Top 10 LA Kings Draft Picks of All Time

With the 2021 NHL Draft approaching quickly, we went back into the vault and ranked our Top 10 LA Kings draft picks since the Kings entered the NHL in 1967.
The Top 10 Kings draft picks have made 40 All-Star game appearances in total, won a combined 16 Stanley Cups, and includes three Hall of Fame inductees.
Check out all 10 players:

Darryl Sydor

1990 | Round 1, Selection 7

1,291 games (98 goals, 409 assists)

Sydor played in 288 games for the Kings across five seasons to start his career and recorded 105 points (20-85=105) during that span.
While the Kings only made the postseason once with Sydor on the team, the crafty defenseman totaled 155 playoff appearances across 11 years of playoff hockey.
Of those 11 years, Sydor won the Stanley Cup twice, once with the Dallas Stars (1998-1999) and once with the Tampa Bay Lightning (2003-2004).

Dustin Brown

2003 | Round 1, Selection 13

1,183 games (299 goals, 354 assists)

The current right wing for the Kings will be going into his 17th season when the 2020-21 campaign starts and has spent every previous season in the black, silver and white jerseys.
Brown is the all time leader in games played for the Kings, having played 1,183 games and counting. Brown has also captained the Kings for eight seasons, from 2008-2016, in which he hoisted the two Stanley Cups. He currently ranks sixth in goals (299), ninth in assists (354) and eighth in points (653) all time in franchise history.
On and off the ice, Brown's leadership has also been recognized as he was awarded the Mark Messier Leadership Award for the 2013-14 season.

Larry Murphy

1980 | Round 1, Selection 4

1,615 games (288 goals, 929 assists)

Although Murphy only played three seasons for the Kings, his career cannot go unnoticed. In 242 games with the Kings, Murphy recorded 207 points (52-155=207).
Most notably, Murphy won four Stanley Cup's, two with the Pittsburgh Penguins (1990-91, 1991-92) and two with the Detroit Red Wings (1996-97, 1997-98) where he led the postseason in plus/minus in three of those campaigns. In 2004, Murphy was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Watch: Youtube Video

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Jonathan Quick

2005 | Round 3, Selection 72

644 games (325-240-67 | 2.39 GAA .913 SV%)

The two-time Stanley Cup winning goaltender and 2012 Conn Smythe winner, awarded to the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs, leads Kings goalies in almost every statistical category.
More specifically, Quick leads the franchise in wins (325), save percentage (.913), shutouts (52) and trails Felix Potvin in goals against average (GAA) by just .04 with a 2.39 GAA. Quick has also been awarded the William M. Jennings Trophy twice (2013-14, 2017-18) which goes to the goalie(s) that allow the least amount of goals as a team every year.
The one-of-a-kind style goalie has also had five season of more than 64 starts, including two seasons of more than 70 starts.

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Drew Doughty

2008 | Round 1, Selection 2

919 games played (117 goals, 385 assists)

Drewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! With so much talk about who the Kings will take with the second overall pick in this year's draft, we can only hope that they will be as impactful as Doughty has been in his 12 years in a Kings jersey.
Doughty, like three others on this list, was a crucial part of the two Stanley Cup winning teams, as he ended the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs tied for the most assists with 12 alongside Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown. Doughty was also awarded the Norris Trophy in 2015-16, which goes to the top defenseman in the NHL.
Impressively, Doughty has never missed more than six games in a year and averaged more than 23:50 of ice time every year. The five-time All Star has put together a Hall of Fame resumé in just 12 years on the Kings blue line.

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Anze Kopitar

2005 | Round 1, Selection 11

1,073 games (333 goals, 617 assists)

The current captain for the Kings slots in at No. 5 just 14 years into his Stanley Cup-winning, awarding-winning, Hall of Fame to-be career. During the 2012 Stanley Cup run, Kopitar led the postseason in goals (8), assists (12) and points (20), and again in 2014, Kopitar led the postseason in assists (21) and points (26) en route to the Kings second Stanley Cup in three years.
Kopitar was one of the best two-way forwards this past decade as he took home two Selke Trophies (2015-16, 2017-18), which is awarded to the top defensive forward.
The five-time All-Star also won the Lady Bing for best sportsmanship exhibited in 2015-16 season. Kopitar is fourth in Kings history for games played (1,073), goals (333), assists (617) and points (950).

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Bernie Nicholls

1980 | Round 4, Selection 73

1,127 games (475 goals, 734 assists)

Nicholls spent the first nine years of his career with the Kings and to say he made an impact is an understatement.
Nicholls holds the record for most goals in a season by a Kings player when he netted 70 goals in the 1988-1989 season. In those nine years, from 1981-1990 Nicholls played 602 games for the Kings and tallied 327 goals and 431 assists, good for 758 points.
Nicholls also made all three of his All-Star game appearances as a member of the Kings in 1984, 1989 and 1990.

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Dave Taylor

1975 | Round 10, Selection 210

1,111 games (431 goals, 638 assists)

Taylor played all 1,111 games and 17 seasons of his career in a Kings uniform. Over the span of three decades, Taylor mode a name for himself and became a focal point for the Kings when he and his line mates Marcel Dionne and Charlie Simmer made up the infamous "Triple Crown" line.
Taylor ranks first in plus/minus (+186), second in games played (1,111) and third in goals (431), assists (638), and points (1,069) all time in Kings franchise history.
Taylor was also awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the player that best shows the qualities of perseverance and sportsmanship along with the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the player who best exemplifies leadership and humanitarian contributions for the 1990-91 season.

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Rob Blake

1988 | Round 4, Selection 70

1,270 games (240 goals, 537 assists)

After having spent 14 seasons with the Kings, the current Vice President and General Manager for the Kings slots in at No. 2 overall for the best Kings draft picks. Blake won the Norris Trophy, awarded to the top defenseman in the NHL, in 1998 with the Kings and made seven All-Star game appearances during his career.
The 2014 Hall of Fame inductee and Kings captain of seven years played in 805 games for Los Angeles and scored 161 goals while also recording 333 assists, totaling 494 points, the most points among Kings defenseman all-time.
Blake went on to win the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001 between his two stints as a player with the Kings.

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Luc Robitaille

1984 | Round 9, Selection 171

1,431 games (668 goals, 726 assists)

Yes... who other than Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuc would be at the top of the list? Robitaille, the Kings current President, spent 14 seasons over three stints with the club and both started and finished his career in Los Angeles.
"Lucky Luc" is the Kings all-time leader in goals (557), power play goals (210), and game-winning goals (73). The 2009 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee also sits second in points (1,154) and third in games played for the Kings (1,077).
Recently, Robitaille was selected as the best player in the history of the NHL to wear the number 20. Robitaille was an eight time All-Star and won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2002.

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