Drafty

Today is the start of the NHL Draft, and parked in the 2nd pick of the first round are my Kings.

There's usually some last minute moves for teams to jump up in the order, and this years there's been a lot of interest in that deuce spot. From Yahoo! Sports:

The drama in this year’s NHL entry draft does not sit with the No. 1 overall pick.

Unless the Tampa Bay Lightning get an “earth-shaking offer” as GM Jay Feaster put it Wednesday, they are indeed going to select Sarnia Sting forward Steven Stamkos with the first pick Friday night. After all, the 18-year-old offensive wizard is already featured on the NHL club’s website.

After the first pick, it gets interesting. First, there is still some intrigue about which defenceman the Los Angeles Kings would select second overall - Drew Doughty of the OHL’s Guelph Storm or Zach Bogosian of the OHL’s Peterborough Petes.

“I’d say we’re fairly close,” Kings GM Dean Lombardi said when asked which prospect they had settled on. “But part of it is that we’re still looking at all the deals.”

And that’s the wild card. They might move the pick. The “deals,” as Lombardi put it, are two-fold.

“On the first front, I figured I had two legitimate offers for the pick outright that I presented to ownership last week,” said Lombardi. “But it was very clear the direction they want to go, which is more committed towards putting together a solid nucleus.”

The Kings want to go young and be patient so they want to draft a blue-chip prospect this week. But then there’s the second trade option.

“As far as moving down in the draft, those are still options,” said Lombardi. “That still has to remain in the equation. And I would suggest that that could go right up until we make the pick. I think the deal outright for the pick, you’re probably in or out for sure the day before.

“The one where you’re moving moving down, as I’ve done in the past, can sometimes not happen until right up to making the pick. I’ve had one legitimate proposal that deserves consideration in terms of moving back.”

Lombardi refused to say which team had made him the offer but the rumour mill had the Pittsburgh Penguins making a play for the selection. The Penguins don’t have a pick in the opening three rounds. The Los Angeles Kings, who continued to field offers for their pick, are rumoured to be shopping forward Mike Cammalleri, who has one year left on his contract at $3.6 million before heading to unrestricted free agency. Either way, the Kings hold the keys to this year’s draft drama.

“They’re holding up a lot of things right now,” said an NHL executive, who requested anonymity. “Until they decide what they’re doing with the pick a lot of other things are on hold.”

UPDATE: Cammalleri did get traded, for picks in the draft, and the Kings grabbed Drew Doughty. Also nabbed at 13th overal was defenseman Colten Teubert who ought to bolster them when he and Doughty end up playing. Brad Richardson was picked up from Colorado as part of a deal for later picks. And they finally bought out the contract of deadweight goalie Dan Cloutier, who had this to say about his tenure:

"I was unfortunate to get hurt early in my first season and never recuperated. Always tried to come back too early and it didn't help me or the organization. I was terrible most nights and shouldn't have been playing. But I'm an athlete and when they give you the opportunity to play, you're going to say yes."

The rest of their picks were: Vjateslav Voinov (D) 2nd round (32nd), Robert Czarnik (C) 3rd round (63rd), Andrew Campbell (D) 3rd (74th), Geordie Wudrick (LW) 3rd round (88th), Andrei Loktionov (C) 5th round (123rd), Justin Azevedo (C) 6th round (153rd), and Derek Roe (C) 7th round (183rd).