Defensemen dominate the Los Angeles Kings junior level prospect pool
The Los Angeles Kings currently have eight players developing in the CHL and USHL junior levels. Of those eight players, five are defenseman, and of those five defenseman, two were free agent signings and the other three were taken after the fourth round.
Aside from goaltender Christopher Gibson, the Los Angeles Kings junior level prospect pool is filled with late-round grabs like defenseman Nick Ebert, project players, and high-risk high-reward style choices like forward Michael Schumacher. In recent years the Kings scouts have invested a lot into NCAA hockey with the selections of Derek Forbort, Kevin Gravel, and Nick Shore, but that is not to say that some talented players are not developing in the junior ranks.… read more
I know he's in Juniors and not in College, but Roach's progress is very similar to that of Blake's. Blake also started off slow in college, but then his numbers picked up substantially and it started to click for him when he was 19-20. Sometimes the bigger guys just need to grow into their bodies. If Roach continues his solid play this season and carries it over into next year in a higher league, the Kings could be looking really good on that signing.
I know he's in Juniors and not in College, but Roach's progress is very similar to that of Blake's. Blake also started off slow in college, but then his numbers picked up substantially and it started to click for him when he was 19-20. Sometimes the bigger guys just need to grow into their bodies. If Roach continues his solid play this season and carries it over into next year in a higher league, the Kings could be looking really good on that signing.
I agree.
The big difference between the two though is that when Blake was at Bowling Green he was still a total monster and there wasn't any real doubt that he would be a solid NHLer one day. AR is a very good developing talent and I think very highly of him but his overall talent level isn't what RB's was at the same point in time imo.
Still as far as the two being later bloomers I agree and we nabbed a good one when we picked up AR, that is certain.
Why aren't college guys like Forbort given write ups like the junior players? Really, it's all the same level, just different leagues. Would have been nice to hear about him, Shore, Lowry, etc. Is there a college write up coming in the near future?
I's great to see that none of the defensemen have taken a step backward and that it looks like we'll have great defensive depth for several more years as these guys move from junior to the AHL. Likely good for LaDue he's going college, I have no idea where we will fit all of these D-men in a year. I suspect DL would have pulled off a few deals by now to clear a potential log-jam if not for the lockout.
My biggest concern is Gibson. His lack of (apparent) development is going to cause a hole in what DL is building in net. I think Gibson was slated for the ECHL next year with Berube moving up to the AHL as either a backup to Jones or a starter with Jones going to the NHL. If Gibson doesn't start progressing, he may not even get signed and you could see a void in net down the road in the minor league level.
Gibson is not going to post any decent numbers till, he moves to a league that plays some form of defense.
The kid is really young and raw, the Kings don't exactly have anyway to teach this kid till he hits the AHL.
Gibson is in the mold of another Quick. He is very athletic but is pretty poor positionally.
And Cechmanek was once in the mold of Hasek, until, well, he developed into Cechmanek. There are countless players who, in one way or another, fit the mold of an accomplished goalie, and then they fail to elevate their game to the next level, which is why his seemingly lack of development is concerning.
Needless to say, I'm not a fan of Gibson. I'll admit I may not be the best source, as I've only watched him at development camps and at the WJC last year when he got lit up.
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It's going to take Gibson a while. No one should expect world beater numbers out of this kid. He was drafted as a project. Just like Forbort.
No one seems to be complaining about Forbort now. All last year we heard how much of a disappointment Forbort was.
Not from me, but that's because I didn't see much of him during the year. I might have been disappointed by what I heard, but I don't believe I ever labeled him as a disappointment.
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The prospects people should be worried about are people like Jake Muzzin
Muzzin has been in the AHL now for a good few years, and he still is not consistent.
I really don't get the Muzzin love either.
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So far Bodnarchuck has outplayed EVERYONE including Slava down their.
That is raising red flags all over my mind.
He's also older than all the defensemen not named Andrew Campbell.
Even though I'll get flak for this, but I'm still a fan of Hickey and believe he can be an NHL player. Players like Campbell, Gravel, Roach and Forbort also have the potential to join the professional ranks in the next couple years, and recent picks Paul LaDue, Kurtis MacDermid, and Nick Ebert are several years away before we have an idea of where they will develop.
I agree there's a bit of a gap in the d-corps, where Mitchell and Scuderi likely won't be around for much longer and there's not a defensive stalwart who's ready to step in immediately, but I don't feel it's as alarming as others seem to think it is.
Gibson's main weakness is still mental. He's rattled far too easily and it's easy to get in his head and get him off his game. When he's on his game and everything is clicking for him he's a great young goalie that win games single handedly. His problem is when he gives up a couple of goals or a bad goal he starts thinking "this may not be my night" and starts giving up more goals. The flipside to this is look at Quick giving up that goal from the redline in the playoffs. He didn't have that thought, he got up said "ok, that's the last puck that gets past me tonight" and focused on the next shot. Once Gibson learns that (if he does) he will be fine.
As far as his stats this year go, he still has 6 wins, which is more than any other goalie on the team. His numbers are more a product of having good games, or very bad games and not many ok games this year.
Even though I'll get flak for this, but I'm still a fan of Hickey and believe he can be an NHL player. Players like Campbell, Gravel, Roach and Forbort also have the potential to join the professional ranks in the next couple years, and recent picks Paul LaDue, Kurtis MacDermid, and Nick Ebert are several years away before we have an idea of where they will develop.
I agree there's a bit of a gap in the d-corps, where Mitchell and Scuderi likely won't be around for much longer and there's not a defensive stalwart who's ready to step in immediately, but I don't feel it's as alarming as others seem to think it is.
I 100% agree with everything here.
Additionally, guys like Mitchell and Scuds are typically the easiest to replace at a decent cost in UFA, which is why defensive defenseman I don't like to see us draft in the first round (or really round two either). Let's not forget we got Mitchell and Scuds via UFA.
Why aren't college guys like Forbort given write ups like the junior players? Really, it's all the same level, just different leagues. Would have been nice to hear about him, Shore, Lowry, etc. Is there a college write up coming in the near future?
We do one of those later on in the year. The NCAA season is still really young. For example Forbort has played just 14 games, where a player like Roach and Ebert in the CHL has nearly double that. So it's hard to gauge a real solid write up with such a small sample size. I assure you we will have an NCAA write-up later in the season though.
What's Forbort's projection these days? I traded a 3rd rounder for him in the offseason on my 30-team league keeper pool.
One weird stai I noticed is that he's had 26 & 28 PIM in 38 & 35 games in the last 2 seasons. This year he has 2 PIM in 14 games.
We do one of those later on in the year. The NCAA season is still really young. For example Forbort has played just 14 games, where a player like Roach and Ebert in the CHL has nearly double that. So it's hard to gauge a real solid write up with such a small sample size. I assure you we will have an NCAA write-up later in the season though.
Awesome! Thank you, I look forward to hearing more about our lower end college guys who seem to not get much press from anyone, such as Lowry and Gravel.
