The Los Angeles Kings waited until the 3rd round, #70 overall to select Center Jordan Weal from the Regina Pats of the WHL. Weal is a talented player, if quite small and the Los Angeles Kings did well to select him in the 3rd round. Any later and he likely would have been snapped up by another team. Any earlier would likely have been a bit of a reach for the diminuitive forward.
As if the Kings needed to get smaller, Weal is listed at between 5′8″ and 5′10″, but since the numbers tend to be inflated, I assume he’s closer [...]

Drafting at #47 overall, the Los Angeles Kings selected Center, Tyler Toffoli. The kid seemed to have fallen in the ratings by most considerations, and we here at Fansided.com had him going in the first round. Tyler Toffoli was graded as the #16 prospect by the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau, and emerges from Ottawa of the Ontario Hockey League.
Toffoli has put together 37 goals and 79 points with Ottawa last season, and will be looking to increase that amount as his offensive skills continue to mature. According to most reports, Toffoli isn’t an elite scorer, nor is he a star [...]

Trumping all of the relevant free agency news regarding Ilya Kovalchuk, and the plethora of other contract agreements (including the signing Jaroslav Halak by St. louis), Bob Probert has passed away yesterday. Reports have him dying after suffering from chest pain, so the belief is that it was a result of heart issues. He was 45 years old, and died while boating. it’s a sad day for hockey when they lose an icon of the game. While he was never a superstar, and there were quite a few players that surpassed his statistical achievements, he was a big name, and [...]

In round one of last Friday’s NHL Entry Draft, the Los Angeles Kings selected Derek Forbert at #15. The Kings traded up to pick Forbert, giving up their #19 overall selection as well as a 2nd round pick (#59 overall) to make the move. It’s a move that seems to indicate that Lombardi and the Kings thought they had their guy, and interviews with Lombardi since the selection seem to support that fact.
So I was trying to pay for it. I had tried to move up about three or four picks before, and then finally I got it. He was [...]

OK, so I’m a few days late in calling your attention to it, but check out this post from Eugene Markman over on our new all-NHL site, Too Many Men On the Site (a tribute to the frequency of the call during this years playoffs). Anyway, on the post Doughty goes all crazy like with love for Doughty, which isn’t hard to do. Let’s be honest, Doughty may be the most exciting player to hit the ice for the Kings since Wayne Gretzky (though Luc was pretty awesome too). Anyway, it’s a great write-up, and worth checking out if you [...]

Up next is the Jack Adams Award, given to the “Coach of the Year”. Nominees this year include Joe Sacco who got to Avalanche to the playoffs with a frankly weak team, Barry Trotz from Nashville, and Dave Tippett from Phoenix.
And the winner is… Dave Tippett.
Congratulations Dave. If you’re unaware, Dave Tippett was an assistant coach for the Kings for three seasons before he left for a solid performance in Dallas. Well done Dave. Now come back to Earth and lose some games to the Kings next year!

I can’t take full (any) credit for this list (Thanks to Rich Hammond), but below is the list of players that are attending the Kings development camp schedule. The dates are scheduled from June 30-July 2 at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. As I mentioned before, it’s an enjoyable experience and one I recommend. The schedule for the entire week is below the player’s attending. Obviously the list below will be supplemented by many (all?) of this years draft picks:
Defensemen:
Andrew Campbell – third round (74th overall) in 2008
Nicolas Deslauriers – third round (84th overall) in 2009
Thomas Hickey – [...]

As you should have seen by now, the crew at Fansided.com have put together a pretty impressive mock draft that’s definitely worth taking a look at. A few things to mention before I get into the details of who I selected with the Kings pick at #19. First, I don’t entirely agree with some of the selections that other teams have made. Obviously that’s the case with any draft, and I didn’t imagine things would be much different here. Nonetheless, the result is that for the players that were available when I made my selection is the one that I [...]