Every year around this time The Athletic's Scott Wheeler releases his annual prospect pool rankings. For years the Los Angeles Kings have been a staple in the top 10 in these articles.
Now, after graduating a few notable names like Quinton Byfield and Jordan Spence, and losing prospects like Rasmus Kupari and Tobias Bjornfot, the team falls down the ranking.
The lack of impact players from that once great prospect pool is concerning, but another topic for another day.
For now, we'll focus on Wheeler's article.
I won't be going through each prospect but will look at the tiers he put together and pick up on things I found interesting.
Tier 1: Brandt Clarke:
Brandt Clarke sits in a tier of his own here and that should come as no surprise.
With Byfield no longer considered for this article, Clarke is by far and away the team's best prospect.
Wheeler's always been high on Clarke and remains so today. He even made a free Brandt Clarke plea after posting the article.
There's nothing really new with Clarke though. His ability within the offensive blue line is special and he'll produce points at any level.
If you aren't concerned about his skating and physical limitations, you see a true number-one defenseman. If you do have those concerns, you're looking at a power-play one, fringe top pairing strong second pair player.
Either way, Clarke has a bright future and is the Kings' best prospect without question.
Tier 2: Alex Turcotte and Alex Laferriere:
Two Alex's makeup Wheeler's second tier, Turcotte and Laferriere.
It's nice to see Turcotte get some love on this list, especially after he was outside of the Kings' top-eight prospects in Corey Pronman's list last August.
Turcotte looks healthy and scored his first career goal against Nashville a few games back.
He'll never be the superstar you want out of a top-five pick, but he can still be a contributor on a championship roster.
It will be interesting to see how long he stays with the Kings, likely not long after everyone is healthy, but he's proving he can hang, and then some, at the NHL level.
Another Kings prospect Wheeler has been consistently high on is Laferriere. Wheeler labeled him, "One of the hottest prospects in the world in the two prior seasons to his jump to the NHL this year."
After making the Kings' roster out of camp and impressing in his rookie season, Laferriere is a worthy top-three on this list.
His low ceiling compared to Turcotte and Clarke keep him below them, but he's already proven he can be a solid middle-six player in the NHL.
Tier 3: Erik Portillo, Koehn Ziemmer, Martin Chromiak, Hampton Slukynsky and Francesco Pinelli:
I'll get the goalies out of the way first because I typically avoid analysis on goalies.
It's good to see Portillo high on this list as he is the future in net for the Kings. It's been a strong start to life in the AHL for him and he has all the tools to be an NHL goalie.
Wheeler was relatively high on Slukynsky, but there's still a lot of development ahead of him before we can really start discussing his NHL future.
Onto the three forwards in this tier, it is very interesting to see Koehn Ziemmer at the top of this tier. The Kings' most recent third-round pick, he's a player that seems to have impressed public scouts.
The tools are there, he's a physical player with good one-on-one moves and a deadly shot. His fitness levels were the big concern heading into the draft and it's still yet to be seen if he can make the athletic jump into the NHL.
Injuries have derailed what was a fantastic start to the season in the WHL, but Ziemmer continues to look like a potential steal for the Kings.
Martin Chromiak and Francesco Pinelli settle in behind Ziemmer on this list and their placement is interesting too.
I'm surprised Pinelli is so low and I wouldn't have him below Chromiak or Ziemmer. In live viewings, I've always been more impressed with Pinelli than the other two, granted Pinelli is older than Ziemmer and "should" look like a better player right now.
I've held the same opinion on Chromiak for a while now. There are legit NHL tools there, but none of them are high-end enough to make him a skill player at the next level and I don't see him finding a different role in the NHL.
Pinelli, on the other hand, I could see becoming a very solid, hard-working middle-six forward.
He's physically very mature and has the puck skills and vision to play at the next level. It's been an okay rookie season for him in the AHL. But it's worth pointing out that few 20-year-olds produce much in that league, especially on a struggling team.
He doesn't have a standout offensive tool like Chromiak and Ziemmer, but is a better all-around player and I think that gives him an edge over those two, particularly over Chromiak.
Tier 4: Jakub Dvorak, Otto Salin, Ryan Conmy, Matthew Mania, Kirill Kirsanov, Jack Hughes and Kenny Connors:
Frankly, most of these players are long shots to make the NHL with the exception of Jakub Dvorak.
Dvorak is an interesting one because there's still a huge discrepancy in how people view his skating. Wheeler is still very down on it despite the Kings being high on his skating.
Regardless, he's a big-bodied defenseman who's excelled at lower levels in a more shutdown capacity.
There's a potential low-end second, high-end third pair defenseman in Dvorak.
Otto Salin is an interesting one, he's a smooth skater and impressed at last year's development camp, but I worry he'll run into the Tobias Bjornfot problem.
Being a strong skating, defensively sound blue liner at 5-foot-11 is very difficult. You need a defining trait at that size and I'm not sure Salin has that.
Kirill Kirsanov is a tough one. It's hard to watch him in Russia and he's been up-and-down between the KHL and the Russian minor leagues since being drafted.
Injuries hurt him this year and he's now looking to get back on track, he's a total-toss up.
Jack Hughes being this low on the list for a former second-round pick is disappointing but not surprising.
He hasn't been productive in college the last two seasons and was frankly terrible at development camp last year. There's pedigree from his time with the USNTDP, but there's a lot of work that needs to be done before he's a legit NHL prospect.
Ryan Conmy, Matthew Mania and Kenny Connors are all huge long shots in my eyes and I'd be surprised if any of them become NHL regulars.
Notable Omissions: Samuel Helenius, Kasper Simontaival and Aatu Jamsen:
The two Fins are easy ones to explain and players I likely would have omitted too, despite them being solid players in their own right.
Kasper Simontaival is too small and lacks the truly elite talent needed to become an NHL regular at 5-foot-9.
Jamsen has the size, I just don't see an NHL-caliber player in there. He's a skill player who tops out as a solid AHL contributor for me.
Samuel Helenius is an interesting omission. Opinions on him vary but the one consistent is his low cieling.
He's working to becoming a 4C at most which usually doesn't catch the eye for lists like this.
I like Helenius and think he can become that player though. He has a lot of physical development left.
The Ontario Reign staff had him drop a lot of weight last summer and are working to build it back in muscle now. If he can become a physically imposing 4C who can fight and kill penalties, he'll have a spot in the NHL.