Over the years, the Los Angeles Kings have made some tremendous picks in the NHL Draft, including players like Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, and Jonathan Quick. When teams get their picks right, it is a big advantage and was one of the reasons that the Kings would win two Stanley Cups in a span of three seasons.
As much of an advantage it is when teams get the pick right, it can set teams back when they miss those picks, especially first-round picks. The Kings, unfortunately, have had their fair share of those, and these are the five worst first-round picks made by Los Angeles.
Wayne McBean (1987, 4th overall pick)
The Los Angeles Kings would select Wayne McBean with the fourth overall pick in the 1987 NHL Draft. McBean would go on to play in 211 NHL games but only 60 with the Kings before he was traded in his second season in the league.
However, what makes this one of the worst first round picks in franchise history is that the Kings would trade up to four to select McBean. On top of that, the first three players to be selected were Pierre Turgeon, Brendan Shanahan and Glen Wesley and all three would go on to have productive careers.
While the Kings wouldn't have been able to select McBean, they could have picked Joe Sakic as he went 15th overall. The selection of Sakic at their original spot of six or after trading up at four would have been a huge difference for the franchise.
Mathieu Biron (1998, 21st overall pick)
The next pick on this list was in the 1998 NHL Draft as the Kings would select Mathieu Biron with the 21st overall pick. However, Biron would never play a single game for Los Angeles as he would be traded the following year to the New York Islanders.
The defenseman would end up playing in 253 career games with 12 goals, 32 assists and a +/- of -69. For the Kings, the other reason this will go down as one of the worst first round picks is who was selected right after Biron as the Philadelphia Flyers selected Simon Gagne, who would play over 800 games in his career with 601 points.
Jens Karlsson (2001, 18th overall pick)
A few years later the LA Kings selected right wing Jens Karlsson out of Sweden. However, Karlsson would not be able to agree to a contract with the Kings and never played a single minute in the NHL.
Karlsson would be one of only two players that year selected in the Top 20 to not play in the NHL as the Carolina Hurricanes also saw their pick, Igor Knyazev, never make it to the NHL.
Lauri Tukonen (2004, 11th overall pick)
Lauri Tukonen was the 11th overall pick in the 2004 NHL Draft but would play only five games in the NHL in his career. He would be called up during the 2006-07 season and appeared in four games before appearing in one game the following season and failed to register a point.
After the 2007-08 season, the Kings would trade Tukonen to the Dallas Stars for Richard Clune. He would appear in 14 games for the Kings and had two assists so they were able to get at least some kind of production from that pick.
Thomas Hickey (2007, 4th overall pick)
The Kings would select defenseman Thomas Hickey with the fourth overall pick in the 2007 NHL Draft, and this selection was more bad luck than maybe a bad pick. Hickey struggled to stay healthy during his time in the AHL, and the Kings would end up waiving him during the 2012-13 season.
He would be claimed by the New York Islanders and would go on to play in 456 games over nine seasons with his best season being in 2017-18 when he had 25 points and a +/- of +20.