Hey! There’s a draft! And it’s finally time for us to pay attention to it!
Day one of the draft went mostly as expected, although sadly bereft of the classic “we have a trade to announce” moments that were more exciting before everything broke on social media like 15 minutes before the actual trade announcement. The Kings didn’t have much to do, however, with their first round pick going to Philadelphia by way of Columbus.
If you’re curious about the alternative universe we could have lived in, if the Kings had kept the pick, the Flyers selected defenseman Oliver Bonk with the 22nd overall pick. Yes, the son of Radek Bonk. Yes, we all feel old now.
The Kings have the following picks today:
- Round 2: #54 – Jakub Dvořák, defense, currently plays for Bili Tygri Liberec in the Czech league
- Round 3: #78 (originally Pittsburgh’s, received in the Jeff Carter trade) – Koehn Ziemmer, right wing, currently plays for the Prince George Cougars in the WHL
- Round 4: #118 – Hampton Slukynsky, goaltender, currently plays in the USNTDP U18s/Warroad High
- Round 5: #150 – Matthew Mania, defense, currently plays for the Sudbury Wolves in the OHL
- Round 6: #182 – Ryan Conmy, right wing, currently plays for the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers
The draft begins today at 11 am Eastern/8 am Pacific and can be watched on NHL Network. We’ll update this post with the picks as they’re made, but you can also look forward to deeper dives on each player throughout the day, as well.