Dont you people get it? THis is a step in the right direction

[Joe Nathan]

2nd is awesome and now we can get a good D-Man.

[Pucker25]

Originally Posted by four-hand

A step in the right direction is:
Thankfully, the team didn't drop to the 3rd overall spot...

Not saying I would have preferred it, but a drop from 2nd to 3rd in this draft isn't huge. Dougherty is gone and we end up with Bogosian...not too much to sulk about there. I think we could be taking Bogosian at #2 anyway.

[FlyinKIng]

As long as we get some toughness at the blue line. I'm tired of watching the other team just walk right in and knowone hits them. Jack was coming along, but still has a year to go I bet. Lubo isn't a hitter, and you guys talk about Doughty not being read for the NHL, but we did watch Modry all season long, and sure as hell doesn't belong in the NHL!

[paki4]

Originally Posted by twistedwrister

Did someone knock down the Gretzky statue in Star Plaza?

funny...i was just about to post this...

someone knock it down...please? send it to st. louis for craig johnson again...do it deano!

[rinkrat]

Actually I did let out a sigh of relief when they said we weren't third.

[Bandit]

My first reaction was "****ing ****!" at the top of my lungs in the middle of my office. Fortunately, it was 5:30 so not that many people were around.

It wouldn't really bug me that much if the Kings hadn't been in last place basically ALL ****ing year until the last game of the season. That's really the only part that irks me. Oh well, what can you do? Hopefully we get a good defenseman that will help JMFJ pwn for years to come...

[PaulCat]

Keep in mind that Doughty played with Hickey in the World Championship and they are close friends. Barring some trade scenario I really think this is our guy.

[RoadRunner]

Originally Posted by mash-ola

Let's see... the last time the Kings picked second overall....

Winnipeg Jets get DALE HAWERCHUK (Hall Of Famer).

The Kings?

DOUG SMITH! ... uh.. ok, so 0/1 ain't bad... what happens this year may be different... who knows. All I know is most people remember who got picked #1... #2? Forget it!

The reason why the Kings selected Doug Smith was because LAK scouting director at the time, Wren Blair, compared Smith to the Flyers' center Bobby Clarke! (I kid you not)

The Kings had the 2nd pick overall due to Detroit's ineptitude that season. Smith, an 18-year old center for the Ottawa 67's, had scored 158 points in his two seasons in the OHA. In 54 games in 1980-81, his numbers were 45-56-101. (Smith would score only 116 points in five and a half seasons in L.A.)

In picking Smith the Kings passed over an 18-year old high school kid, named Bobby Carpenter (picked 3rd overall by Washington), Sault Ste. Marie Greyhound center Ron Francis (grabbed 4th by Hartford), Victoria goalie Grant Fuhr (the 8th pick, by Edmonton), Prince Albert defenseman James Patrick (picked 9th, by the Rangers), and Kitchener defenseman Al MacInnis (the 15th pick, by Calgary).

Carpenter, who had already been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a 17-year old, wasn't an unknown. In fact, the Hartford Whalers, wanted to draft the Massachusetts high school star. But, did anyone in the Kings' front office consider making a deal with the Whalers guaranteeing they wouldn't draft him? (After all, they weren't going to, anyway. They wanted Smith. Why not at least get an extra lower pick that year).

Not to make excuses for the Kings, consider this:

Francis was only in his first OHL season and had put up only slightly better numbers than Smith had the year earlier, although Ron was a physically bigger player.

Mario Lessard, going on 27 at the time of the draft, had just compiled a 35-18-11 season in 1980-81 and was the NHL Second Team All-Star Goalie. Stop and think about that a minute: he was voted as the 2nd best goaltender in the NHL, above all of the Habs' three goaltending tandem that led the NHL in GAA, above Cup-winning Billy Smith and Chico Resch of the Islanders, above the Flyers' Pete Peeters and the Sabres' Don Edwards. In other words, you can't blame the Kings for not looking for a goalie at the time during the first round.

But if you think the 1st round was a debacle for the Kings, consider what they did with their next pick, in the 2nd Round.

The Kings, in their wisdom, choose Brandon defenseman Dean Kennedy one pick ABOVE Montreal's choice: Moose Jaw defenseman Chris Chelios.

There's the bottom line. Defensemen. In the preceding few seasons, they had blew a chance to land Ray Bourque when they panicked after having seeing the error of letting Rogie Vachon go and went after Ron Grahame. They had let Gary Sargent go to the North Stars because of their penny-pinching contract negotiations. They shipped off reliable D-man Bob Murdoch to Atlanta for Richard Mulhern. The acquired aging veteran Jerry Korab and letting Buffalo draft Phil Housley instead. That's where the Kings' problems were: the blueline. They did nothing in that 1981 draft to address it.

But what did the Kings do after having scored a 3rd-best 337 goals? Drafted a talented center? This the team with the Triple Crown line, lead by Marcel Dionne's 58 goals, and with Bernie Nicholls tearing up the OHL with 63-89-152 in 65 games, far better than Doug Smith and who should have been the obvious eventually No. 1 center once Dionne was done? They drafted a center!

They also pushed out a top-notch coach after being "upset" by a team only two years out of a finals appearance (and after having lost Charlie Simmer with a few weeks remaining in the season). The predictable happened: a disastrous 1981-82 season salvaged only by a new playoff format which allowed the Kings in to stage the "Miracle on Manchester" comeback against Edmonton.

An alternative history might have been an occasional challenge for first place in the newly formatted Smythe Division, with Lessard actually having some help from either a Bourque or a Housley AND a Patrick, MacInnis or Chelios. Keeping Larry Murphy would have also helped (although they could have drafted Paul Coffey in 1980 instead). Add tough guy Jay Wells, veteran Dave Lewis and mobile Mark Hardy and you would have had one of the best defensive corps in the league.

That's why I understand Dean Lombardi's preference for drafting a top-notch defenseman. The Kings have good scoring punch with Kopi, Brown, Cammy, Fro and O'Sullivan. Actually, if the club didn't have such poor defense and goaltending, they'd put much more goals in offensively because they have the lead much more often, putting pressure on the losing club to take chances.

[pepperdine]

Originally Posted by Undertakr

Unfortunately, at this point in the Kings history, Stamkos wouldn't help us. We have no defense. We need to build from the blueline and Daughty or Shenn or Bogosian will all be more beneficial to the team than Stamkos. Scoring 5 goals a game won't help when you give up 40-60 shots a game..

That's absolutely correct. The offense this season was, I believe 4th or 5th in the confrence, and will likely only get stronger. Think of it, Cammy and Lubo had sub-par seasons, growing up were Sully, Brown and Anze, Teddy Purcell and Brian Boyle look to be ready to be full time NHL-ers next year and Frolov is Frolov (i.e. the most consistant King over the past few years). Without anyone else, that's two full lines of high quality young talent.

At the same time, the defense was among the worst in the league. The escort service was back in full effect, soft and slow. JMFJ is going to be a stud, Lubo will come back, Harrold will grow and Hickey will justify his drafting (I hope). Goaltending, we already have our future with Bernier and (POTENTIALLY) Ersberg.

I know Stamkos is going to be a stud, but the Kings need to start drafting for need and right now the need is defense. Take Daughty, let him run with Hickey and get this team ready to start making runs deep in the playoffs in 1 or 2 more years

[Wolvie]

Originally Posted by rinkrat

Actually I did let out a sigh of relief when they said we weren't third.

I let something else out whey they said Tampa Bay was first.

[MR.BUNGLE]

Originally Posted by DRice

I'm only 38, but I still have hope that the Kings will make it to the conference finals in my lifetime.

They did. It was a hell of a series.