Before we get to the links, a quick observation on the draft day trade that allowed the Los Angeles Kings to move up in the second round. Eric T over at Broad Street Hockey created a model showing the approximate value of each draft pick based on all trades between 2006 and 2012, involving only draft picks. On his scale, the 37th pick is worth about ten points (with the first pick being 100). The picks they gave up (57th, 88th, and 96th) are worth about 4.5, 1.2, and 0.9 points respectively, meaning they gave up 6.5 points worth of picks to move up. In layman’s terms, they got a much better deal than expected in trading up for Valentin Zykov. So, good work, Dean!
Now, the news…
Los Angeles Kings
- Just in: Jarret Stoll suffered a seizure this morning. He’s okay, but man, that is scary. [LA Times]
- Is 2010 draft pick Maxim Kitsyn coming back to Los Angeles from Russia? According to Ron Hextall, it certainly seems like it. [Mayor’s Manor]
- New acquisitions update: Matt Frattin will wear #21, and Ben Scrivens marched in the Toronto Pride Parade.
- In case you didn’t realize it, the Kings are in love with second-round pick Valentin Zykov. Quotes from Ron Hextall, Mike Futa, and Mark Yannetti, on Zykov and others, via Jon Rosen.
- And of course, we covered yesterday’s news that Keaton Ellerby is leaving.
Around the League
- The Coyotes survive to play another season (or five) in Glendale, after the Glendale City Council passed the new arena deal 4-3. And yes, they will officially become the Arizona Coyotes (in 2014-15, it appears). Long live Five For Howling and the Arizona-LA rivalry!
- Draft roundups from Grantland’s Katie Baker and SBN’s Travis Hughes.
- Lots of signings making news over the last couple days. Read all about them at some SBN blogs…
- Vincent Lecavalier signed with Philadelphia. [Broad Street Hockey]
- Sergei Bobrovsky re-signed. [The Cannon]
- Kris Letang and Pascal Dupuis re-signed. [SB Nation]
- And similarly, lots of players on the outs…
- Finally, some developing news…
- Tuukka Rask is looking at 8 years, $56 million according to Elliotte Friedman. Thank goodness the Kings signed Quick before they would be unable to tack on some cheap years at the end.
- Tim Thomas could be back in the NHL next season. [TSN]
- The people who voted for the year-end NHL All-Star teams need to watch more hockey. [Puck Daddy]
Final note: the league-wide negotiating window opened at 9:01 PM Pacific last night. Unrestricted free agents can now talk with all NHL teams in advance of the official free agency period, which begins at 9 AM on Friday. And yes, teams are already calling Rob Scuderi.