Over the last decade, off the ice, the Kings have tried putting their stamp on the league - they opened a state of the art arena downtown, hosted the NHL All Star Game in 2002...and are back at it this week, front and center, hosting the draft.
People from around the world of hockey will be descending upon Staples Center later this week, as all 30 NHL teams will select players over seven rounds. Of the 200+ players that will be chosen, only about 40-50 will make the NHL.
Mayors Manor will have plenty of draft info to get you primed throughout the week. We'll have interviews with several people involved in the draft - we'll have Canadian kids, American kids, Russian kids, player agents - all sorts of different people.
Don't worry, we'll get to some of the kids looking to be drafted in the first round in future articles. In honor of the draft being in LA, let's start with some California Love. A kid at the other end of the rankings. NHL Central Scouting has him listed as #196 out of 210 players. That projects him out as a seventh round draft pick.
So what's so special about him? Well, for starters he's from right here in Southern California. He also played for the Jr. Kings before moving on to Kamloops of the WHL this past season.
Brandon Underwood, a 6'3" defenseman, connected with the Mayor over the weekend to talk about his past, present and future leading up to next weekend's draft. For added flavor, he also had a few things to say about some of the Kings current prospects.
Coming from San Diego, a town not exactly known for hockey, how did you get you started in the sport?
