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…

Continue reading “Inside the war room” »

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…
Continue reading “Alex Pietrangelo interview” »