During Rob Blake’s media availability earlier today, most of the questions being asked of the Kings GM were either touching on LA not making the playoffs this season or what moves he’ll make this summer to add players from outside the organization.
We opted to go a different direction. Regardless of what additions are made via trade or free agency, the core of the organization’s mid and long-term future remains tied to their prospect pool.
For #PlayTheKids crowd, a little perspective to consider:
Tyler Toffoli
– Drafted June 2010
– Played OHL 2010-11
– OHL again 2011-12
– AHL in 2012-13
– Split time AHL/NHL 2013-14Y'all want to see Kings prospects in NHL ASAP. Just not how it works. Watch the Reign. And enjoy.
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) May 17, 2021
I've said this repeatedly in 2021, what Quinton Byfield and Arthur Kaliyev have accomplished this season is truly remarkable. Both players would be in the OHL if life was normal.#ArtyParty was elite in a man's league at 19. He tied for AHL rookie goal lead (14) and 4th in pts.
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) May 17, 2021
At time of his NHL call-up, Byfield was 2nd on the Reign in goals & points (behind Kaliyev). It took him about 10 gms to figure out the AHL, then he just took over. Again, as an 18-year-old center in a man's league.
We live in instant gratification society. This is astonishing.
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) May 17, 2021
There's another Reign item getting lost in the shuffle w/ Byfield & Kaliyev stealing headlines.
Any other yr, Akil Thomas would be a very big story. Quietly just did his thing — 7th in rookie pts & his 11 goals are 3 behind Kaliyev leading the AHL. Ended yr w/ 7gm point streak.
— John Hoven | The Mayor (@mayorNHL) May 17, 2021
With that in mind, we asked Blake for some of his thoughts on Reign players like Kaliyev, Thomas, and Turcotte:
“That team took kind of a pattern that we felt would be in place there,” Blake began. “They’re a very young team led by a lot of the young players, minutes-wise and special teams wise. A little struggle early, they seemed to get things figured out and battle back close to .500. Obviously, with a different style of playoff format this year, they’ll be playing the single elimination game here tonight. But, yes, Arthur Kaliyev led in goals and points, was up for rookie scoring. You could see, as a 19-year-old, it took games to figure out the league a little bit, to find his position. He was probably penciled in to be in junior [the OHL] this year, to be honest with you. But with everything that happened with COVID and the pandemic, we were at an advantage to be able to play him and to play a player like Quinton Byfield in the American League, to gain that valuable experience.
Akil Thomas was a very valuable player throughout the whole season, and in different positions, whether it was wing, center, power play, penalty kill, just throughout the lineup. And Turcotte, he’s had a few different injuries throughout the year that may have slowed down the amount of games we expected out of him, but he was able to produce when he was in there.”
Looking forward, the next question becomes, how difficult will it be for any of those three players to step right into the National Hockey League next season?
“I would say their ability to step in and play in the NHL is further ahead than it was a year ago,” Blake noted. “That’s where I’d say we’ve progressed in that aspect with prospects.”
He later added some additional comments on Byfield:
On his call-up and spending time around Anze Kopitar
“The ability to have him around a player of Anze Kopitar’s stature for a few weeks is so important and to see the difference from not only junior to the American League, but to the NHL. To experience that will help him. He’s obviously in a unique situation next year, being the age that he is, there’s not the American League option that we had this year with him. [ed. note: Byfield will have to play in the OHL or NHL next season, explained here] So we really wanted him to experience the NHL, but also to be around these pros that have established themselves and been able to win in the league.”
On if Byfield will stay in LA to train or go home to the Toronto area
I think all of these guys should go home for a little while. It’s been a really different year. We’ve read these comments from all teams and all players, where you’re separated from your family, where you don’t get the opportunity to see them at Christmas or have them come out and visit. There’s different protocols where they’ve had to go through two or three weeks at a time where they’re not even really coming out of their apartment. So, I think it’s important they go home, re-group themselves, and then we look at the structure we have in place, and that we’re allowed to put in place from the league, as far as development throughout the summer.
NOTE: We’ll have a full Ontario Reign playoff article up later today, including a roster projection for tonight’s win-or-go-home game vs. the Colorado Eagles.
RELATED CONTENT:
Kings Of the Podcast: Ep. Q5 with Akil Thomas, LA Kings Prospect
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Photo courtesy of AHL San Diego
