One To Watch: Los Angeles Kings

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The recent Stanley Cup champions have built their team around size and skill and added to both of those categories at the 2013 NHL Draft. New additions like 40-goal man Valentin Zykov and 6'7 winger Justin Auger fit the bill not to mention CHL Goaltender of the Year Patrik Bartosak.

L.A.'s NHL depth allows the team the luxury of bringing along their prospects slowly and that's paid off for guys like Slava Voynov, Jake Muzzin, Trevor Lewis, Dwight King and Jordan Nolan. That's good news for guys that are still biding their time on the farm.     

2012 Choice: Martin Jones - The former Calgary Hitmen goalie wasn't drafted but signed after an impressive camp invite. Heading into last year it was feasible that with so many Jonathan Bernier trade rumors going around, a NHL appearance might be in Jones' near future. That didn't happen but he did manage to have arguably his best professional season. He played 56 regular season games and held a 2.53 GAA and 9.19 SV%. 

My Los Angeles prospect pick for One To Watch in 2013-14 comes after the jump. 

One To Watch: Los Angeles Kings

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The 2012 Stanley Cup champions may very well become a team organizations try to emulate when as they navigate a rebuild. Yes it took a long time and more patience than most fans possess but in the end it delivered a league title and a pool of prospects that it still very deep. 

The Kings stable of youth includes several players that were scoring dynamos at the junior level like Tyler Toffoli, Jordan Weal, Linden Vey, Brandon Kozun and Justin Azevedo. 

Derek Forbort headlines a crop of blueliners that still includes Thomas Hickey among other notables.

Yet, it's neither a forward nor a defenceman that has my attention this year.

Saturday Morning Special - July 9th

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What a fantastic way to start your day - not only did we have terrific guests today but we had major breaking news occur during our broadcast and our listener auction produced almost $3000 for charity!

Congratulations and a huge "Thank You!" to the Owner(s) of O2's Taphouse & Grill who coughed up the high bid on the day, a cool $2800. For that they picked up the trip to Jasper, the Moosehead prize pack and the autographed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Red Deer Rebels jersey.

If you were one of the many who were in on the fierce bidding war, don't worry; We're doing it again on Tuesday and next Saturday with a signed Mark Pysyk Edmonton Oil Kings jersey followed by a Buffalo Sabres sweater autographed by local product Tyler Ennis!

Oilers Deal Penner for Picks and 'The Punisher'

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The Edmonton Oilers have dealt veteran forward Dustin Penner to the Los Angeles Kings for prospect blueliner Colten Teubert, a 1st round pick in 2011 and a conditional 3rd round pick in 2012. The LA Kings obviously get the best warm body in the trade but the Oilers certainly get some pieces to further along their rebuild.

19th - Los Angeles Kings Draft Preview

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There were some God-awful third jerseys in the mid-90's and the Kings had one of them. This logo on it's own actually looks pretty cool and I think it could still be used to make a sharp looking uniform. Unfortunately, this handsome monarch was placed high on the left chest with a ridiculous looking grey/silver/black swoop resembling a beauty pageant sash coming off the right shoulder. Logo good - sweater fugly.