We’ve covered the three likeliest picks for the Los Angeles Kings at #13 this year, and we’ve got plenty of other guys to talk about. But let’s take a short break from that. It’s been five years since we picked in this area of the draft, so I could use a reminder: how likely are we to get a solid NHL player out of this spot? To answer, here are the last 13 picks at #13, including two familiar faces.
(All rankings for games played, goals, assists, and points are by the player’s draft class. For instance, Alexander Semin has the second-most goals of any player drafted in 2002.)
2002: Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals
| Games Played: 635 (14th) | | Goals: 238 (2nd) | | Assists: 275 (4th) | | Points: 513 (2nd) |
How’d they do: Quite well! Semin’s controversial, of course, but he’s easily the best scorer in the class aside from #1 pick Rick Nash.
LA’s first pick: D Denis Grebeshkov (18th)
Of Note: Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene were two of Edmonton’s three second-round picks.
2003: Dustin Brown, Los Angeles Kings
| Games Played: 802 (2nd) | | Goals: 207 (8th) | | Assists: 235 (16th) | | Points: 442 (10th) |
How’d they do: It’s easy to forget given how strong the 2003 NHL Draft turned out, but only Eric Staal has played more games from this draft class than our captain.
LA’s first pick: Brown
Of Note: Jeff Carter went 11th; Mike Richards went 24th; LA picked Brian Boyle and Jeff Tambellini at 26 and 27.
2004: Drew Stafford, Buffalo Sabres
| Games Played: 589 (7th) | | Goals: 154 (6th) | | Assists: 187 (12th) | | Points: 341 (10th) |
How’d they do: Doesn’t necessarily stand out from his class, but outperformed his draft position.
LA’s first pick: F Lauri Tukonen (11th)
Of Note: Andrej Sekera was the 71st overall pick.
2005: Marek Zagrapan, Buffalo Sabres
| Games Played (AHL): 227 | | Goals (AHL): 56 | | Assists (AHL): 71 | | Points (AHL): 127 |
How’d they do: The 13th, 14th, and 16th picks from the Crosby draft never cracked an NHL lineup. If Buffalo had been two picks earlier they might have grabbed the all-time games played leader from this draft class…
LA’s first pick: C Anze Kopitar (11th)
Of Note: Jonathan Quick went 72nd; Carey Price, Tuukka Rask, Ondrej Pavelec, and Ben Bishop also went in the first three rounds.
2006: Jiri Tlusty, Toronto Maple Leafs
| Games Played: 416 (17th) | | Goals: 87 (17th) | | Assists: 86 (19th) | | Points: 173 (18th) |
How’d they do: This ended up being a really solid draft class; Tlusty isn’t a bust at this slot, but the Leafs definitely could feel like they missed out on some terrific prospects. A few years later they traded for the player picked two slots earlier.
LA’s first pick: G Jonathan Bernier (11th)
Of Note: Trevor Lewis went 17th, and the player everyone in the first round wishes they had selected (Claude Giroux) went 22nd.
2007: Lars Eller, St. Louis Blues
| Games Played: 363 (16th) | | Goals: 60 (12th) | | Assists: 70 (20th) | | Points: 130 (T-15th) |
How’d they do: Eller played seven games with St. Louis before carving out a niche for himself in Montreal.
LA’s first pick: D Thomas Hickey (4th)
Of Note: 2014-15 Art Ross winner Jamie Benn went 129th. Oops.
2008: Colten Teubert, Los Angeles Kings
| Games Played: 24 (80th) | | Goals: 0 | | Assists: 1 (T-81st) | | Points: 1 (T-81st) |
How’d they do: He’s in Germany now. Of course, LA traded him for Dustin Penner before that happened.
LA’s first pick: D Drew Doughty (2nd)
Of Note: Twelve defensemen went in Round 1; nine have played at least 328 games (the equivalent of four full seasons).
2009: Zack Kassian, Buffalo Sabres
| Games Played: 198 (23rd) | | Goals: 35 (16th) | | Assists: 31 (32nd) | | Points: 66 (26th) |
How’d they do: 20% of Kassian’s career goals came in a ten-game stretch while on a line with the Sedins this past season; other than that, more known for #grit than #points.
LA’s first pick: C Brayden Schenn (5th)
Of Note: Kassian is fourth in PIM (307) among 2009 draftees; the leader, with 483, is second-rounder Kyle Clifford. Seventh-rounder Jordan Nolan is tied for seventh.
2010: Brandon Gormley, Phoenix (Arizona) Coyotes
| Games Played: 32 (48th) | | Goals: 2 (T-42nd) | | Assists: 2 (T-51st) | | Points: 4 (T-48th) |
How’d they do: Gormley’s part of a rather large wave of d-men from this draft who finally impacted the NHL this year; he’s expected to be a full-time fixture for Arizona next season. Not true for all 2010 defensive first-rounders, though; Cam Fowler was picked 12th, while soon after came…
LA’s first pick: D Derek Forbort (15th)
Of Note: Tyler Toffoli went at #47; among post-Toffoli selections, only Brendan Gallagher and Mark Stone have more than 40 career points in the NHL so far.
2011: Sven Baertschi, Calgary Flames
| Games Played: 69 (31st) | | Goals: 10 (T-25th) | | Assists: 20 (T-21st) | | Points: 30 (T-22nd) |
How’d they do: The highly skilled Baertschi was frequently finding himself in the AHL or in the press box until he asked for a trade to Vancouver… where he reported to the AHL, was called up, and got scratched for half of the Canucks‘ first round series loss.
LA’s first pick: G Christopher Gibson (49th)
Of Note: Which King will this draft be remembered for? Andy Andreoff (80th)? Nick Shore (82nd)? Michael Mersch (110th)? N/A?
2012: Radek Faksa, Dallas Stars
| Games Played (AHL): 40 | | Goals (AHL): 5 | | Assists (AHL): 9 | | Points (AHL): 14 |
How’d they do: Faksa projects as a bottom-six center; he spent the latter half of this year injured and is now the only top-20 draftee from 2012 not to make his NHL debut.
LA’s first pick: LW Tanner Pearson (30th)
Of Note: I have no idea who the gem of this class is going to be when all is said and done, but the four picks after Faksa have all played at least 100 NHL games already.
2013: Josh Morrissey, Winnipeg Jets
| Games Played (AHL): 8 | | Goals (AHL): 0 | | Assists (AHL): 1 | | Points (AHL): 1 |
How’d they do: Morrissey made his AHL debut last year, but when he didn’t make the Jets’ Opening Night roster, he went back to the Western Hockey League and won a title with the Kelowna Rockets. He might be in Winnipeg in October.
LA’s first pick: RW Valentin Zykov (37th)
Of Note: Along with Morrissey, Samuel Morin (11, PHI), Max Domi (12, AZ), and Ryan Pulock (15, NYI) should all make their NHL debuts this season.
2014: Jakub Vrana, Washington Capitals
| Games Played (AHL): 3 | | Goals (AHL): 0 | | Assists (AHL): 5 | | Points (AHL): 5 |
How’d they do: Vrana got his North American career off to an excellent start, with three impressive regular season games earning him a spot in the Hershey Bears’ playoff lineup (six points in ten games). You know who else got three regular season games before making his mark in the playoffs? This guy…
LA’s first pick: LW Adrian Kempe (29th)
Of Note: Good luck evaluating this pick against others. Only Aaron Ekblad, Leon Draisaitl, and David Pastrnak have played more than 10 NHL games so far.