Ho-Sang Kings' possible first pick

[CaptHowdy00]

NHL -- Josh Ho-Sang is ultra-skilled and well rounded, but also frustrating - ESPN

 

[oxnardkingsfan]

NHL -- Josh Ho-Sang is ultra-skilled and well rounded, but also frustrating - ESPN

Not really sure he's a "Lombari type" player. Could be but he'll have to change some and be more coachable.

Ox

 

[ouendan1]

I don't see him falling to LA. If I recall he was once considered a candidate for #1 overall and it sounds like he still has the talent to go high. If he does fall to LA though I can imagine Lombardi and co. taking him and straightening him out.

 

[CaptHowdy00]

If he's at TE 29th pick, I say Deano picks him up.

 

[Psych3man]

Islanders pick Ho-Sang right in front of Kings

 

[CaptHowdy00]

Damn!

 

[ChiefsDdgersLakersKings24]

So Adrian Kempe, a 17 year old out of Sweden is the pick.

 

[ouendan1]

so NBC sports cuts out to track and field 28 picks into the first round, then the NBC sports live extra crap decides to give me 30 seconds of content before playing nothing but advertisements.

Fuck off NBC.

 

[Deader2818]

So Adrian Kempe, a 17 year old out of Sweden is the pick.

Excellent skater with speed and quickness and he uses it to get to openings and to back off defenders. Excellent sense for the game and what is necessary and with his multitude of talents, he can deliver. A team player through and through.

Sounds like a perfect fit.

 

[oxnardkingsfan]

Yeah he sounds good and I trust the Kings scouting staff because of their history since being put together by Lombardi. The scouting staff was the first thing that Lombardi rebuilt. 11 players on this years Stanley Cup Championship team were Kings draft picks. Pretty good resume if you ask me. But in the end drafting teenagers is pretty much a craps shoot. Very few "can't miss" prospects after the top few and sometimes even the first overall turn out to be busts.

Ox

 

[davnlaguna]

Some person I have never heard of with an opinion
Adrian Kempe ? The Next Ones: NHL 2014 Draft Prospect Profile

 

[davnlaguna]

stole this from the main board

 

[oxnardkingsfan]

Cleveland Indians hat? He'll have to trade that in for a Dodgers hat if he wants to stick with this team.

Ox

 

[Bluesince62]

Can't wait for Burnside's column in next few days that explains in great detail how the drafting of Kempe will never help the Kings and how it further shifts the "balance of power" towards Anaheim.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Good pick by LA, could develop into a power forward for LA. Played with men for Modo and while he didn't light it up he was able to hang with them. Hopefully the Kings developmental job does its thing and cranks out yet another quality NHL player.

Dumbo's scouting department has been solid since he got here, dumping Al Murray and his duds was genius. Kings scouting and drafting had become somewhat of a joke the latter years he was here. I believe Murray is the head scout/director of scouting for Team Canada or something like that these days after almost 20 years with the Kings.

One thing that really isn't known is that GMs take a lot of heat for (and get too much credit for) is draft picks, but most of the work is delegated to the scouting staff. The GM essentially calls out the player's name on draft day but doesn't have a lot to do with the selection otherwise. he scouts are assigned geographical regions and are the ones who get up at 3am to drive 3 hours to see a practice, develop profiles and catch their games more than the GM does.

This is why it is so critical for an organization to have solid scouts.

 

[Kings4OT]

Besides the GM drafting for what he thinks he needs which is sometimes more important then "the best player at that pick" they don't have a lot to do with the draft pick as Puck mentioned. I suppose a GM could turn on the tv/radio and listen to what those "experts" say but yeah its better to have a great scouting staff

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Besides the GM drafting for what he thinks he needs which is sometimes more important then "the best player at that pick" they don't have a lot to do with the draft pick as Puck mentioned. I suppose a GM could turn on the tv/radio and listen to what those "experts" say but yeah its better to have a great scouting staff

Yes, the GM assesses the needs of the franchise but the scouts essentially do all the work. If that level of trust is not there, and if you have a meddling GM who wants his hands in everything, it'll never happen. Garth Snow reeks of this. The GM must freely give up that responsibility and focus on other issues, and let the scouting staff do its work.

Dumbo has this level of trust and believe these scouts will get the job done, and they have overall. I liked Taylor as a GM and always felt bad for him because Leiweke was always handcuffing him - "we want you to build a contender, but here's $45 million to work with". Taylor did the best he could and two major pieces (Quick, Kopitar) were drafted under him and one big piece (Brown) as well so he did have some hits but a lot were also misses (Karlsson, Boyle, Tambellini, Tukonen, Biron, Green, the list goes on) especially near the end.

But I also feel that there was too much of a good ole' boys club atmosphere with the Taylor regime, which is why guys like Murray weren't let go sooner than they should have been. Fine line between being loyal and being loyal to a fault, and that is where I think Taylor made some mistakes.

Murray's drafts got progressively worse between 1999-2004 and he should have been let go in the middle of that.

 

[oxnardkingsfan]

I kind of think Lombardi may have more input than a lot of GMs. I'm sure he relies on his scouting staff but in the end I think the eventual pick made comes down to him and his head scout who is Futa for the Kings I think.

Ox