TSN’s Craig Button dishes on Kings 2021 Draft, prospect pool

Following the conclusion of the 2021 NHL Draft, Craig Button of TSN joined me for our new social media content series “Tradin’ Jabs” to talk about the draft as a whole and more importantly, the four Kings draft picks. Button, currently TSN’s longtime Director of Scouting and former NHL Scout, Director of Player Personnel and NHL General Manager had nothing but positive things to say about the job that Rob Blake, Mark Yannetti and the scouting staff did on July 23rd & 24th.

When the Kings selected the right-handed defenseman Brandt Clarke with the eighth overall pick in the draft, it couldn’t have worked out any better from an LA Perspective, as the Nepean, Ontario, Canada native fell into Blake and Yannetti’s lap. Button, who had Clarke ranked as high as the number-two prospect in the draft found the Kings and Clarke a pairing perfect.

“Taking into consideration that Clarke was drafted by the Kings, what an opportunity to be an understudy behind Drew Doughty,” Button said. “I think about Drew, and over the years he’s so enthusiastic about playing the game. I think [Doughty] is going to be just as enthusiastic about taking players like Brandt Clarke under his wing.”

Not only is Clarke finding himself in a situation that could benefit him tremendously in the next few years, but the eighth overall pick also brings along a skillset unlike any other defenseman in the Kings prospect pool. Without an OHL season this past year due to Covid-19, Clarke traveled overseas and was able to showcase his abilities in Slovakia against bigger, stronger and older competition. Having had the opportunity, Clarke put on a display of his offensive-branded game and high-end playmaking, tallying 15 points (5-10=15) in 26 games.

“It’s all about the offensive imagination and [Clarke’s] creativity,” Button said. “His comparable is Erik Karlsson, that’s the type of game that Clarke plays, I think that highly of [Clarke]. He becomes a very difficult player to defend because he plays the game forward. He plays the game without any predetermined plan, takes what’s coming to him and adjusts accordingly. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do, so how does the opponent know what he’s going to do.”

The addition of Clarke to the pool of defensemen in the pipeline has solidified that position for the Kings for what seems to be many years to come.

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As previously noted on LAKI, the Kings entered the draft with seven picks, but came out with just four players. After staying put in the first round and getting the guy they wanted, the Kings used their remaining six picks to move up in the draft three separate times to take center Francesco Pinelli (2nd round, 42nd overall), center Samuel Helenius (2nd round, 59th overall) and the left-handed defenseman Kirill Kirsanov (3rd round, 84th overall).

“The draft is about who do we want…who do we really want,” Button explained. “Going into the draft, everyone across the league has put in the work. The easy thing to do is sit back and just wait till you’re up and say, ‘we’ll take this guy.’ But, when you want somebody, it takes guts to move up in the draft and the Kings did just that.”

With a current prospect pool ranked as the best in the NHL, the Kings didn’t necessarily need six or seven new draft picks. Instead, Blake, Yannetti and company were able to get aggressive and go after the higher-end talent at the beginning of day two. All three draft picks on day two were projected in one place or another to go higher in the draft than where the Kings drafted them.

Button on Pinelli being drafted 42nd overall
“After the first round concluded, I went back to my draft board and realized that no one picked Pinelli. I was shocked… Mark Yannetti does such a terrific job drafting, and I have so much respect for him. Yannetti is extremely experienced and he has every reason to be giddy for getting Pinelli with the 42nd overall pick.”

Button on drafting Helenius at 59
“Helenius plays hard and he wants to be involved in the challenging parts of the game. He imposes himself. If he was a little bit better of a skater, he would be a top-10 pick in this draft. This is where projection comes into play and [the Kings] confidence in their player development staff comes into play.”

Button on getting Kirsanov in the third round
All Kirsanov has to do is continue developing and getting on the ice. He’s a really smart and good player that I easily could’ve seen going in the first round.

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Ranked in the 20’s on the majority of the expert’s and media’s mock drafts, Pinelli at 42 is hard to fathom given the talent he possesses.

“Pinelli can score from 35 feet from the net, he can score on the rush, or even in tight. He has a game that allows him to assimilate himself to any style of game,” Button said. “[He] can do it in so many different ways.”

Like Clarke, Pinelli faced adversity when the OHL cancelled their season. And, like Clarke, Pinelli too went overseas and played against grown men. With the late notice of the OHL cancellation, Pinelli got in just 13 games with HDD Jesenice, a Slovenian team in the AlpsHL league. Pinelli made the most of it, scoring six goals and tallying five assists during his time in Slovenia and had the fourth-highest points-per-game average on his team.

Having fallen victim to the cancellation of the OHL season, along with hundreds of other players both in this draft class and those not picked, draft stock varied for players from that league. It’s reason to believe there was disparity in year’s draft for those players, with projected rangers varying team-to-team.

“Some players got an opportunity to play a little more, some other players didn’t get a much of an opportunity at all,” Button said. “As a draft-eligible player, you want to get out and not only do you want to help your team, but you want to show off your abilities. These young players are working and sacrificing so much at a young age to get to this point. It’s one part of it. It’s not the end all be all, but it’s a very important part of these player’s development and scouting. For the young players in this draft class, I really felt for them.”

Fortunately, the Kings third and fourth selections did have a true chance to showcase their talents the past season. Helenius, the 6’6” Finnish center played 54 games and Kirsanov, the Russian defenseman racked up 51 games across various Russian leagues.

The Kings clearly felt Helenius wasn’t going to be available much longer when they traded up from pick 72 to acquire the Finn with the 59th selection in the draft. With a very different skill set than almost every other prospect in the Kings organization, Helenius has a ton of opportunity to set himself apart from the pack.

“When you see Helenius play, he’s unique,” Button noted. “There are not many players like him and when you have a player who imposes himself and makes playing against difficult, it becomes a real challenge to opponents……the qualities Helenius possesses are NHL caliber; get the skating in the pace up, and he will be a player that adds a different element to the Kings.”

The final 2021 selection was another situation that left people wondering why Kirsanov was available when the Kings took him with the 84th overall selection. Alongside a stacked defensive core on the U20 Russian National Team that had their top-four defenseman drafted in the top three rounds (including Kirsanov), Kirsanov is in great hands with Igor Larionov in the national tournaments. Beyond his promising situation on the Russian national team, Kirsanov’s attributes are headlined by his advanced knowledge of the game. Able to read the game at a level unlike many of his peers, Kirsanov’s effectiveness stems from his great on-ice positioning.

“Kirsanov is exceptionally smart. When you talk about playing the game with a chess-like mind, Kirsanov does just that,” Button said. “He understands where to go and doesn’t waste a lot of movement chasing people because he thinks the game at a higher level. He’s an excellent passer and knows where to go with the puck before he gets it.”

Every year when the draft comes around, teams are drafting for the projected holes in their lineup a few years down the road. For the Kings, those holes are have essentially dissipated and turned into strengths. In 2018, when Rob Blake decided it was time to retool the Kings roster and trade players away for draft picks, this current prospect pool is what he envisioned; a group of young talent that is deep with NHL caliber in multiple positions.

“[The Kings] are building a pipeline at right defense, they’re building a pipeline at center ice and they’re building a pipeline with scoring wingers……the depth in my view of high-quality players, that one day can contribute on the top two lines or play significant minutes on the blue line is almost an embarrassment of riches for the Kings organization.”

Since the overhaul began, the players drafted by this organization have been both consistent and very focused on what Blake believes the identity of the Kings team should be moving forward. With 11 draft picks from the 2018-20 drafts already having suited up for the Ontario Reign, and four of those 11 players having played for the Kings (Quinton Byfield, Tobias Bjornfot, Arthur Kaliyev and Rasmus Kupari), Blake and Yannetti’s strategy of implementing this newer look of Kings youth is on the horizon of becoming a mainstay in LA. The identity of the Kings prospects is coming to fruition in the Ontario and will soon become the identity of the Kings if the successful development of the recent draft picks continues.

“A hallmark for the Kings 2021 draft and even the past few years, is that the players they’re taking are all extremely competitive,” Button summarized. “They want to take the initiative……they are all quality people and want to contribute to the organization in the long haul. I think the Kings are on a really good track, where not only do they have players who can be difference-makers, but they will be coming through the system together.”