Kevin King Prospect Report

[IamMOOSE 361]

CAREER IN SUMMARY

 

After 102 regular season appearances and 15 playoff games, Kevin King’s VHLM career has come to a close and he is now on his way to Vancouver to play for the Wolves in s74. King came into the league at the midway point of s72 and signed with the Las Vegas Aces, helping them make a push into the playoffs for the latter half of the season. Though, he only mustered 8 points, including 2 goals, he was ranked 11^th among Centers who had taken at least 500 draws at 55.11%. King struggled in his first professional playoff for the VHLM, underperforming on both faceoffs and on the scoresheet as Vegas fell in 6 games to Mexico City. King’s frustrations would boil over postgame and did some damage to his reputation in the league with his displays of frustration for his play in that series.

 

King would rebound in the offseason. Still a max earner, and still driven to compete, the question became where King would go, not only in the VHL draft but the VHLM Dispersal Draft. On July 7, 2020 after s72 had ended, King was released by Vegas and was prepped to go in the Top 10 of the VHLM draft. He would be drafted 19^th Overall by the Vancouver Wolves in the VHL draft and of course 4^th Overall to the Miami Marauders in the VHLM Dispersal Draft. It was during this offseason that King put in the extra work, setting himself up to be one of the 250 TPA players to start the next season and would do so in the second week of the season, earning back-to-back 20+ TPE weeks.

 

Unfortunately for King, following his first 10 games of success where he was just under a point per game and was averaging 5.5 shots, King went on a steep, never-ending drought that stalled his momentum and dropped his stock a lot. He would go from 8 points in his first 10 to a mere 21 points in 54 games during a stretch where he struggled to get draws, ice-time, and at one point had been rumored to be on the trade block. King would get a chance at turning his season around as he was selected for the WJC for Team USA where he would take part in the dot as a leader for the team in draws. His regular season struggles followed him to World Juniors however and hampered his first few games of the tournament. While King only 2 goals during the group stage, he would elevate his play in the last games before being an instrumental part of Team USA’s Gold winning defense on the forecheck as he locked down the faceoff circle, and added a goal, which helped Team USA take the top spot in the finals. King would parley that success from the tournament back into his regular season play when he returned to Miami, putting up 9 points in the final 8 games of the season. King was on fire at the right time, and it showed as Miami entered the playoff for the second straight season in the their 2-years of existence and was an instant difference maker, scoring the game-winner for Miami in game 1 against Philadelphia. While Philly’s netminder played Miami tough, King walked away from the 4-game sweep with as many points, including 3 goals in the series. It was a success that followed him to the next series against his San Diego Marlins (King’s AGM team), where in 6 games King lit up the scoreboard as an arguable MVP with another 6 points, including another game-winner and becoming a playmaker for the first time in his career. King and Miami would go on to fall to the Minnesota Storm in 6 games. It was a disappointing end to what was a great showing in the postseason for King, easily his best STHS work in his short career in the league. King was obviously disheartened by the finale to his VHLM career but has many things to be proud of going forward.

 

It would be a glaring omission to not include King’s sudden move to becoming the Assistant General Manager of the San Diego Marlins. While many are divided on the use of AGMs in the league, King took over for Viper in the second half of the season and was driven to make the most of the opportunity and got straight to work on the responsibilities there. It wasn’t surprising to see him make the move to management so quickly, as King had even made comments previously about becoming a front office member.

 

King officially said goodbye to the VHLM after his Miami departure and had this to say about the VHLM and those he worked with:

 

            “I was supremely humbled to be apart of two great organizations. I know for me I’ll always have guys like @Spartan and @Kricer to kinda look to when I need some advice. They were so helpful to me during my career in the M and I’m so excited to see what they do from here on out. I have responsibilities to San Diego and I’d like to think that by the way I conducted myself in those respective lockerooms and how those two guys are as people, I think they’ll one day be great trade partners and with @IR I have a great group of mentors for my future in this league as a GM one day.

 

            A couple players that made my VHLM life better, @Fishy easily #1, we really went through this stuff together, she’s a great friend and I was happy that I got to be a teammate with her for the entirety of my M run. @Thornton was another guy that would just ooze that charisma and that drive to get better. Those two along with @Laine, that’s the best crew anyone could ever ask for.”

 

 

CONS

 

Does He Fit? – The problem King will inevitably run into early in the VHL is ice-time. He’s projected to likely be the 3^rd line center in s74 and with Vancouver’s future star in Andrew Su pegged as the top guy for Vancouver with Louth potentially remaining with Vancouver through s76, King’s prospects near the top 6 looks somewhat bleak. It’s a reality of where he’s placed. King’s future is uncertain as a Wolf.

 

The STHS – King’s career has already been stifled by poor performance in the STHS. When you have long time veterans of the league puzzled by why your build isn’t producing and should be fine, there’s something to be said about just bad luck. It will be very interesting to see how King does in the VHL. Mixed with his ice-time, it could be a frustrating rookie year for the Michigan native.

 

Attitude – A red flag at first, this sounds initially worse than it really is. King is vocal, and often frustrated by his own play and therefore can be very vocal about his struggles and things he’d like to see to improve not only his performance but the team’s. It’s not an issue for some GMs and it’s never been an issue thus far, but his personality could mesh poorly with a GM or two and that would be disastrous for King in the VHL. We don’t foresee this as a concern but it should be mentioned.

 

 

PROS

 

Content Capper – King’s earning is matched by very few in the league, especially within his draft class. He’s always on top of his weekly earning, he goes the extra mile for TPE, and he’s likely going to be a future VSN writer, GM, or both, it’s only a matter of time. King’s ambitions for himself and the league as a whole should get a lot of people talking, and if his push for a money rework ever comes to fruition, who knows.

 

Faceoffs – Something regarding an actual player skill now and it’s Faceoffs. As a likely bottom 6 forward, King’s Faceoff rating is already well above even some first line VHL Centers and that means King can focus on other skills (which we’ll get to). He rocked a massive 63.53% in his final VHLM season with Miami which was 1^st among Centermen and he’s likely going to continue that trend in the VHL with added points to Strength.

 

Rookie Season Skill Boost – King capped very early into the VHLM season and is current right on pace with some of the best from his draft class. The added bonus for King here is that he’s put his Faceoff skills up early, leaving that big boost in points for all the major skills like Scoring, Puck Handling, Defense. King could roll into the VHL almost a totally different player and that’s a scary thought for a player that is so focused on being a top player.

 

Tale of the Tape

 

Kevin King rolls into the VHL at 27 years of age. He’s 6’1 and has maintained a weight of 185-190lbs. He’s an ambidextrous player and has already used that in the VHLM to his advantage. An argument could be made that he needs more weight but he is otherwise within the comfortable zone of an average sized player. King’s ankle appears to have no residual effects from his pre-VHL/M injuries and he is expected to have a lengthy career.