Doughty recalls draft day in Ottawa, and a great link

With the Kings practicing Wendesday at the Canadian Tire Centre, Drew Doughty was approached by reporters and asked questions about his return to the arena where the Kings selected him second overall in 2008. It wasn’t quite the Dan & Dave pre-Olympic debacle in 1992, but in his draft year it became clear that he and Steven Stamkos were the two players – Stamkos specifically – that had separated themselves from the pack of an awfully high-end draft class.

“Maybe early on in the season I maybe through there was an opportunity to [be selected first overall],” Doughty said. “But once Stamkos started scoring all those goals [it became less likely], and I know Tampa said they were pretty much taking Stamkos right from the get-go. I never really thought it was going to happen.”

More on Doughty’s first day as a part of the Kings organization can be found here, courtesy of a fascinating article by Lisa Dillman and Eric Stephens. If you’re interested in Dean Lombardi talking trade with Darryl Sutter, you need to stop what you’re doing and read that article, which comes off as an unearthed time capsule artifact deep from the team’s rebuild – the ancient year of 2008.

Drew Doughty, on being drafted in Ottawa:
Those are always memories you’ll take with you to the grave. It was a great time, all my family and friends here. It’s a day I’ll never forget.

Doughty, on whether he was nervous on draft day:
I was pretty nervous because I really wanted to be drafted by the LA Kings. I knew there was a good possibility that I was going to get drafted to them. The third pick was Atlanta. So if I didn’t go to LA, I was going there. Obviously you’d rather be in LA than Atlanta, but LA was my favorite team growing up. I just really, really wanted to be a part of that team. I was nervous. I didn’t know I was going to them until they called my name. My agent and my family kind of knew a little bit ahead of time. They didn’t really let me know. So it was a surprise to me.

Doughty, on when he first met Dean Lombardi in the draft process:
I met Dean during the season at a home game I believe in Guelph. I met with Dean probably like eight times. We met so many, so many times. I met him after games. He came to our house once. I was here for like maybe four or five days before the draft. I had one or two meetings with him before the draft and then I had two meetings with him at the combine. So it had to have been eight times I met Dean. [Reporter: I’m kidding here, but you still wanted to come to LA?] I still did. I could tell they were really digging deep to make sure they found the right piece. At that time, I thought I could be that right piece and I think it’s worked out pretty well. All those meeting were worth it. [Reporter: Did he throw some civil war references at you?] Yeah, he threw out some weird things at me. And I was young too, so I was definitely lost all the time. But I was pretty intimidated by him and by I was intimidated by Hexy, especially. Yeah, I was intimidated. He didn’t say much in the meetings. He just stood there and stared at me and I was intimidated by that.

Doughty, on how much time he had away from the rink in his draft year:
You didn’t’ have too much. Even in your summers, you’re just training the whole time for the combine and you’re meeting with teams. That’s a tough year to go through for players. You’re worried about getting drafted, where you’re getting drafted. You obviously want to go as high as possible. It’s a stressful time for young players. But when it’s over, it’s a sigh of relief and it’s something to be very proud of just to get drafted in the NHL. It’s a good time at the same time.

Photos courtesy NHL, Getty Images, Dave Sandford, Bruce Bennett, Andre Ringuette