April 6, 2018
by Gann Matsuda
Los Angeles Kings rookie defenseman David Brickley (foreground)
shown here during a recent practice.
(click above to view larger image)
Photo: Gann Matsuda/FrozenRoyalty.net
EL SEGUNDO, CA — While they were winning Stanley Cup Championships in 2012 and 2014, while they were a legitimate Stanley Cup contender in 2013, and when they thought they still had a chance to win a championship in 2015, the
Los Angeles Kings gambled by trading away first round draft picks that they used to acquire players who they believed would put them over the top.
In most cases, the gamble worked well for the Kings. But as their window for winning championships began to close, that gamble, as it does more often than not when that window is closing, resulted in the cupboard being quite bare when it came to higher-end talent coming up through the ranks. But that is what championship teams are supposed to—draft and develop their young prospects well in order to build their team through the draft and to stockpile players that other teams covet for use in trades to bring in the final pieces of the puzzle.
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