must be a part-time detective, tracked down Drew Doughty for an exclusive interview. it's fairly lengthy, so I'll break it into two parts. It's another look at a prospect who might well end up in the Kings organization next season. It's another good read...

Here's the other half of the Steven Stamkos interview, courtesy of Don Fulton...