Byfield has turned into a decent 50-point, two-way center, but not the cornerstone talent he was initially profiled as at the draft.
Turcotte only has 43 points in 162 games, including a frustrating three goals and 14 points in 62 games this year at 25 years old.
Faber, Bjornfot, and Spence are all playing elsewhere after being traded away.
Brandt Clarke is just now establishing himself as a top-four defender.
From the 2022 draft onwards, Kings draft picks have only played 26 NHL games combined, 23 of them by plugger sixth-round pick Jared Wright.
The Kings’ best player this year was 28-year-old Adrian Kempe, picked 29th overall in the 2014 draft.
Which is to say, the club completely failed to draft and develop a contention cohort during their bad and bottom-out years.
This left them scrambling to fill the void with desperate big-time trades like Dubois and Panarin, while plugging holes in their depth with over-the-hill signings like Cody Ceci, Corey Perry, and Brian Dumoulin.
Los Angeles is now stuck in no-man’s land.
The dreaded mushy middle.
Their roster is filled with aging and expensive veterans.
Their younger players have mostly plateaued.
Their prospect pipeline doesn’t feature a single blue-chip player after the trade of Greentree.
They have no clear path to challenge the current contenders in the West, like Colorado, Dallas, or Minnesota, and no way to match the youth movements currently happening in San Jose and Anaheim.
They are a clear cautionary tale for the Flames as Craig Conroy tries to build something more than an annual wildcard hopeful.
Calgary Flames, Los Angeles Kings, NHL draft, Craig Conroy, NHL rebuilding, hockey development, NHL analysis