Interview with WHL Scoring Champion Linden Vey

If you've been following along all season - of even half way paying attention - you know that many of the Kings prospects are having exceptional years.

Linden Vey, a fourth round pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, would have to rank right up at the top of the list, having just won the WHL scoring race on Sunday.

His 116 points (46 goals, 70 assists) helped lead the Medicine Hat Tigers to a third place finish in the WHL's Eastern Conference and they'll begin their 2011 playoffs this Friday night against the Brandon Wheat Kings.

Here's a bit of a season recap and playoff preview with the newly crowned scoring champ...

MM: So - Linden Vey, WHL scoring champion - how does that sound?

LV: Obviously it's been a long year and I wouldn't have thought at the start of the year that this is something that would be happening right now. But, it's been a good season and I have to give credit to my team. I don't think I could have done it without my team. We have a good group and we've had a good year. We reached 100 points and we've all had a good year this year.

MM: You had 24 goals in each of the last two seasons and then nearly doubled that with 46 goals this season, why the big jump? What do you attribute that to?

Special Seasons Continue for LA Kings Prospects

Over the past few seasons the Kings have been blessed with stellar performances from several of their prospects playing junior hockey.

Andrei Loktionov won a Memorial Cup in 2009, Thomas Hickey captained Team Canada at the World Junior Championships, Brandon Kozun was the CHL's Top Scorer and Martin Jones the WHL's Top Goaltender - just to name a few.

This year, the club has already had a representative on all three medal winning teams at the World Junior Championships (Maxim Kitsyn/Russia gold, Brayden Schenn/Canada silver and Derek Forbort/USA bronze).

And things are heating up in all three of the CHL circuits, the WHL, OHL and QMJHL.

In fact, it's not inconceivable that the Kings will have representatives on all four teams that make the Memorial Cup Tournament (comprised of the three league champions and the host city).

Kitsyn is now playing for the OHL's Mississauga St. Michael's Majors. They're hosting the tournament, so he's in.

Here's an update on three of the other leading candidates:

Reminiscing with Westgarth's Princeton Teammate

Daryl Marcoux is a 5'10" defenseman who played his college hockey at one of the finest learning institutions on the planet, Princeton University.

These days, he finds himself patrolling the blueline for the ECHL's Stockton Thunder.

With no disrespect to Nick Diaz and his 209 pride, that's not exactly a step up in the world.

Still, he's 'living the dream' as they say and remains optimistic about the future.

He was in town Wednesday night to play the Kings' ECHL affiliate (Ontario Reign) and after the game I caught up with him to talk about his former teammate Kevin Westgarth.

MM: Overall, is the Westgarth we see now similar to what you remember?

DM: In college everybody wears cages, so there's not a lot of fighting, not a lot of toughness. He definitely hit like a truck. He actually put up quite a few points, especially his senior year. He has an amazing slap shot and he actually has quite a bit of skill - as I'm sure people aren't quite aware of yet. I think as the years progress in the NHL he'll get his shot to move up into maybe a little bit different of a role and maybe play a tough guy role who plays on the third or second line.

MM: Second line?

Kings Junior Prospects Square Off, plus Schenn

Over the last few years there has been a steady stream of encouraging news coming from the Kings prospects playing in junior hockey. They've had players win medals for their national teams at the World Junior Championships - including gold, silver and bronze this year - as well as made waves in the CHL.

Right now, they're sitting pretty with the leading goal scorers in the WHL (Linden Vey) and OHL (Tyler Toffoli), two of the three circuits making up the Canadian junior league.

A few weeks ago their top two prospects in the OHL, Toffoli and Russian sensation Maxim Kitsyn, faced off (recap here).

Last night it was time for two of their WHL prospects to do the same - plus Brayden Schenn had a memorable game.

Vey (4th round, 2009) and his Medicine Hat Tigers traveled to Regina to take on Jordan Weal (3rd rd, 2010) and the Pats. Weal finished last season with the third most points in the WHL, trailing only fellow Kings prospect Brandon Kozun and Jordan Eberle.

He's having another strong season and added a goal and two assists (and was a plus-2) in this game. However, the Tigers won 4-3. Vey increased his totals with another goal and assist as well. That gives him a league-best 81 points (32g, 49a) in 45 games.

Meanwhile, it wouldn't be a WHL report without some news on Schenn...

Super Series - WHL Report with Linden Vey

When you're hot, you're hot.

And Kings prospect Linden Vey is more than warm right now. His November already includes back-to-back Player of the Week honors from his junior team, the Medicine Hat Tigers. Plus, he was named the WHL Player of the Game in the just completed Subway Super Series.

His scored a goal in the second game of the WHL vs. Russia portion of series (Russia had previously played a pair of games against both the QMJHL and OHL). That meant four of the five Kings prospects had goals in the tournament. Of course, that excludes their sixth prospect (goalie JF Berube) for obvious reasons - as in, he was busy guarding his own net, not trying to score in the other one.

Vey, a 6-foot right wing taken in the fourth round of the 2009 NHL Draft, came into the series following a four point night for Medicine Hat (1g, 3a) - which topped his three point effort the game before (1g, 2a).

As hot as he was though, it was the cold that almost kept him from playing against Russia this week. In the interview below he tells us all about what happened and provides some thoughts on a few other Kings prospects, his play so far this year and the upcoming World Junior Championships...

MM:  This was your second time playing in the tournament. Overall, how would you compare last year's experience to this year - better, worse or just different?

NHL Draft 2010 - Interview with Brett Connolly

If you're reading this article, you've probably been following enough draft coverage already to know that Friday night's first round is being hyped as the Taylor vs. Tyler show.

Starting with the third pick things become a little more interesting, with a dozen or so names floating around....kids that are destined to be the NHL starts of tomorrow - like Swiss born Nino and Jack the Goalie.

Then, there's Brett Connolly.  NHL Central Scouting has him ranked third.  TSN has him projected 8th.  Any other mock draft you see will probably have him ranked somewhere in between.

His story reads like that of a a kid near the top of the board... a first round pick of the Prince George Cougars (10th overall) back at the 2007 WHL Bantam Draft, the CHL Rookie of the Year in 2008–09 (while scoring 30 goals as a 16-year-old) and he's been a member of the highly regarded Team Canada under-18 team.

So, what's the issue? Perhaps it's this... Connolly is a self-confessed former Mighty Ducks fan - “I was a huge Ducks fan when I was young, that was my first NHL jersey”.

Well, it's either that or some recent health issues. TSN's Bob MacKenzie says fear not though, reporting that "his agent maintain(s) those problems are all behind him" and Mac adds that Team Canada "remains bullish" on the 6'2" right wing, thinking his "lack of conditioning and game shape hurt him more than anything else." Something that will surely be addressed this summer.

In what has been one of the busiest weeks of his life, Connolly was kind enough to connect with The Mayor earlier today to talk a little stick and puck leading up to the draft.  Like a two two minute penalty, this one will be over before you know it...

First off, who got you started in hockey?

My dad brought me out to the local rink when I was about 3 or 4 and got me skating.

Besides the injury this season, what one other thing will you be glad to stop talking about once the draft is over?

Well, it will be nice for me to have one team and not a bunch of teams. I can focus on the team that drafts me and them only.

With all the crazy questions thrown at you from various teams at the combine, which team was the most intimidating to interview with?