The Kings made the first round of cuts yesterday afternoon, and no surprise it was most of the junior players.
Mistele, Amadio, McKeown, Watson, Middleton and Marchment (that's a lot of M's) were all returned to their respective junior teams. The only exception was the steady Finnish defenseman Alex Lintuniemi.
Considering the hype around Roland McKeown, Lintuniemi being kept a little bit longer says a ton about how he has performed so far at camp. The steady D-man impressed enough at the rookie game in Glendale to earn himself a spot during the split squad games with the big boys.
Lintuniemi was selected with the 60th overall pick, which seemed like a bit of a reach at the time considering his year end ranking by Central Scouting was 187th, and he was not ranked at the midterm of last season. The Kings seem to LOVE that sort of stuff though. They love progression, they love positive upswings in development curves, and it seems to be something they gun for with draft picks. Look at Justin Auger for example, a 2012 4th round pick who has had an equally impressive camp thus far. Auger doubled his statistical output from 2011-12 to 2012-13, and went from being a relative unknown to being somewhat relevant by end of his draft year.
The OHL product, Lintuniemi, is already a massive kid at 6-foot-3 and around 225. He is a young kid in a grown man's body. He has been described as a difficult defenseman to play against, and given his size and strength there is no doubt that's true. Especially when he is playing against guys in the OHL that haven't fully matured physically yet. Another interesting tidbit about the Finnish Dman, he was playing in Sweden for HIFK's U18 team as a 15-year old. He played just a few games with the U16 team but was bumped up in order to face stiffer competition. That's pretty impressive stuff.
While he may have been one of the more mysterious draft picks for the Kings, considering his ranking and the fact they don't draft too many Finnish born players, the OHL scouting for the Kings is dynamite. If Futa, Yannetti (Director of Amateur Scouting), and Clay Leibel (Ontario Scout) like this kid, then I am going to default to them and say there is something there. Especially since we went into the second round to scoop him up.
In a depth chart that is stacked with defenseman and has several promising players like Forbort, McKeown, McNabb, Leslie and Ebert, maybe circle Lintuniemi as a player to keep an eye on.
Alex Lintuniemi has been the biggest surprise of camp and also looks like someone photoshopped Oscar Moller's head onto Robyn Regehr's body
— Rudy Kelly (@rudykelly) September 23, 2014How adorably scary is that.
As far as the other cuts go, no disappointment really. It's rare you see junior players stay at camps that long unless they are of the Drouin or Ekblad variety. Sutter himself said that he doesn't like keeping junior players around if they don't need to. Apparently, Lintuniemi can "keep up"
If you are going to partake in any junior games this year be sure and keep an eye on Spencer Watson as he heads to the Kingston Frontenacs to try and improve upon a very strong 2013-14. He is an explosive goal scorer but needs to prove he can do more than just that.
Michael Amadio with the North Bay Battalion is another to watch, as his progression from the start of his junior career has been solid. He doubled his point totals last season from the previous year, and hopefully he can take another step forward. Looking like a very solid potential depth player at this point.
And obviously keep tabs on the big guy, Roland McKeown, who will also be returning to Kingston with teammate Spencer Watson.
More cuts should be in shortly as the Kings gear up for another preseason game at home against Anaheim.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In case you missed it yesterday as well, Justin Williams had a pretty solid interview on the Jim Rome show.
While I'm not a huge fan of the Jim Rome show and the sometimes unbearable minutia of caller "takes" and rants by Rome, but the guy can do a heck of an interview.
It also helps that he had one of the more personable Kings personalities on. I believe I've said it before, but I'll say it again for posterity. In my experience, outside of Willie Mitchell, Justin Williams is probably the easiest King player to talk to. Jarret Stoll is also right up there, but Williams has a very "every man" quality to him that makes him an easy going interview.
Definitely enjoyed the part of the interview where he spoke about winning the Conn Smythe, and about the brotherhood that exists within the Kings locker room.
Solid interview from Stick and from Rome. Check it out.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even though it is preseason, this was just too beautiful to pass up.
Gabitar forever.
A whole year together. Ah. It's like these two were made to play with each other.
The two hooked up on a goal earlier in the night as well.
Not quite as pretty but, hey, you'll take em right?
Calling it, Kopitar Gaborik each with 50/50 seasons. The share the Rocket Richard trophy and somehow share the Hart also. You heard it here first.
Follow me on twitter for news and notes about the Kings and the NHL
++++I AM CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR ADVERTISERS! If you, or anyone you know would be interested in placing an ad on the blog here at HockeyBuzz then send me a PM!+++++