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Kings Picking 11th; Reign Down 2-1

April 29, 2017, 9:46 PM ET [15 Comments]
Sheng Peng
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The Kings will be picking 11th in the 2017 NHL Draft, sliding back one spot from their draft lottery odds.

In Craig Button's most recent mock draft, he had LA grabbing sniper Owen Tippett.

However, Tippett, centermen Casey Mittelstadt and Cody Glass, and defenseman Miro Heiskanen are in a layer of intriguing prospects who might be out of Rob Blake's reach right now. In LA's range, centermen Martin Necas, Lias Andersson, Nick Suzuki, Michael Rasmussen, or Ryan Poehling, goalie Jake Oettinger, or defenseman Cale Makar are among the youngsters who might be of interest.

Look for prospect profiles in the coming weeks.

The Kings also have the 41st, 72nd, 103rd, 134th, 138th (from Tampa Bay for Peter Budaj), and 165th picks. The 2017 NHL Draft will take place in Chicago on June 23-24.

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The Ontario Reign are down 2-1 in their best-of-five series with the San Diego Gulls.

Despite this deficit, a number of LA's prospects have impressed in this tightly-contested series. All three games have been one-goal contests (not counting empty netters).

In Game One, Jonny Brodzinski showcased his howitzer of a shot:




With seconds left in a tied game, Adrian Kempe forechecked Andy Welinksi into submission, then flashed some vision to find Brodzinski again:




In Game Two, Mike Amadio showed off a growing assertiveness with the puck, dangling ex-King Jeff Schultz:




He also added a goal in a losing cause.

In Game Three, Jack Campbell made big save after big save. He's stopped 78 of 84 shots in this series (.929 Save %):




Amadio netted another marker, his sixth in eight games, but Ontario was done in by a last-minute Gulls goal:




Both Kempe and Amadio are still raw, as we can see from their defending in these last couple clips. But there's also a lot to like.

Game Four will be on Monday in Ontario and Game Five, if necessary, will be the next night in San Diego.

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