2022 NHL Draft Prep – First Round, Second Half

In Part 1 of our series with a look ahead to the 2022 NHL Draft, the stage was set to identify who the Kings have in the system, areas of the prospect pool with depth as well as those that are more shallow. Now, it’s time to dig a bit deeper on where the Kings will draft, with a look at what kind of talent could be available at pick number 19 and a history of the Kings when drafting in the second half of the first round. After three consecutive seasons of drafting in the top 10, the Kings will pick 19th in the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft. Coming off of a third-place finish in the Pacific Division, a vast improvement from the 2020-21 season to the 2021-22 season, the Kings will look to add to an already deep prospect pool with six total selections in the upcoming draft, one in each of the first six rounds. Beginning with that 19th overall selection, history shows that elite talent can be found at that spot, as well as solid NHL contributors. The Kings have done relatively well recently at selecting in the second half of the first round, even if not every selection was a hit.

Dating back to the 1979-80 NHL Draft (which was first season with at least 19 teams in the NHL), many have found success with the 19th overall pick in the draft.

Below you will find some of the top draft picks who were selected at 19th overall slot in the draft –

RHD – Tony DeAngelo (2014) TBL – 270 GP, 34-123-157
G – Andrei Vasilevskiy (2012) TBL – 388 GP, 243-108-26, 2.50 GAA & .919 SV SV%
LW – Chris Krerider (2009) NYR – 653 GP, 229-194-423
C – Ryan Getzlaf (2003) ANA – 1,157 GP, 282-737-1,019
LHD – Robyn Regehr (1998) COL – 1,090 GP, 36-163-199 (Won the Stanley Cup with the Kings in 2014)
LW – Keith Tkachuk (1990) WPG – 1,202 GP, 538-527-1,065
G – Olaf Kolzig (1989) WSH – 719 GP, 303-297-87, 2.71 GAA & .906 SV%

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Just as NHL teams have found success with the 19th overall pick, the Kings too have drafted well in the second half of the first round. From goalscorers to Stanley Cup champions, the Kings have found value outside of the draft lottery, with players from that range contributing on today’s Kings roster, as well as to the title-winning teams in 2012 and 2014.

Highlighted below are some of the Kings’ success stories when drafting in the back half of the first round.

Tobias Bjornfot (22nd, 2019)
Tobias Bjornfot is one of six players from the 2019 NHL Draft who has already surpassed 100 games played at the NHL level. Bjornfot has progressed in his career from an 18-year-old debutant, as he skated in three games to open the 2019-20 season, to a regular last season with the Kings. While he still has steps to take to reach his full potential, his full package as a player, Bjornfot has played in more NHL games than any defenseman taken in his draft class, with his upside still as a Top-4 NHL defenseman, with an ability to contribute at both ends of the ice.

Rasmus Kupari (20th, 2018)
Just four drafts ago, Rob Blake, Mark Yannetti and company selected Rasmus Kupari with the 20th overall pick in 2018. Still developing, Kupari appeared in 57 games and tallied 13 points (5-8-13) in his rookie season this past year, after he made his debut in the 2020-21 campaign. Throughout this past season, Kupari showed flashes of speed, skill and physicality at both center and on the wing. Kupari began to establish himself more and more as the year went on and he gave the Kings valuable flexibility and depth in the lineup, seemingly gaining comfortability in the NHL throughout the process.

Adrian Kempe (29th, 2014)
In 2014, the Kings were at the back of the draft after winning the franchise’s second Stanley Cup in three years. Drafting 29th overall, the Kings added Swedish forward Adrian Kempe, who you now know quite well. Kempe led the Kings in goals scored this past season, as he recorded a career-high 35 goals and 54 points. It took Kempe some time to find his footing in the NHL, but once the first-round draft pick moved from center to wing full-time, the offensive production took off. Now 390 games deep into his NHL career, Kempe enters the 2022 offseason as a pending RFA off of his best season as a professional.

Tanner Pearson (30th, 2012)
Again, following a Stanley Cup victory, the Kings picked late in the 2012 NHL draft. This time picking last in the first round, the Kings selected future Stanley Cup winner Tanner Pearson. Pearson played an intricate role in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs as a member of “That 70’s Line” and supplied the Kings with depth and offense in the middle of the lineup. As a rookie in the 2013-14 season, Pearson appeared in 25 regular-season games and 24 of 26 playoff games. In total, Pearson spent five and a half seasons with the Kings, as he played in 325 games and recorded 144 points (69-75-144).

Trevor Lewis (17th, 2006)
Trevor Lewis is a two-time Stanley Cup champion and a player who was a big part of those title-winning teams in 2012 and 2014. Lewis will not be remembered for his offensive production or any high-scoring seasons, but rather as one of the most responsible and trusted players in franchise history. Lewis was a quality bottom-six player throughout his time with the Kings organization and has played in over 800 NHL games, ranking 15th in his draft class.

Brian Boyle (26th, 2003)
The second of three selections in the first round of the 2003 NHL Draft, the Kings drafted towering center Brian Boyle, a player who went on to become an established NHL’er throughout the course of his career. In one of the greatest draft classes in NHL history, Boyle has outplayed his draft position by games played, even if not to the future Hall of Fame level of some of his draftmates. With nearly 900 NHL regular-season games to his name, Boyle has established himself as one of the top faceoff winners in the league, as a defensively responsible, penalty killing center. A solid NHL player by any definition.

Alex Frolov (20th, 2000)
In 2000, the Kings selected 20th overall and picked Alex Frolov, their first-ever Russian-born (USSR when Frolov was born in 1982) first round draft pick. It worked out well. Frolov spent the first seven years of his eight-year NHL career with the Kings and played a consistent role in the middle of the lineup, providing an offensive touch. The winger appeared in 536 games for the Kings and notched 381 points (168-213-381) before finishing his career with the New York Rangers in the 2010-11 season.

Since 2000, the Kings have also selected Jens Karlsson (0 NHL GP), Dave Steckel (425 NHL GP), Denis Grebeshkov (234 NHL GP) and Jeff Tambellini (242 NHL GP) in the second half of the first round. Even the misses, Karlsson aside, played NHL games.

We do not know what will happen in the first 18 picks of the 2022 NHL Draft, but we do know that plenty of high-end NHL projected talent will be on the board when the Kings get on the clock on July 7th at the Bell Centre in Montreal. Coming up next, we’ll take a look at what some of that talent might be, as we take a look around the scouting community to see who could be available for the Kings to select 19th overall.