There has been some talk in the puckosphere about how the Kings gave up too much in the Dustin Penner trade. One aspect of this opinion stuck out for me, and that's the idea that it's not Colten Teubert, but the 1st round draft pick, that was "too much." That of course depends on what the Oilers do with the pick. As an exercise, I decided to look at Edmonton's draft history regarding picks in the 14th-to-30th over-all range. Here they are:

Number in parentheses after player's name is career games played.

1. 2008 (22nd overall) - Jordan Eberle (51)
   
2. 2007 (15th overall) - Alex Plante (4)
   
3. 2005 (21st) - Riley Nash (0)
   
4. 2005 (25th) - Andrew Cogliano (310)
   
5. 2004 (14th) - Devan Dubnyk (44)
   
6. 2004 (25th) - Rob Schremp (97)
   
7. 2003 (22nd) - Marc-Antoine Pouliot (179)
   
8. 2002 (15th) - Jesse Niinimaki (0)
   
9. 2000 (17th) - Alexei Mikhnov (2)
   
10. 1997 (14th) - Michel Riesen (12)
11. 1996 (19th) - Matthieu Descoteaux (5)
    
12. 1993 (16th) - Nick Stajduhar (2)
    
13. 1991 (20th) - Martin Rucinsky (961)
    
14. 1990 (17th) - Scott Allison (0)
    
15. 1989 (15th) - Jason Soules (0)
    
16. 1988 (19th) - Francois Leroux (249)
    
17. 1987 (21st) - Peter Soberlak (0)
    
18. 1986 (21st) - Kim Issel (4)
19. 1985 (20th) - Scott Metcalfe (19)
    
20. 1984 (21st) - Selmar Odelein (18)
    
21. 1983 (19th) - Jeff Beukeboom (804)
    
22. 1982 (20th) - Jim Playfair (21)
    
23. 1981 (29th) - Todd Strueby (5)
    
24. 1979 (21st) - Kevin Lowe (1254)
    

I put the good picks in italics. There are five of them. I count 13 of 17 picks pre-2003 in which the prospect played between 0 and 21 career games. So we'll call it 5 out of 24, or a 21% chance (historically) of getting a really good NHL player.

And, for good measure, here are the rest of the Oilers' first round picks (1st through 13th overall):

1. 2010 (1st) - Taylor Hall (64)
   
2. 2009 (10th) - Magnus Paajarvi (62)
   
3. 2007 (6th) - Sam Gagner (287)
   
4. 2001 (13th) - Ales Hemsky (490)
   
5. 1999 (13th) - Jani Rita (66)
   
6. 1998 (13th) - Michael Henrich (0)
   
7. 1996 (6th) - Boyd Devereaux (627)
   
8. 1995 (6th) - Steve Kelly (149)
   
9. 1994 (4th) - Jason Bonsignore (79)
   
10. 1994 (6th) - Ryan Smyth (1050)
    
11. 1993 (7th) - Jason Arnott (1162)
    
12. 1992 (13th) - Joe Hulbig (55)
    
13. 1991 (12th) - Tyler Wright (613)
    
14. 1981 (8th) - Grant Fuhr (868)
    
15. 1980 (6th) - Paul Coffey (1409)

That's 10 out of 15, or 67%, for the Oilers when picking in the top 13. That's three times better than they did  with the 14th-30th pick.

Slightly off topic, but I would just like to stop and marvel at the following draft record (draft round in parentheses):

• 1979 - Kevin Lowe (1), Mark Messier (3), Glenn Anderson (4).
• 1980 - Paul Coffey (1), Jari Kurri (4), Andy Moog (7)
• 1981 - Grant Fuhr (1), Steve Smith (6)
• 1982 - :(
• 1983 - Jeff Boukeboom (1), Esa Tikkanen (4)
• 1984 - :(
• 1985 - Kelly Buchberger (9)

I guess the main thing that caught my eye was that their first three picks in their first NHL draft were Lowe, Messier and Anderson.

Kings 2010 draft review - Hockey's Future
Kitsyn uses his size well, playing a power forward game. He has an awkward, almost comical skating style, but he does manage to get from A to B with good speed and agility. His stick skills and shooting are consistent with the high standards for young players who get drafted out of Russia, as he is capable of some dazzling moves. His inability to produce at the KHL level is concerning, but his commitment to coming across the pond is promising. He was drafted by Mississauga of the OHL and will suit up for them next season

I would so love to have a comedic version of Ovechkin.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

CHL.ca - CHL Import Draft
Pick #3 - Halifax Mooseheads - Martin Frk, Czech Republic

NHL Network Online - Maxim Kitsyn on Draft 2010 (via makela77)

The 2010 NHL Entry Draft in Los Angeles, CA has come to a close and everyone knows what's looming on the horizon in two day's time. To close out the Draft festivities here are the chosen ones who will someday (hopefully) wear the crown on their chest. This is a much shorter list of prospects than in the past three seasons where Dean Lombardi has horded as many picks are possible. It's a respectable group with height and room to fill out.

From the blogger point of view, here's an extremely detailed recap from Earl Sleek, complete with picture in the comments of our row (that's me inside the railing). My evening on Day 1 ended differently than Sleek's, of course. I ended up at the Yard House at LA Live as well and as I entered, Sleek was actually leaving. I bid him adieu and went inside. There I chatted with James Duthie of TSN royalty. I cannot say anything but great things about this man. Class act. And on my way out, I was able to tell Darren Dreger how big fan I was and that I was devastated by the cancellation of Leafs Lunch. It was a great ending to a long-ass day.

I'm sure it all seemed exciting to those who weren't able to make it out to STAPLES Center, but here's the real feeling from almost everyone in attendance. Without any commercial breaks and TSN packages, I was struggling to maintain my interest in everything going on. In saying that, it was good to see Sleek and Rudy again and definitely great to meet a bunch of other SBN bloggers. Overall, I would have enjoyed myself a bit more if there had been a touch of organization/clarity on the part of the powers that be.

Here are some handy links for you to keep track of Day 2:

Tracker for the Kings on NHL.com

Can't go wrong with anything on TSN.ca

A not-so-friendly eye chart of rounds 2 through 7 on TSN.ca

The obvious go-to and the Kings website

This, according to me, is when the fun starts. Let's just make a couple of lists. List #1 is "who didn't get picked in the first round?" This is especially important because the players on list #1 will clog up the 31-48 picks, so we still have a shot at the players on List #2, "people I like."

LIST #1 -- WHO DIDN'T GET PICKED?

• John McFarland - CS #15
• Tyler Toffoli - CS #16
• Tyler Pitlick - CS #18
• Stanislav Galiev - CS #20
• Jon Merrill - CS #21
• Jordan Weal - CS #30
• Kirill Kabanov - CS #31
• Stephen Johns - CS #35
• Mark Alt - CS #37
• Brock Beukeboom - CS #41

LIST #2 - PEOPLE I LIKE

• Gregg Sutch
• Curtis Hamilton
• John Ramage
• Luke Moffatt
• Kevin Gravel
• Brad Ross
• Matt MacKenzie
• Brett Stern
• Justin Holl
• Joe Basaraba
• Max Gardiner
• Philipp Grubauer
• Philip Lane
• Raman Hrabarenka
• Justin Florek
• Pat Mullane
• Michael Bournival
• Louis-Marc Aubry

Boo. But I should have seen that coming.