It’s NHL Draft week! And, lo, the LA Kings have 10 selections this Friday and Saturday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver: 5, 22 (from Toronto in the Jake Muzzin trade), 33, 64, 87 (from Washington in the Carl Hagelin trade), 95, 119 (from Calgary, via Montreal, in the Nate Thompson trade), 126, 157 and 188.
This data means little for what they plan on doing this year, but it’s still interesting to look at Los Angeles’ history and the league’s history at each particular draft slot. (This is clearly my way of saying you should accept no less than the Kings drafting a player of Milan Hejkduk’s caliber with the 87th overall pick.)
(Stick tap to hockey-reference.com’s draft tool; all stats and selections are from 1963-2019.)
PICK #52008 – Brayden Schenn / 587 GP, 154-218=372
Number of players selected 5th overall to play in the NHL: 51
Most GP by player selected 5th overall: Jaromir Jagr, 1,733
Most points by player selected 5th overall: Jagr, 766-1155=1921
Notable players selected 5th overall: Jagr, Scott Stevens, Phil Kessel, Elias Pettersson, Bill Guerin, Carey Price
Notes: Other than recent draft picks Barrett Hayton (2018) and Olli Juolevi (2016), only three players since 1963 drafted fifth overall never played a game in the NHL: Ray Martyniuk (1970/MTL), Jim Benzalock (1968/MIN) and Art Hampson (1963/CHI).
PICK #22
No LA Kings selected 22nd overall
Number of players selected 22nd overall to play in the NHL: 41
Most GP by player selected 22nd overall: Bryan Trottier, 1,279
Most points by player selected 22nd overall: Trottier, 524-921=1,025
Notable players selected 22nd overall: Rick Kehoe, Claude Giroux, Adam Graves, Simon Gagne, Max Pacioretty, Adam Foote, Bryan Engblom, Olli Maatta
Notes: 16 players selected 22nd overall have played at least 500 games in the NHL. Excluding Olli Maatta, Kasperi Kapanen and Kailer Yamamoto, who have made their debuts, and German Rubtsov, Ilya Samsonov and K’Andre Miller, who were selected in the 2015, 2016 and 2018 drafts, 29 players drafted 22nd overall since 1967 expansion played fewer than 500 games and 20 players played fewer than 100 games.
PICK #33
1975 – Terry Bucyk / No NHL stats
1980 – Greg Terrion / 561 GP, 93-150=243
1994 – Matt Johnson / 473 GP, 23-20=43
1995 – Don MacLean / 41 GP, 8-5=13
Number of players selected 33rd overall to play in the NHL: 36
Most GP by player selected 33rd overall: Nick Schultz, 1,069
Most points by player selected 33rd overall: John Tonelli, 325-511=836
Notable players selected 33rd overall: Tonelli, John LeClair, Loui Eriksson, James Neal, Bon Nystrom, Ryan O’Reilly, Valeri Bure, Dave Lewis, Craig Johnson
Notes: The only goalie to be selected 33rd overall was Pat Riggin by Atlanta in 1979. He played 350 career games with the Flames, Capitals, Bruins and Penguins.
PICK #64
1982 – Dave Gans / 6 GP, 0-0=0
Number of players selected 64th overall to play in the NHL: 25
Most GP by player selected 64th overall: Brad Richards, 1,126
Most points by player selected 64th overall: Richards, 298-634=932
Notable players selected 64th overall: Richards, Kent Nilsson, Frederik Modin, Tyson Barrie, Vincent Trocheck, Tim Cheveldae, Jimmy Howard
Notes: Only one player selected 64th has both played more than two games in the NHL and accrued a positive plus-minus: Don Saleski, who appeared in 543 games and was a +72. 17 of the 20 non-goalies selected 64th overall have a negative plus-minus.
PICK #87
1975 – Dave Miglia / No NHL stats
1983 – Bob LaForest / 5 GP, 1-0=1
1984 – David Grannis / No NHL stats
1992 – Kevin Brown / 64 GP, 7-9=16
Number of players selected 87th overall to play in the NHL: 20
Most GP by player selected 87th overall: Milan Hejduk, 1,020
Most points by player selected 87th overall: Hejduk, 375-430=805
Notable players selected 87th overall: Hejduk, Frans Nielsen, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Basil McRae, Frederik Andersen
Notes: The games played leader among defensemen selected 87th overall is Marc-Andre Gragnani, with 78.
PICK #95
1982 – Ulf Isaksson / 50 GP, 7-15=22
2004 – Paul Baier / No NHL stats
2007 – Alec Martinez / 556 GP, 61-129=190
2009 – J-F Berube / 34 GP, 9-10-4, 3.39 GAA, .898 Sv%
Number of players selected 95th overall to play in the NHL: 20
Most GP by player selected 95th overall: Valteri Filppula, 948
Most points by player selected 95th overall: Patrick Sharp, 287-333=620
Notable players selected 95th overall: Filppula, Sharp, Martinez, Dominic Moore, Josh Anderson
Notes: This will be Los Angeles’ fifth selection at 95th overall, the second most in the league behind Detroit’s six picks at 95. Filppula was the only Red Wings draft pick at 95 to play double-digit games in the NHL.
PICK #119
No LA Kings selected 22nd overall
Number of players selected 119th overall to play in the NHL: 18
Most GP by player selected 119th overall: Joe Reekie, 902
Most points by player selected 119th overall: Reijo Ruotsalainen, 107-237=344
Notable players selected 119th overall: Reekie, Kjell Samuelsson, Ron Hextall
Notes: Only one Russian has been selected 119th overall: Alexei Zotkin by Chicago in 2001.
PICK #126
2009 – David Kolomatis / No NHL stats
Number of players selected 126th overall to play in the NHL: 15
Most GP by player selected 126th overall: Torrey Mitchell, 666
Most points by player selected 126th overall: Mitchell, 67-85-152
Notable players selected 126th overall: Mitchell, Norm Maracle
Notes: Mitchell is the only player selected 126th overall to play more than 150 NHL games.
PICK #157
1975 – Sean Sullivan / No NHL stats
1980 – Bill O’Dwyer / 120 GP, 9-13=22
1995 – Benoit Larose / No NHL stats
2002 – Joel Andresen / No NHL stats
2014 – Jake Marchment / No NHL stats
Number of players selected 157th overall to play in the NHL: 12
Most GP by player selected 157th overall: Randy Burridge, 706
Most points by player selected 157th overall: Burridge, 199-251=450
Notable players selected 157th overall: Burridge, Petri Skriko, Cam Atkinson, Jesper Fast
Notes: This will be Los Angeles’ NHL-leading sixth selection at 157th overall.
PICK #188
2007 – Matt Fillier / No NHL stats
Number of players selected 188th overall to play in the NHL: 9
Most GP by player selected 188th overall: Kelly Buchburger, 1,182
Most points by player selected 188th overall: Buchberger, 105-204=309
Notable players selected 188th overall: Buchburger, Manny Legace, Ken Holland
Notes: 40 of the 42 players selected 188th overall failed to play 50 games in the NHL. That includes Stephen Baby, selected in the seventh round by Atlanta in 1999.
–Lead photo via Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
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