The Kings will roll into Day 1 of the NHL draft Friday with the 17th overall selection, the highest of any playoff qualifier, and eight more picks for Saturday.
But that’s all subject to change.
In consecutive seasons, the Kings traded down with their top pick in order to replace jettisoned second-rounders. That enabled them to add a rapidly ascendant prospect each time in goalie Carter George and winger Vojtěch Čihař.
Yet this time out, they have two picks in Round 2 already – their own at No. 49 and the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 46th overall selection that they acquired from Montreal in December – and considerable leeway to move either up or down in the order.
“I think you should trade down, in a vacuum. In most years, I like to trade down. That’s been magnified because in recent years we’ve traded (several) first-round picks,” Kings scouting guru Mark Yannetti told All the Kings’ Men. “A lot of times, it’s necessity. We have a shallow prospect pool, we have no picks because we’re trying to win, so you trade back and get an extra second. In the last three or four years, we’ve had no seconds, so we had to trade to get a pick to get George and we had to trade to get a pick to get Čihař. So there’s some necessity built into it, as well as it is my philosophy.”
Yet Yannetti also said with the departure via trade in February of forward Liam Greentree, defenseman Henry Brzustewicz, whom the Kings snagged 31st overall last year, was the only “high-ceiling” skater in the organization presently. With three picks among the first 49 this weekend, the Kings could be one of several teams with offers to move up rather than down, which would grant them better access to top-tier talent.
Already the NHL has seen an unusually high level of activity near the top of the draft and in the first round overall. Two picks in the top 10 and four in the top 25 have already transferred possession, with two of those selections being dealt twice in addition to a pick swap in another trade. That means there have been half a dozen transactions involving 2026 first-rounders already.
Neither Yannetti nor Kings general manager Ken Holland addressed the press corps in advance of the draft, but Holland affirmed twice – around the March trade deadline and again after the season ended – that he’d be hanging onto No. 17.
“My plan is, right now, to keep the 17th pick in the draft,” Holland said in his closing remarks of the campaign. “We’ve got two seconds this year. My plan is that we’re going to hang onto the pick and use the pick. Now, if something presents itself that I think, long-term, is good for the franchise, then I’d be open to moving it. But I’m not gonna move it just to try to throw a Band-Aid at the team to try to be good for one more year.”
Indeed the Kings, who have been pursuing a win-now approach since the summer of 2022 after they secured a surprise playoff berth during the end of their rebuilding period, are now balancing the present and future. The Luc Robitaille era has now spanned nine seasons, six head coaches and two GMs while producing zero playoff series victories, placing the Kings in an unenviable position to have a less-than-robust pipeline feeding an aging, mediocre roster.
Yannetti and company have managed specific situations effectively. They passed on Koehn Ziemmer in the second round only to find him still available in the third in 2023. They acquired George but still got their man, Greentree, with the pick for which they traded down a year later, and managed to secure Brzustewicz after trading down last June.
Though the early part of the draft is heavy on defense – dynamic Ryan Lin might be attainable with a slight push up the board – it would be totally unsurprising to see the Kings draft a forward with their first selection, whether it were at 17th overall or a few slots on either side of that position.
Winger Nikita Klepov cut his teeth in both Russia and the U.S. before enjoying a breakout season in Canada’s Ontario Hockey League, which he led in scoring as a rookie. In terms of both the presence of strengths and absence of deficiencies, Klepov may well be the highest potential prospect available in the teens.
Adam Novotný, considered the top Czech talent in this class, is another flanker with perhaps a lower ceiling but a higher floor. He played in a highly structured junior system, displaying a level of maturity, both physical and mental, that was undoubtedly attractive to a franchise that values predictability.
The Kings need to add center depth and quality at every rung of the organization. While this draft is not overflowing with centermen, middle-six-projected pivots like Finn Oliver Suvanto, Russian Ilia Morozov, Swede Alexander Command or Canadian Maddox Deganais could be viable options in the middle.
NHL DRAFT
When: First round (4 p.m. Friday, ESPN); second to seventh round (8 a.m. Saturday, NHL Network)
Where: KeyBank Center, Buffalo