During Gann Matsuda of Frozen Royalty’s time at development camp this weekend, he got a chance to visit some of the tougher new additions to the LA Kings prospect pool. This is some good insight into what is, right now, an area of opportunity for Los Angeles.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — The Los Angeles Kings 2009 Development Camp for their young prospects. which ended on July 12, was rather different from camps held in previous years for several reasons.

One was the fact that only three days of the week-long camp were open to the public and the media to allow the young players to better focus on the task at hand.

But another more striking reason was that compared to previous camps, there seemed to be a greater intensity during both the scrimmages and the practice sessions and much of that may have been due to the fact that the Kings have brought in a number of prospects who not only are capable of playing a physical brand of hockey, but their toughness and fierce, competitive nature extends into their psyche as well, something that has been somewhat lacking throughout the Kings’ system.

One such player is their first round pick (fifth overall) in the 2009 National Hockey League Entry Draft, Brayden Schenn, a wet-behind-the-ears seventeen-year-old center from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

“The one thing about this guy is that his number one attribute is his competitiveness,” Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi at the draft in Montreal on June 26. “He’s a playoff-type player. I know that’s what [Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian] Burke saw in him and that’s certainly what we liked about him.”

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On the eve of free agency, and into a long summer, let’s take some time out to get to know the 2009 Los Angeles Kings draft picks. First up is Kyle Clifford. Drafted in the second round (35th overall) by the LA Kings, Clifford is a tough, 6′1″, 200 pound left wing playing for the Barrie Colts in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Clifford is a tough two-way forward who still shows up on the score sheet. In 60 games played for Barrie, Clifford at 16 goals and 12 assists for 28 points. Clifford also represented Team Canada at the Under-18 World Championships (another thing Lombardi loves is international play). The standout stat for Clifford is the 133 penalty minutes (ranking 19th in the OHL) he chalked up.

Clifford is a great example of what Lombardi looks for in the draft: character, toughness and defensive responsibility. In this article, Jim Barber said of Clifford:

“…he wants to pattern himself after Ottawa Senators feisty forward Mike Fisher, who is a punishing hitter, tenacious forechecker, great on the penalty kill, but who also has solid offensive credentials.”

In a recent interview with LAKings.com, Clifford said he patterned his style of play to that of gritty winger Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins. The player that comes to mind when I see a bit more about Cliford is Wayne Simmonds. Clifford’s final final draft ranking was 182 (in all fairness others had him higher, even in the 1st round). However his toughness and character is a huge reason why Lombardi drafted him. Given the amount of time the Los Angeles Kings spend scouting their potential draft picks, it’s a safe bet that the pick of Kyle Clifford will pay off.

One glaring criticism of Clifford is his skating. According to International Scouting Services (ISS):

“Clifford is a straight ahead player with an edge. Skating is just OK – has heavy feet and needs to make sure he keeps his feet moving to get speed – skating has shown improvement over the season.”

The question for Kings fans would be: did we just draft yet another third liner? Given his statistics and scouting profile, it certainly appears so. While every Kings draftee will not end up playing for the team, there were quite a few other kids available who might have projected into our top six down the road. That said, drafting has been a strong suit for LA Kings GM Dean Lombardi. We might have a nice addition on our hands.

What do you think of the pick? Can Clifford be more than a third liner? Should we have picked Tomas Tartar who was still available?

Resources:
Hockey’s Future
HockeyFights.com

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LOS ANGELES — The National Hockey League completed its 2009 Entry Draft on Saturday in Montreal and just like on Friday, there were no major surprises from the Los Angeles Kings, who selected nine players in rounds 2-7 and were involved in four minor trades.

One of those trades sent center Brian Boyle (photo at left; courtesy Los Angeles Kings) to the New York Rangers in exchange for the Rangers’ third round pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

In 28 games with the Kings this past season, the 24-year-old native of Hingham, Massachusetts scored four goals and added an assist with 42 penalty minutes. But he shuttled back and forth between Los Angeles and the Kings’ primary minor league affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, where he scored ten goals and added eleven assists for 21 points with 73 penalty minutes in 42 games.

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