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While the Los Angeles Kings went into the 2021 NHL Draft last month with seven picks, the team came away with just four new prospects.
Of the team’s four selections, their first-round pick, which they used to select defenseman Brandt Clarke, was the only instance in which they didn’t trade up. In moving up to select Francesco Pinelli, Samuel Helenius and Kirill Kirsanov, the Kings gave up a fourth-round pick, a fifth-round pick and a sixth-round pick.
If you look at this compared to their last two drafts, it’s a major contrast. In both the 2019 and 2020 drafts, the Kings selected nine players. While the team also moved up at times in each of the last two drafts as well, it’s a different story when you come away with nine players, as opposed to four.
Compared to other rebuilding teams around the league as well, the approach looked very different. The Arizona Coyotes, for example, selected nine players this year, while the Buffalo Sabres walked away with 11 new prospects.
Typically in a rebuild, the idea is to build a pool of the most prospects and picks as possible. At this point though, the Kings don’t need to prioritize stockpiling more picks and prospects. Trading up three separate times and selecting just four players in the draft showed how much confidence the Kings have in their prospect pool.
With such a deep pool of future talent already built, the Kings can start to project where they see certain players fitting in long-term. This allowed the team to focus on adding specific pieces to build around current players and top prospects, and means the team can be more willing to take a gamble and trade away extra assets, in order to bet on a player they really like.
While the Kings still have a long way to go, the organization showed confidence in their current situation with their draft strategy this year.
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OTHER ARTICLES FROM AUGUST
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Kings re-sign Kale Clague and Austin Strand
Three players the Kings could trade this offseason
Re-signing Andreas Athanasiou was the right move for Kings
Kings sign Brandt Clarke to entry-level contract
Kings sign Samuel Helenius to entry-level contract
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Mikey Anderson exceeded expectations in rookie season with Kings
Will the Kings make the playoffs next season? 
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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