During the 2025 NHL Draft, I had the opportunity to listen in live to the LA Kings draft room during Day 1. In doing so, I was able to hear first hand how the Kings ultimately traded down and wound up selecting Henry Brzustewicz with the 31st overall selection in Round 1. Sharing, with some information redacted, an overview of how the first day of the draft went inside the room.

The LA Kings exited the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft with the player they hoped to – Henry Brzustewicz.

If you take that sentence as it is, that’s a good day at the office. However, the path to ultimately landing Brzustewicz was not as clear as perhaps it appears to be. As the process of how the Kings ultimately came to select Brzustewicz with the 31st overall selection in the draft unfolded, it was much nervier than meets the eye, though at the end of the day, it felt like a good plan that came together.

The Start
The start to Day 1 was very lighthearted for the Kings.

They entered the day with the 24th overall selection so as Matthew Schaefer came off the board to the New York Islanders, it wasn’t as if the Kings were crossing off a realistic option from their board. The light mood continued throughout the first 10 or so picks. Predictions made amongst the staff in the room, right or wrong, and a few off-color jokes I won’t include in this article. There were some conversations on the internal draft board but there was very little happening early that impacted the Kings.

Couple funny observations.

Mark Yannetti – Big Goo Goo Dolls guy. Liked when they made the pick for the Buffalo Sabres.

Everyone loved Happy Gilmore making the selection for the Boston Bruins.

When The Draft Truly Started
That changed at Pick 11. When Pittsburgh and Philadelphia made a trade that saw the Penguins move up, you could feel the ears perk within the room. And here’s why.

Mark Yannetti, the Kings Director of Amateur Scouting, had stated coming into the draft that it was his desire to trade down in the first round of the draft. Philadelphia was one of the teams that made sense to him as they had multiple picks in the late-first and early-second rounds. He also mentioned San Jose. This wasn’t secretive, it was out there, but Philadelphia moving early did impact a potential deal the Kings thought could be had.

When the Flyers and Penguins made the move, it brought Pittsburgh into play as a possible option as well, noting that the Kings could potentially look at moving down into the 30’s to acquire multiple picks in the first two rounds. It also changed the capital the Flyers had as a potential trade partner.

The reason the Kings wanted to make the trade was a belief was that both Brzustewicz and one other specific player would available at 24 with a high likelihood that one or both would also be there if the Kings traded down. It was likely, the models said. But not guaranteed.

So on the draft went.

A Change In Thought?
Around pick 15 or 16, there began to be some excitement in the Kings draft room that a player the organization had projected to go much earlier in the draft might be available in a range where the Kings could consider trading up to get him. I wouldn’t say it was like crazy optimistic but it got at least into the range of okay, maybe there’s a chance here and this was a player multiple tiers ahead of what the Kings had projected.

The thought of trading up was a deviation from strategy but the draft calls for pivots. The Kings targeted something around Pick 20 to look at potentially moving up if that player was available. It turns out he was selected before that point so the talk was moot.

Without disclosing details, the Kings actually did have a trade-up scenario on the table and the cost in moving up actually felt like it was less than the Kings wound up receiving to trade down. The offer involved an additional draft pick going out, a 2026 pick, along with Pick 24, to move up in Round 1. The Kings declined the offer with their guy no longer available.

Back On Course
The focus then switched back to moving down.

As Pick 24 approached, the Kings had conversations with two separate teams about moving back in Round 1 – Pittsburgh and one other club. The conversation with the second team would’ve netted a slightly better package but ultimately that trade was not made as the player the team was trading up to get ultimately was picked before 24. The Kings then settled in with Pittsburgh, acquiring Picks 31 and 59 for Pick 24. The Shuckers Model suggests the Kings got good value for moving down seven spots, with his chart suggesting the Kings received 430 points of value in exchange for 308 points of value going out. Take that for what you will.

One note at the time of the trade – Mark Yannetti was the guy to make the final call on trading down.

Yannetti was handed the keys to this draft by new General Manager Ken Holland, with Holland just joining the club this summer. Yannetti and his staff have been on the scouting front for more than a year and while Holland gave Yannetti his own input on things he values in draft picks, he ultimately did not make final calls here on picks. When it came to trades of players, aka Jordan Spence, that was Holland’s verdict, obviously, but pick-for-pick moves were on Yannetti. When the trade came up, Holland certainly pressed for details but he deferred the final call, telling Yannetti “you’ve been doing this all year, you make the call.”

He pulled the trigger on the trade down and the call was promptly placed to the NHL.

The move only worked, though, if the Kings got a guy from their tier. The models suggested that Brzustewicz and one other player were the guys the Kings wanted and that there was a strong probability at least one would be there at 31. The pick at 24 would have been Brzustewicz but there would have been a choice within the tier. Moving to 31, there was likely way less margin for error. In between picks 24 and 31, the other player the Kings were targeting was drafted. Brzustewicz was still the preferred option but he was also the player the Kings felt was less likely to be there at 31. For four picks, things got……sweaty.

The Kings actually considered to trade back up in the first round to guarantee they got Brzustewicz, after their other target went off the board, but were turned down on their offer. They considered another attempt but ultimately stood pat. When Brzutstewicz was available, it certainly felt like more of a feeling of relief than joy. The plan worked. But it did not work with any sort of comfort, that’s for sure. The player they wanted was there and the Kings gained a late second-round selection to show for their patience. It certainly was not simple. But they got the job done at the end of the day.

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images[/caption]

Day 2 Notes –
– Ken Holland called defenseman Jordan Spence personally from the draft table to inform him of the trade. It felt like a priority to Holland to do his best to make that call directly even though there had certainly been conversations between Holland and Spence’s representation to where it couldn’t have been much of a surprise.

– The sense I got with the Spence trade is that while it was formally executed in the morning on Day 2, it seemed like there was some movement before that sometime during Day 1 or even after the draft. One of those parts of the conversation I did not hear, but it felt like the move in the morning on Day 2 was not a new idea, if you will.

– This isn’t necessarily new information, but the Kings did not feel that Spence and defenseman Brandt Clarke can play together on a playoff blueline at this time. On top of Spence’s trade request, that was some of the reasoning behind moving Spence.

– The Kings had certain targets in the second round that they tried their best to move up to snag but were ultimately unable to. Multiple offers, no takers. These were players in a tier that they were maybe unsure of being there at 59, more of a hope. Ultimately, the Kings selected Vojtech Cihar, who was slotted properly there, but they did have some interest in perhaps snagging a player in a higher tier and that situation did not arise.

– The trade for Pick 67, when the Kings moved that pick to Carolina for a selection next season and a fifth-round pick this year, came about at the very last second. It was an incoming call and the Kings were quick to take the trade. About as under the wire as it could have been. The pick at 67 would have been Kristian Epperson, who was ultimately selected with the team’s next pick at 88.

– The Kings discussed at least two other trades for Pick 67 that did not come to fruition before that.

– The trade off with not picking Epperson at 67 was that the Kings did miss out on one player who they seemed to covet. He was selected between Pick 88 and the two fourth-round picks the Kings had. While I know the team would’ve liked to get that player, the sense of it all is that these things happen just about every year. The two players selected in Round 4 were guys the Kings liked in those slots.

– The Kings had Petteri Rimpinen higher on their list than when they picked him. Despite goaltending being the strongest area of depth in the prospect pool, the Kings felt that he was too good a value to pass up where they got him in Round 5…….at that point in the draft, the value was too good to pass up on.

The experience of being able to listen in was interesting and it’s something that only presented itself due to the decentralized format. While I understand it was not a favorite of the fans, consider me one person who very much enjoyed the experience.

What I learned from listening in was that in terms of drafting, the Kings place a high value on analytics and the data that presents to them. The decentralized draft allowed the team to have access to a private space for increased discussion when it came to their draft picks. It is not difficult to see why the teams prefer this format from a draft-specific standpoint. The trade off was that for say Ken Holland, he couldn’t walk around and have conversations with other teams, agents, ETC on moves that could impact the NHL roster. So there is certainly a trade off there, for sure.

It was also really interesting to listen in, real time, as trades were discussed. Calls came in and calls went out. In real time, an offer was rejected and one side either upped the offer or moved on. There were more calls, both incoming and outgoing, than trades made. That is not surprising. But it was interesting to see the Kings logic in selecting who they called to try and move up or down and how those calls were received. It was also interesting to hear the incoming calls too and how the Kings reacted. you almost think of trade in a vaccum and in that vaccuum, like a video game, you can peruse the market with 31 clubs. In real time, you can probably only contact a few. Was interesting to see that process play out.

All in all it was a cool experience and I hope the above is of interest. This summer and into next season, a big goal of mine is to provide more information that is not available elsewhere. Things like this, with a bit more access and behind the scenes information, is something I am pursuing and hope to deliver more of. Some ideas already out there and hopefully they come together as intended!