The Kings used the 26th overall pick in the NHL draft to select Liam Greentree, the Windsor Spitfires captain who posted 90 points in 64 games last year.
They had traded back from No. 21 earlier Friday before the draft started at the Sphere in Las Vegas, and they still landed their man with Greentree, while adding a second-round and seventh-round selection in the swap with the Montreal Canadiens, which the Kings’ scouting staff considered a triumph.
“My skating is a big thing. That’s something that I’ve already started to work on and that I’m going to continue working on, for sure,” Greentree told reporters.
That was the case for another 90-point scorer in his draft year, 2023 pick Koehn Ziemmer, whose skating and conditioning concerns didn’t deter the Kings from investing a third-round pick in him, and 2021 lottery pick Brandt Clarke, whose unorthodox stance hasn’t held back his development.
The Kings have had some success working through skating issues with players like Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson in the past.
