HOLLYWOOD (June 24, 2007) -- While he was the general manager of the San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi built a reputation for being somewhat of a maverick on draft day by bucking conventional wisdom.

Indeed, Lombardi earned that label by making unexpected selections in the National Hockey League Entry Draft. And on Friday, when the first round of the 2007 National Hockey League Draft was held in Columbus, Ohio, Lombardi came out with his black cowboy hat and boots, with six- guns in hand, firing away.

Of course, that is an exaggeration, but you get the point. Lombardi the maverick was in town, and once again, he fooled everyone by selecting defenseman Thomas Hickey of the Seattle Thunderbirds (Western Hockey League).

Conventional wisdom had the Kings selecting defenseman Karl Alzner of the Calgary Hitmen, also in the WHL. And among those who were fooled were approximately 1,500 season ticket holders gathered at the Kings' draft party at the Highlands night club in Hollywood.

As the Kings' selection of Hickey was announced, there was a hush among the crowd, and many said "who?"

Even the few members of the media covering the Kings draft who were gathered in an upstairs lounge scrambled to grab their draft media guides to look up the information on Hickey, a prospect no one expected the Kings to select, at least, not with the fourth overall pick.

But it is clear that Lombardi is not paying much attention to conventional wisdom. Rather, as he rebuilds the Kings, he is looking to the future, and while Alzner is closer to playing in the NHL, Hickey has greater potential.

"Karl is a very good player," said Lombardi, who spoke to reporters who were huddled around a speakerphone. "He's a very safe pick. I don't think there's any question that he's going to play [in the NHL]. [Hickey] is riskier, but the upside is higher because of the way he skates, and can go east and west. When I talk about that, it's not just his straight-ahead speed, it's his ability to go left and right and make a play."

The Kings scouting staff has spent a ton of time scouting players and watching video and were most impressed with Hickey.

"This type of defenseman is very hard to find," Lombardi explained. "He can get you up the rink in a hurry. He's got the combination of skating ability and he also scores pretty well, and I think that's critical when you're building a team. In today's game, those guys who can make plays to get out of your own end are critical."

"Particularly players like this now who can get up the rink in a hurry, they're really good skaters who see the rink, and then there's the whole idea, as I said a year ago, was that I was concerned about the lack of young defensemen [in our system]," Lombardi added.

"With [Jack] Johnson and Hickey now, these are both kids with top four potential. Being able to skate and get up the rink is becoming more and more important."

But there is more to being an NHL defenseman than skating ability, and Hickey says he can definitely do more than skate.

"To put it in a nutshell, I'm a two-way defenseman who plays with a lot of grit and character," said Hickey. "I'm a guy who wants to win. I'm a strong skater and a good passer, and I see the ice well."

Those abilities were also not lost on Lombardi.

"If his team [Seattle] didn't make it to the second round [of the WHL playoffs], he would've have been one the captains of that junior team in Finland," said Lombardi. "That's the other thing you like about him. He's a focused kid. He's got some of those intangibles. You see that in his game."

"People will run him, he stands right in there and he'll take a hit to make a play, and that's something you guys know I really like, and he dishes it out once in awhile," added Lombardi. "I've seen him drop the gloves. He doesn't play small."

"I'm not saying he's a tough guy, but I'm saying that's the key for smaller defensemen, they still have to be willing to pay the price to make a play. That's the key. You have to make plays and play well in your own end. He hangs in there. He's going to get bigger, he's still young."

The big question that many had was should the Kings have traded down in the draft?

The answer is yes, but only if you have willing trade partners, and when push came to shove, Lombardi had discussions with several teams, but either the price was too high, or the teams making offers were picking too low in the first round.

"We tried to move back, because I thought maybe we could get [Hickey] a little later, but I was getting concerned because more and more, this kid was rising from where he was," Lombardi explained. "If anybody looked at his history from January on, he was averaging a point a game. So I was concerned that he was not going to fall too far, and my instincts were correct, as a team just came up to me that was picking in the 10-13 spot, and they said he was their guy."

"I could only maneuver down, and I could only go down to a certain level because I was nervous he wouldn't be there if I got too low," added Lombardi. "So we just took our player. It would've been nice to take him a little lower, but it's about getting the player you want. I didn't feel it was worth the risk, and from what I'm hearing [from other teams], I'm glad I didn't."

Some other teams had Hickey ranked as high as sixth, and Lombardi said the Boston Bruins intended to select Hickey with the eighth overall pick, if he was still available.

Although he had several offers to move down, Lombardi had few real opportunities.

"My trade ability was limited," he said. "Publications may have had [Hickey] ranked at 25 or 30, but I knew there was too much buzz [among NHL general managers and scouts] about him. These defensemen are hard to find."

"I drew a line under a certain number that I can't go below or I'll lose him," he added. "Then it's not worth it to pick up a lower draft pick. So there wasn't as big market as I would've liked because my instincts were proven correct. That means you can only deal with the teams who were above where I wanted to go, which was a little above ten, but it wasn't there. We weren't going to force a deal and risk not getting the player we wanted, because that's just not worth it."

The Kings did receive a trade offer to move down involving a near-NHL- ready prospect, but it was not enough for Lombardi.

"I had one bona fide proposal," he said. It wasn't a veteran, it was a good prospect who was probably closer to playing [in the NHL] than an 18-year-old, so that was something we considered. He's a good player, but we thought the upside for Hickey was greater."

As for Hickey, even he was surprised to be selected fourth overall.

"It's not something I was waiting for," said Hickey. "I was just getting comfy in my seat. I had to pinch myself and I had my family giving me nudges, so that's when I realized it was for real."

"There was interest from teams from eight on, but even that high, I didn't know if the interest was that serious," added Hickey. "But even then, I don't think anyone expected it."

And as Lombardi mentioned, Hickey's 2006-07 season took off after starting a bit slow, making a big impression on a number of NHL scouts.

"It started off a little slow," Hickey explained. "Most people probably noticed that there was a bigger emphasis on defense at the start of the year for myself. As the season got rolling along, comfort set in and I started playing better and getting more chances offensively."

"I really saw my totals move up as we went along and our team was doing well, so that had a lot to do with it," added Hickey. "Things just started clicking and we started doing better and better."

Hickey will be in Los Angeles to participate in the Kings' annual development camp, which will be held sometime between July 8-15. But after that, and after the Kings' training camp, it will be back to Seattle for Hickey.

"I played in Seattle this year, and I think the goal is to go back there and improve on where things left off, and continue working my way towards an NHL career," said Hickey.

* * *

The selection of Hickey in the first round has been very widely panned by both pundits and fans alike.

Indeed, there was some anger evident among the crowd at the Kings' draft party on Friday, and on message boards all over the Internet, an overwhelming majority of armchair general managers have railed against the selection by Lombardi, most claiming that Hickey was not the best available player when the fourth overall pick came around to the Kings.

Although the fans are probably correct in their claim that Hickey was not the best available player at the time, every team has players ranked differently, and their rankings are often influenced by what their team is lacking throughout their system. Team scouts and general managers are tuned into the roster holes their teams have, and that can color their thinking when evaluating prospects and at the draft table.

On the surface, it would appear that Lombardi and the Kings see what most everyone sees--they have huge holes throughout their system on their blue line, and filling those holes among their defensive corps is a priority. This might explain what can only be classified as a curious first round draft pick by Lombardi, even though he is known for the unexpected on draft day.

In any case, after the top three picks, the rest of the draft, especially this one, is a huge crap shoot. Kings fans should keep in mind that Luc Robitaille was a ninth round selection (171st overall) in 1984, and Rob Blake was a fourth round pick (70th overall) in 1988. Back then, no one in their right mind thought either player had the potential to be the NHL superstars they became.

Although that kind of draft success is rare, it illustrates just how big a crap shoot the vast majority of the NHL draft is each and every year. As such, it certainly follows that Hickey is clearly not the bust that most everyone seems to have him pegged to be, not yet, anyway.

Indeed, in a couple of years, he could easily make all those people eat their words. Only time will tell.

* * *

Here is a round-up of the rest of the Kings' 2007 draft picks:

SECOND ROUND - Oscar Moller (52nd overall; pick obtained from Dallas along with a first round selection in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, a third round selection in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, defenseman Jaroslav Modry and the rights to defenseman Johan Fransson in the February 27, 2007 deal that sent defenseman Mattias Norstrom, right wing Konstantin Pushkarev, a third-round selection in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft and a fourth round selection in the 2007 draft to Dallas)

Center. 5-11, 179 pounds. Right-hand shot. Born: January 22, 1989, Birthplace: Stockholm, Sweden.

Rankings: 20th among North American skaters (CSB), 25th (ISS), 38th (McKeen’s), 19th (THN), 13th (RLR), 29th (TSN)

Moller, from the Chilliwack Bruins of the Western Hockey League (WHL) was the co-winner of the Bruins’ Rookie of the Year award in 2006-07, scoring 32 goals and added 37 assists for 69 points in 68 regular season games, and was the captain for Team Sweden in the 2007 Under-18 World Championships. He was also one of forty draft-eligible prospects selected by play in the 2007 Canadian Hockey League Top Prospects Game, where he was named Player of the Game for his team.

Moller was also the captain of Sweden’s 2007 Under-18 Junior World Cup team, finishing second on the team in scoring.

“I’m really excited about being drafted by the Los Angeles Kings,” said Moller. “I heard it is a good organization and I think they are a good team. I’m really excited about being picked by them.”

“Los Angeles is a big city, it’s multicultural and I’m sure I’m going to enjoy my time there,” added Moller.

SECOND ROUND - Wayne Simmonds (61st overall)

Right Wing. 6-1, 162 pounds. Right-hand shot. Born: August 26, 1988, Birthplace: Pickering, Ontario.

Rankings: 157th (McKeen’s)

Last season, Simmonds scored 23 goals with 26 assists for 49 points with 112 penalty minutes in 66 regular season games with the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).

In four playoff games, Simmonds scored a goal and added an assist for two points with four penalty minutes.

THIRD ROUND - Bryan Cameron (82nd overall)

Center/Right Wing. 5-10, 175 pounds. Right-hand shot. Born: February 25, 1989, Birthplace: Brampton, Ontario.

Rankings: 43rd among North American skaters (CSB), 98th (McKeen’s)

Cameron ranked third on the Belleville Bulls of the OHL last season with 33 goals and 25 assists for 58 points in 60 regular season games.

FOURTH ROUND - Alec Martinez (95th overall)

Defenseman. 6-0, 188 pounds. Left-hand shot. Born: July 26, 1987. Birthplace: Rochester Hills, Michigan.

Rankings: 266th (McKeen’s)

Martinez played in 42 games with the Miami University Redhawks of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, scoring nine goals with 15 assists for 24 points with 40 penalty minutes.

Martinez led all Miami defensemen in scoring. He also scored six power play goals.

Martinez, who will be a senior if he returns to the Redhawks, helped lead his team to 24 victories and helped his team advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season. Martinez played a key role in an upset win over top-seeded New Hampshire in the first round of Northeast Regional, the first NCAA Tournament win in Redhawks history.

FOURTH ROUND - Dwight King (109th overall)

Center/Left Wing. 6-2, 218 pounds. Left-hand shot. Born: July 5, 1989. Birthplace: Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan.

Rankings: 104th among North American skaters (CSB), 100th (ISS)

In his second season with the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the WHL, King scored twelve goals (including five power play goals) and 32 assists for 44 points with 39 penalty minutes in 62 regular season games.

FIFTH ROUND - Linden Rowat (124th overall)

Goaltender. 6-1, 177 pounds. Catches left. Born: June 27, 1989. Birthplace: Cochrane, Alberta.

Rankings: 4th among North American goalies (CSB), 66th (McKeen’s)

Rowat earned a 25-18-7 record, a 2.87 goals-against-average and a . 897 save percentage in 52 regular season games with the Regina Pats (WHL) this past season. Rowat also played in the 2007 CHL Top Prospects Game.

FIFTH ROUND - Joshua Turnbull (137th overall)

Center/Right Wing. 5-10, 172 pounds. Catches left. Born: July 12, 1988. Birthplace: Hayward, Wisconsin.

Rankings: 183rd (McKeen’s)

In sixty regular season games with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the United States Hockey League, Turnbull scored 25 goals with 29 assists for 54 points with 66 penalty minutes and a +18 plus/minus rating.

SIXTH ROUND - The Kings traded their sixth round pick and their fourth round pick in the 2008 draft to the Washington Capitals in exchange for the Caps' fourth round pick, which the Kings used to select Martinez (see above).

SEVENTH ROUND - Josh Kidd (184th overall)

Defenseman. 6-5, 220 pounds. Right-hand shot. Born: November 16, 1988. Birthplace: Sundridge, Ontario.

Rankings: 79th among North American skaters (CSB), 89th (ISS), 130th (McKeen’s)

Kidd scored nine goals and added 18 assists for 27 points with 96 penalty minutes in 64 regular season games with the Erie Otters of the OHL.

SEVENTH ROUND - Matt Fillier (188th overall)

Center/Left Wing. 6-1, 180 pounds. Left-hand shot. Born: October 5, 1988. Birthplace: New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.

Rankings: 49th among North American skaters (CSB), 89th (ISS), 130th (McKeen’s)

In 63 regular season games with the St. Johns Fog Devils of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Fillier scored 18 goals and added 18 assists for 36 points while racking up 118 penalty minutes.

2008 Western Hockey Network

KINGS 2007:

Evaluating the 06-07 LA Kings Part 3 (3 Part Series)

A Look at the Road Ahead

Kings Notes, Mar 28, 2007

Kings Notes, Feb. 14, 2007

From Kings' press releases: