For Ken Holland, the Kings’ decidedly old-school basic supervisor, new isn’t essentially higher. Take the NHL draft, for instance.
Holland presided over greater than a quarter-century of drafts with the Detroit Pink Wings and Edmonton Oilers, they usually had been typically held in a single place, with everybody from the executives doing the drafting to the gamers being drafted on website.
On Friday, for the primary time in a non-pandemic setting, the draft was performed semi-remotely, with the highest 93 draft-eligible gamers and their households filling a number of the seats within the half-empty Peacock Theater in Los Angeles whereas crew representatives made their alternatives from their house markets.
And regardless of the league was trying to perform with the decentralized format, aside from saving on journey, it didn’t work.
After every decide was introduced on a large video board that took up two-thirds of the theater’s large stage, gamers made their means up the aisle to be greeted by Commissioner Gary Bettman. They then pulled on a crew jersey and hat earlier than being led into the “Draft House” — a small digital actuality room within the heart of the stage — for what amounted to a congratulatory Zoom name with the membership’s brass.
The Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles hosts the NHL draft.
(Juan Ocampo / NHLI through Getty Photographs)
The younger males had been celebrating the largest second of their lives but they got here off like Dorothy talking to the Wizard of Oz. A lot of it was awkward, particularly when James Hagens, the eighth choice, was left waving at Boston Bruins basic supervisor Don Sweeney after the audio within the Bruins’ warfare room in Boston went mute. That was simply one in every of a number of technical glitches that included echoes and timing delays that left gamers and executives speaking over each other.
When it grew to become apparent the painfully slow-paced occasion would plod previous 4½ hours, the Draft Home was closed to some groups.
Brady Martin, the fifth decide, didn’t even trouble to come back to L.A. So when Nashville introduced his choice — through a star video taped at a golf course — the NHL confirmed a video of Martin engaged on his household’s farm. Russian goaltender Pyotr Andreyanov wouldn’t even get that therapy. When he was introduced because the twentieth general decide, the NHL had nothing to point out, making Andreyanov the primary no-show of the no-show draft.
Matthew Schaefer, a 17-year-old defenseman from Hamilton, Canada,, who was taken with the No. 1 decide by the New York Islanders, stated being a part of video draft didn’t spoil his large day.
Matthew Schaefer stands between Michael Misa, left, and Anton Frondell after being chosen 1-2-3, respectively, within the NHL draft on the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Friday.
(Bruce Bennett / Getty Photographs)
“I’m just honored to be picked,” stated Schaefer who cried, alongside his dad and brother, when his title was known as. “I dreamt about it my whole life. It’s such an honor. Especially the first pick overall.”
For Holland, nevertheless, none of that counts as progress.
“I’m old and I’m old fashioned. So I like the old way,” stated the Kings basic supervisor, whose view was shared by different GMs across the league. “You draft some player in the sixth round and all of a sudden you hear ‘yay!’ way up in the corner. It’s him, it’s his family, and they’re all excited to hear [his] name announced by an NHL team.
“This weekend, to me, is about the young players.”
Apart from the technical difficulties, the precise draft went largely to kind. The Geese, as anticipated, took Roger McQueen, an 18-year-old ahead from Saskatchewan, with their high decide, the tenth general choice. The Kings, in the meantime, traded their first decide, No. 24 general, to the Pittsburgh Penguins. After shifting down seven spots they took right-handed-shooting defenseman Henry Brzustewicz, 18, a Michigan native, with the penultimate decide of the primary day.
Spherical two by seven of the draft might be performed Saturday.
Roger McQueen, second from proper, poses for images with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, proper, and actors Joshua Jackson, left, and Marguerite Moreau, second from left, after being drafted by the Geese at No. 10 general.
(Damian Dovarganes / Related Press)
The Geese, who had a top-10 decide for a seventh straight yr, see the 6-foot-5 McQueen as a uncooked expertise who can develop right into a top-line heart.
“He has a big body. But what goes along with that is his skill and skating ability,” stated basic supervisor Pat Verbeek, whose crew has 10 picks this weekend.
For the Kings, this draft was the primary public transfer in what might be an intense couple of weeks. Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and winger Andrei Kuzmenko are unrestricted free brokers and the crew wish to re-sign each earlier than they hit the open market Tuesday.
“If we re-sign Gavrikov, there’s not going to be a ton of change,” Holland stated. “If we don’t, then there’s going to be change.”
Gavrikov, 29, emerged as a stable presence on the blue line, taking part in a career-high 82 video games and posting the perfect goals-against common of the 17 defensemen to play no less than 1,500 minutes. Former Kings GM Rob Blake made Gavrikov a contract provide final March, stated Holland, who has since sweetened the deal twice. Changing him, the GM stated, might require a few signings.
Kuzmenko, 29, reenergized the offense after coming over from Philadelphia on the commerce deadline, with the Kings going 17-5 and averaging almost 4 targets a sport down the stretch.
Kings followers cheer after Henry Brzustewicz is drafted by the crew at No. 31 general.
(Damian Dovarganes / Related Press)
“We like Kuzmenko. Kuzmenko likes it here; he likes his role,” Holland stated. “I’m talking to him. I talked two, three, four times this week with his agent. So we’ll see.”
Signing each gamers would put a giant dent within the Kings’ $21.7 million in salary-cap house.
“We have a lot of cap space but it doesn’t take much and it’s gone,” Holland stated. “We’ve got to figure out how we want to spend our money and they need to figure out how much money they can get.”
Apart from Gavrikov and Kuzmenko, the Kings don’t have many unfastened ends to tie up. The crew is assured it could possibly get ahead Alex Laferriere, a restricted free agent, to comply with a short-term deal and it has to determine whether or not to re-sign David Rittich, an unrestricted free agent, because the backup to beginning goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper.
Two gamers who might be shifting on are ahead Tanner Jeannot and defenseman Jordan Spence, each of whom are searching for extra ice time and should have to depart to get it.
