RETENTION ATTENTION
Keeping kingpin blueliner Doughty in the fold is a franchise priority
LOS ANGELES KINGS
fans can be excused if they’re thinking more about July 1 than they are the draft. That’s the first day the team is eligible to re-sign Drew Doughty to a new deal and conceivably keep him in Kings’ duds for the rest of his playing days. It won’t be cheap and it probably won’t happen overnight, but it would be a strong signal this team can continue being a contender. But attention on the draft is crucial, too. The Kings have one of the thinnest crops of prospects in the league, and it badly needs some diamonds in the rough. IMMEDIATE NEEDS: Anze Kopitar scored a career-best 35 goals this season and Dustin Brown hit a seven-year high. So why is more offense needed? Because the Kings are still just middle of the pack and their most productive players are well into the back half of their careers. There’s no such word as rebuild in Hollywood. LONG-TERM NEEDS: It’s time to load up on defensemen at the draft. Even if the Kings sign Doughty, there’s a dearth of blueliners in the system between 20 and 26. Kale Clague is the only blue-chipper among prospects. Rearguards drafted this year and next will be 21 and 22 in four years when L.A.’s current defense corps is ancient. CAP SITUATION: Rookie GM Rob Blake did a fine job rescuing the Kings from salary cap Armageddon. He got rid of Marian Gaborik’s untenable contract, then had Ottawa eat some of Dion Phaneuf’s equally untenable contract. Now it looks as though most Kings have team-friendly deals – the younger ones, anyway. IN THE SYSTEM 2018-19: Gabe Vilardi has missed almost 60 games with various ailments over the past two OHL seasons, but the Kings would welcome him stealing an NHL job with a strong camp. And that’s despite him having another year of junior remaining. DID YOU KNOW: When Blake drafted Drake Rymsha in the fifth round last year, he crossed paths with an old college rival. Rymsha’s father, Andy, was a hard-nosed power forward with Western Michigan in the late 1980s. He battled for three seasons against Blake, a hard-hitting defenseman from Bowling Green.