In our last “Best of… review, we took a look at the 1st round selections of the Kings. This time around we will dive a little deeper and head into the mid and late rounds to find a few gems.
With the L.A. Kings, there has not actually been any trend of consistently selecting solid first round picks. You could make an argument for the opposite actually. However, the Kings have always seemed to squeeze out some dynamite picks in the mid to late rounds. That trend became especially strong once Dean Lombardi took over in 2006.
Let us dive once more into the Kings draft history and find the best of the rest.
2001 NHL Entry Draft
Mike Cammalleri - 2nd round (49th overall)
Those who followed the Kings through the doldrums of the mid-2000 era will fondly remember Mike Cammelleri. His down on one knee slapper is a great memory from a time in which Kings fans did not have a whole lot to look forward to come hockey season. The 5’9… winger lacked no passion for the game and played much larger than his diminutive frame. “Cammy… was a standout at the University of Michigan but still fell in the draft due to his size and strength. No one questioned his offensive prowess though. He scored a whopping 61 points and 29 goals in 42 games for the Wolverines in 2000-01.
When he made his way to the NHL, it did not take long for Cammalleri to show that same bit of offensive prowess. In just his second full season with the Kings in 2006-07, he scored 34 goals and recorded 80 points. This was the follow up to a strong 55 point first full season in the NHL. Despite the success and fond memories he had with the Kings and with Kings fans, the now 32-year old played just 283 games of his 737 career NHL games in Los Angeles. He has a career 0.74 point per game pace in the NHL, comparable to the pace of current King Jeff Carter.
2007 NHL Entry Draft
Wayne Simmonds - 2nd round (61st overall)
The Kings have relied heavily on the OHL in recent years in providing talent. In the 2nd round of 2007 they went out to Belleville to select the scrawny but tenacious forward Wayne Simmonds. It took the young forward just one more year in juniors to make his way to the NHL. In 2008-09 Simmonds surprised everyone with an outstanding training camp as he vaulted his way into the NHL. He would remain in LA for two more years, combining back to back 30-plus point seasons and plenty of fights. He quickly became a fan favorite with his style of play. Unfortunately, Simmonds quickly became an enemy troop, as he was traded to the Flyers in the Mike Richards deal in 2011. The now 26-year old has become a key offensive contributor for the Flyers, and has posted close to thirty goals in three of his four seasons in the City of Brotherly Love.
Alec Martinez and Dwight King - 4th round (95th and 109th overall)
Depth acquisitions are always smiled upon fondly, especially when they come from the middle rounds. While King and Martinez are not blowing the doors off the NHL, they were, and have been key pieces to several deep playoff runs and Stanley Cup championships. Most NHL GMs would be happy with legit top 9 forward and top 4-6 defenseman in any of the first three rounds. The Kings managed to scoop up both of those kinds of players in round 4 of 2007.
2005 NHL Entry Draft
Jonathan Quick - 3rd round (72nd overall)
Quick had a few things going for him despite being a relatively low pick in hindsight. He came out of the Avon Old Farms boarding school, an establishment known for finding some fine athletes. Current and former NHLers include Cam Atkinson, Nick Bonino, and Brian Leetch. He had also committed to playing for U-Mass Amherst, which would give the Kings some time to sit on him for development. Always touted as an extremely athletic and talented goaltender, few knew what he was really capable of having not faced a tremendous amount of competition moving up the ranks.
Quick was ranked No. 9 amongst North American goaltenders by Central Scouting in 2005, (http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?page=topprospects) behind the likes of Daren Machesney, Alexandre Vincent, Jeff Frazee and Taylor Dakers. If you have not heard of many of those, do not feel bad. Nevertheless, the Kings had their eye on Quick as the organization needed a goaltender. Little did they know they were getting one of the most athletic goaltenders in the world, a future Conn Smythe winner, and one of the team’s cornerstones in net.
2010 NHL Entry draft
Tyler Toffoli - 2nd round (47th overall)
Like Tanner Pearson from our first round edition, there is still a large portion of Toffolis history yet to be written. However, thus far, things look very positive and his contributions have been tremendous. If you have followed any of the blog over the past two years, you would know that Toffoli was just about the best King on the team this year in 2014-15. He was also an integral part to the 2013-14 cup run with an outstanding playoffs.
TSN had Toffoli going in the first round with their 2010 mock draft (). However, his selection did not come in the first round like they had originally projected. The former Ottawa 67, who twice scored over 100 points and 50 goals with his junior squad, fell to 47th overall. NESN’s James Murphy said what most scouts seemed to say about Toffoli and why he fell.
Toffoli, 18, is a 6-foot, 180-pound winger who had 79 points in 65 games. Scouts love his right-handed wrist shot and the ability it has to change a game in an instant. But there are some question marks on other parts of his game, like skating and positioning. However, with some good coaching and work ethic on his part, Toffoli could be a legit sniper.
Toffoli’s skating was, and still is rather questionable, but he has put together a full 200-foot game to go along with it. Oh, and the scoring has translated also. The fact that he fell as far as 47th when so many other teams were supposedly looking at him is pretty amazing. As for the Kings, I’m sure Dean Lombardi thanks the hockey gods each and every day for his slide at the 2010 draft.
Were there any other outstanding draftees from the later rounds? Should Jordan Nolan qualify for his seventh round selection? Are we going to see similar in the future from Mr. Irrelevant Nick Ebert? Go back a little deeper than 15 years maybe and give us your best of the rest picks.