The Los Angeles Kings have made their first move on draft day, sending the 21st overall pick to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for picks 26, 57, and 198.
This gives them a second-round pick and an extra seventh-round pick. This trade is certainly focused on grabbing that second-round pick.
Looking at the 26th overall pick, there should still be some solid players available.
If the Kings are okay drafting a Russian player, Igor Chernyshov or Egor Surin should both be available.
Chernyshov is a well-rounded, competitve power-winger with top six upside. Surin is a similar build but plays center and doesn't have quite the hockey IQ of Chernyshov.
Terik Parasack could be available, a skilled winger with skating question marks. Sam O'Reilly, a hardworking future middle-six forward who maybe doesn't have the skill to penetrate the top six but will be a coaches favorite.
They could even take a swing on someone like Dean Letourneau, a 6-foot-6 center with high-end skating for his size and good hands. Coming out of Canadian prep hockey, there's a risk his skill doesn't translate to the next level but the upside is there.
If Sasha Boisvert falls, a hard-working center with an NHL caliber shot.
I would be interested to see if they take a big shot on 6-foot-6 Finnish defenseman Jesse Pulkkinen. He's a highly-skilled, physical defenseman. He's an over-ager though and has some hockey IQ questions, but I'd bet on the skill. He's a complete unicorn of a defenseman if he hits.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the Kings go with a safer pick like O'Reilly or Boisvert at 26 to set up a big swing in the second round.
Players like Emil Hemming, Matvei Gridin and Alfons Freij could be available at 57, injecting some high-end skill into the prospect pool, even if each of those players has a low floor.
The seventh-round pick is more-or-less a wash, but it's never a bad thing to have more picks.
If the Kings don't see much difference between the player they expect to be available at 21 compared to 26, this trade makes a lot of sense.
You move down just five spots and land a second-round pick for it.
I'm a little surprised the Kings made this move so early in the day and didn't wait to see who potentially fell in round one, but Mark Yannetti has expressed a desire to add more picks recently so this makes sense.