The Los Angeles Kings used their second 6th round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft (179th overall) to select the smallish Los Angeles native Brandon Kozun from the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen. In 72 games played with the Calgary Hitmen last season, Kozun (right-wing) put up an impressive 40 goals and 68 assists for 108 points.

Kozun, 19, was a leader in the scoring race in the WHL all year. He was named Boston Pizza’s Player of the Week on December 29, 2008 as well as the HUSKY WHL Player of the Month for December. Kozun led all WHL players in scoring in the month of December. According to OurSportsCentral: “Kozun’s consistent play helped the Calgary Hitmen post an outstanding 10-1-0-1 record through the month of December, which included nine straight wins to wrap up the month, and maintain their first place standing in the WHL Central Division, Eastern Conference and entire League.” Not bad for a smaller guy, eh?

Looking at the observations on Kozun around the intra-webs, they all seem to be positive. While 5’8″ and 162 pounds is very small, we shouldn’t count Kozun out quite yet. Patrick Kane is 5’9″ and 160 pounds and has a Calder Trophy and an impressive playoff resume for the Chicago Blackhawks. Between his fast skating, soft hands and never say die attitude, Kozun could be a dark horse to making the LA Kings roster down the road. Reports from this week’s development camp have also been positive regarding Brandon Kozun. Let’s see how hard he works between now and the start of training camp.

Resources:
Western Hockey League (WHL)
OurSportsCentral

You can read about the Los Angeles Kings previous draft picks right here on KingsCast. So far, we’ve profiled forward Kyle Clifford, defenseman Nicolas Deslauriers, goaltender Jean-Francois Berube, forward Linden Vey, defenseman David Kolomatis and forward Michael Pelech.

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