Prospect Report: Kings had #1 player, now ranked #1 team

Last month, The Hockey News crowned Brayden Schenn the number one prospect in hockey. Earlier this week, Hockey's Future announced the Los Angeles Kings as the top National Hockey League organization, in terms of their overall prospect pool.

Last Fall, the Kings were ranked as second-best by Hockey's Future. Now, for their Spring rankings, the Kings move to the top of the list on the overall strength of their top five prospects - Schenn, Jonathan Bernier, Andrei Loktionov, Tyler Toffoli and Derek Forbort.

Breaking things down by position, the defensemen listed were Forbort, Viatcheslav Voynov and Nicolas Deslauriers. The top forwards listed were Schenn, Loktionov and Toffoli. The top goaltenders listed were Bernier, Martin Jones and Jeff Zatkoff.

In other prospect news this week, the Kings singed goalie JF Berube and forward Linden Vey (both were selected in the fourth round of the 2009 NHL Draft) to three-year entry level contracts.

Deslauriers, who just appeared in the QMJHL Chamionship Finals - and led all Quebec league defenseman in post-season scoring - is also expected to be signed before the June 1st deadline.

Finally, Maxim Kitsyn and the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors continue their quest for a Memorial Cup title when the take on the Owen Sound Attack tonight. After earning more points than any other team during the OHL's regular season, Mississauga lost the Championship in overtime of game seven of the OHL Finals to Owen Sound. So, payback will certainly be on their minds.

The winner of tonight's game will advance to Friday's Memorial Cup semi-finals, while the loser will face the Kootenay Ice in tomorrow's tie-breaker game. The tie-breaker winner will become the other participant in the semi-final game.

If you want to watch Kitsyn and the Majors, check out the game on tape delay tomorrow morning via the NHL Network.

Many of the above listed prospects are scheduled to participate in the Kings annual Summer Development Camp, expected to take place in late June. More information will be available at a later date.



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RELATED ARTICLES:

Recent MayorsManor interviews with some of the top junior prospects (click to read):
Brayden Schenn * Linden Vey * Tyler Toffoli * Nic Deslauriers * JF Berube

Recent MayorsManor interviews with several players from the Manchester Monarchs (click to read):
Bud Holloway * Thomas Hickey * Martin Jones

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LA Kings Roundtable on Trades, Kopitar and Penner

Part three of the recent roundtable discussion on the Los Angeles Kings is now available.

The conversation continues with Dennis Bernstein of The 4th Period, Jon Moncrief of the Examiner, Dave Joseph of ESPN and several others.

The group was pulled together by the guys over at KingsCast and in this segment we talk in-depth about what the Kings should do in the off-season - including deals involving Brad Richards, Rick Nash, Jonathan Bernier, Philadelphia Flyers, etc. - possible future line combinations, Anze Kopitar, Dustin Penner and much more.



Part one of the roundtable featured discussion on Drew Doughty - click here to watch now.

Part two of the roundtable featured discussion on the power play and prospects - click here to watch now.

More videos will be released by KingsCast in the days to come.



The Mayor
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RELATED ARTICLES:

Kings players on Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash

Interview with Brayden Schenn

Kitsyn and the Majors are on the board

After dropping their opening game on Friday night to the Saint John Sea Dogs 4-3, Maxim Kitsyn and the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors picked up their first win of the Memorial Cup tournament yesterday.

Sunday's game pitted them against the Kootenay Ice, champions of the WHL. Cody Eakin (Capitals draft pick) put the Ice up first. Then, Kitsyn tied things up with his first point of the tournament. Rob Flick (Blackhawks draft pick) scored the final goal of the game half way through the third period and the Majors went on to win 2-1.

Mississauga was the top team in the OHL's regular season. However, they were defeated in the OHL Finals by the Owen Sound Attack - who they'll play in their next game (Wednesday night). The semi-finals will be played Friday and the 2011 Memorial Cup Champion will be crowned after the final game on Sunday.

It's been quite the year so far for Kitsyn, who wasn't even playing in North America when the season began. His Russian team won the Super Series in November - a tournament featuring a Russian all-star team vs. two games each against the WHL, OHL and QMJHL. He topped that by winning a gold medal at the World Junior Championships in January. Then he joined the Majors and finished the regular season with 26 points (9 goals, 17 assists) in 32 games. He also had 19 points (10g, 9a) in 20 OHL playoff games.

Kitsyn is the lone Kings prospect still playing. After higher ranked prospects and draft picks, like Brayden Schenn and Tyler Toffoli, were eliminated, Kitsyn - a sixth round pick in the 2010 NHL Draft - finds himself just a few wins away from junior hockey's ultimate prize.

That would be quite a hat trick...of hardware.



The Mayor
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RELATED ARTICLES:

Interview with Maxim Kitsyn

Interview with Brayden Schenn

NCAA Playoff Preview: Interview with Derek Forbort - the Kings 2010 first round draft pick

All three Kings prospects earn medals at World Junior Championships

Kings Roundtable Discussion on Power Play and Prospects

Part two of the recent roundtable discussion on the Los Angeles Kings is now available.

The conversation continues with Dennis Bernstein of The 4th Period, Jon Moncrief of the Examiner, Dave Joseph of ESPN and several others.

The group was pulled together by the guys over at KingsCast and in this segment we talk in-depth about Jamie Kompon, the power play, Brayden Schenn, Andrei Loktionov and other prospects looking to make the jump.



If you missed the first segment of this roundtable, click here.

More videos will be released in the days ahead.



The Mayor
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Los Angeles Kings Roundtable Discussion on Doughty

Over the weekend I joined Dennis Bernstein of The 4th Period, Jon Moncrief of the Examiner, Dave Joseph of ESPN and several others for a round table discussion about the Kings just completed season and the summer ahead.

The group was pulled together by the guys over at KingsCast and they'll be releasing the video in small, easy to digest segments over the next few days.

Up first are some discussions about the locker room mentality during the playoffs, conditioning and an in-depth look at Drew Doughty.





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Kings' Junior Prospects Come Up Empty

Unlike the Kings, who limped into the playoffs (winning only one of their final six games in regulation), the team's prospects were riding high as the post-season arrived.

They had the WHL scoring champion (Linden Vey, Medicine Hat Tigers), a player on the top team in the WHL (Brayden Schenn, Saskatoon Blades), the OHL scoring champion (Tyler Toffoli, Ottawa 67's), a player on the top team in the OHL (Maxim Kitsyn, Mississauga St. Michaels Majors), one of the top goaltenders in the QMJHL (JF Berube, Montreal Junior) and one of the top defensemen in the 'Q' (Nic Deslauriers, Gatineau, Olympiques).

They all stopped by MayorsManor to offer playoff previews.  And they all had such high hopes.  Yet, over the last six weeks they've all been bounced, one by one.

Toffoli exited first, in a four game sweep. Next was Schenn, swept out of the second round.

Berube and Montreal also lost in the second round - although their series went six games.

Vey and Medicine Hat were swept out of the WHL's Western Conference Finals.

Gatineau pushed the QMJHL Championship series to double overtime of game six last night. Unfortunately, they came up on the losing end, 3-2...and lost the series 4-2.

Deslauriers did finish as the highest scoring defenseman in the QMJHL playoffs though (20 points - 5 goals and 15 assists - in 24 games).

Kitsyn and the Majors made it all the way to overtime of game seven of the OHL Championship. Still, they lost 3-2.

And with that, it's over. All of the league championships have now been decided.

None of the Kings' prospects came away with a title.

Now, it's on to the Memorial Cup. For those unfamiliar, it's a four-team tournament comprised of the three league champions (WHL, OHL and QMJHL), along with the host city. This year, it will be in Mississauga. So, Kitsyn still has one more shot at hoisting something this spring. Things get underway Friday.

For the record, the last Kings prospect to win the tournament was Andrei Loktionov with the Windsor Spitfires in 2009.



The Mayor
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RELATED ARTICLES:

Interview with Windsor GM (and former King) Warren Rychel

Interview with WHL Scoring Champion Linden Vey

Interview with QMJHL defenseman Nic Deslauriers

Interview with Russia's Maxim Kitsyn

Interview with Hockey's #1 Prospect - Brayden Schenn

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VIDEO: 2011 Kings Playoff Recap, Interviews, Backstage

Need to add a little Kings hockey to your week?

Take a look at the video below...

The team over at Kings Vision has pulled together clips of game action, behind the scenes footage, locker room activity, perspective from coach Terry Murray, interviews with players - including Dustin Brown, Kyle Clifford, Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson, Anze Kopitar, Jonathan Quick, Jarret Stoll, Willie Mitchell - and much more.

Check out their perspective on the whole playoff experience.

You'll enjoy it.





The Mayor
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Jack and USA done, Bernier ready for Ovechkin tomorrow

Johnson and Jagr at IIHF quarterfinals
Photo by Matthew Manor / HHOF-IIHF

Out of the sixteen countries to play in the main pool at last year's IIHF World Championships the United States finished 13th - ahead of only France, Italy and Kazakhstan.

They'll finish five slots higher this year, but there isn't much to celebrate. After advancing to the elite-8, they were bounced in their first game by the defending champions from the Czech Republic.

In today's opening game of the quarterfinals Team USA lost 4-0. Al Montoya (New York Islanders) was announced as injured, so Ty Conklin (St. Louis Blues) was given the start in goal. Jack Johnson played over 20 minutes again, but the offense just couldn't get anything going.

The Kings defenseman also laid out Patrik Elias (New Jersey Devils) behind the net in the third period. Probably should have been a penalty, but there was no call.

Johnson finished the tournament with 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists) in seven games, picked up eight penalty minutes and was a minus-4. He also led all U.S. defenseman with 20 shots on goal.

Jaromir Jagr looked every bit the part of a player ready to return to the NHL, posting three goals on his first four shots in today's game. He's now tied for the lead on his team with five goals and eight points (matching the totals of Montreal's Tomas Plekanec).

The Czech's beat Russia for the gold last May and this year's brackets have things lining up for a possible rematch.  Russia has also played in the finals for three straight years, having won the gold medal in 2008 and 2009.

Germany and Sweden will play later today. The winner of that game will play the Czech Republic in one of Friday's semi-final games.

On the other side, the winner of tomorrow's two games - Canada/Russia and Finland/Norway - will meet up in the other semi-final game.

Both the gold and bronze medal games will be played on Sunday, airing live on VERSUS in the U.S.

But, back to that Canada-Russia game. Coach Ken Hitchcock has already announced he's sticking with Jonathan Bernier in goal, who is 2-0 in the tournament. One of the many story lines to watch in that game is if Bernier and the Canadian defense can shut down Alexander Ovechkin. In two games played, he's yet to register a point.



The Mayor
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Forget Quick... It's the return of Bernier vs Ersberg!

You read that right.

It's just not for a spot on the Kings. Instead, they'll square off at the IIHF World Championships in Slovakia.

With Canada looking to lock down the top spot in their pool on Monday, coach Ken Hitchcock has announced he'll start Jonathan Bernier in goal for their final game of the qualification round.

Bernier picked up a 3-2 win yesterday vs. Norway, stopping 25 of 27 shots. It was his first game played in the tournament.

At the other end of the ice for his second game will be Erik Ersberg of Team Sweden. The former Kings goalie was in net when the Swedes lost their opening game of the tournament to Norway, 5-4 (via a shootout).

Sweden hasn't lost a game since and Ersberg hasn't seen any game action since. However, having already won their pool play, he's being given another shot before the quarterfinals start mid-week.

In other news...

* Slovenia lost in the relegation round to Belarus by a final score of 7-1. They've now been dropped out of the main pool for 2012. Just like Kings fans wonder how the team would have done vs. San Jose had Anze Kopitar been in the line-up, hockey fans in his home country now wonder the same thing about the national team. (read more about Gasper Kopitar's dreams for Slovenia here)

* Even though the U.S. had Sunday off, they still qualified for the quarterfinals due to Switzerland's loss to Sweden. Team USA plays their final 'qualification round' game tomorrow vs. the Swiss - that game airs live on VERSUS at 7am PST. Jack Johnson continues to lead the team in ice time in most games...and is an even-player through five games (he was minus-21 for the Kings this season). He also leads the team with 18 shots on goal..

* Alexander Ovechkin made it to Europe in time for the game, but Russia lost to the Czech Republic 3-2 on Sunday. Jaromir Jagr had the second goal of the game for his country. Ovi was held pointless.

* Michal Handzus and Team Slovakia haven't played well at all. Let's just leave it at that. They'll play Denmark Monday.  It will likely be the final game of Pavol Demitra's international career.

Quarterfinal match-ups will be announced tomorrow night and played Wednesday/Thursday. Regardless of the outcome of Monday's games, seven of the eight slots have already been secured by Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Sweden and the USA. Norway is the most likely eighth team. However, Switzerland has a slim chance at it.

[Monday morning update: Norway beat France earlier today to secure the 8th seed.  Switzerland will not advance to the quarterfinals, regardless of the outcome vs. Team USA.]



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Bernier and Canada nearly give it all away vs. Norway

Photo by Jukka Rautio/HHOF-IIHF

If results are the only thing that matters, Team Canada is doing just fine.

However, coach Ken Hitchcock has to at least be a little concerned with the overall play of his team right now at the IIHF World Championship.

Yesterday they trailed 2-1 after two periods to the U.S. Sure, they came back and won 4-3. Yet, that was in a shootout. And Ty Conklin was in goal for the U.S.

Should that really have been a problem for an offense being led by Rick Nash, James Neal, Jason Spezza, Jordan Eberle, Matt Duchene, John Tavares, Jeff Skinner, etc.?

Maybe the group says 'Hey, we put 50+ shots on goal. What more do you want from us?'

Could be.  Moving on...

After riding goalie James Reimer (Toronto Maple Leafs) for the first four games in the tournament, Hitchcock went to Kings' goalie Jonathan Bernier today versus Norway.

Things looked good when Canada was up 3-0 with 10 minutes left to play in the third. Then, Bernier gave up two (somewhat) soft goals in a less-than-two-minute span and we had a game.

When the clock got down to 90 seconds left Norway pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. However, they couldn't put another one past Bernier - so Canada won and secured their spot in the quarterfinals.

Bernier finished with 25 of 27 saves and he may not be done in the tournament. Prior to the game Hitchcock said he was giving Bernier a chance because he was told Bernier would be good on the big ice surface. Then, after the win, he was noncommittal about his starter for Canada's next game on Monday vs. Sweden - saying he'll sleep on it.

He also said "I was impressed with Bernier. I was impressed with the composure."

Finally, a few other notes...

After yesterday's game vs. Canada, Jack Johnson wasn't looking at things any differently just because of who they were playing - saying "A loss is a loss no matter who you lose to." He played a team-high 28 minutes and scored on a breakaway (coming out of the penalty box) in the second period that put Team USA up 2-1 lead. He was also the first shooter in the shootout, but missed.

Team USA is playing France this morning, in a game that will air on tape delay later tonight on VERSUS.

In case you haven't heard, Alexander Ovechkin is now in Slovakia for the tournament. He is practicing today with Team Russia and will play his first game tomorrow vs. the Czech Republic.

That should be interesting. One of my lasting memories from last year's Olympics in Vancouver was Ovi laying out Jaromir Jagr at center ice during a game between the two countries.



The Mayor
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