--Given the number of high-ranked defensemen and their lack of quality depth at the position, it's no surprise that the Kings will draft a defenseman with their No. 2 overall pick. It hadn't been said publicly, though, until Luc Robitaille, the team's president of business operations, said on April 30, in regard to the draft, "We're going to get one of the best 18-year-old defensemen in the world." Zach Bogosian and Drew Doughty are considered the top two draft-eligible defensemen, and both are on the Kings' radar. Last year, the Kings used the fourth overall pick on defenseman Thomas Hickey.

--The Kings signed defenseman Alec Martinez to a standard three-year, entry-level contract on April 29, the latest move in an already aggressive off-season that has seen the Kings lock up several prospects. Martinez, a fourth-round pick in 2007, joins forwards Oscar Moller and Bud Holloway, defenseman Davis Drewiskie and goaltender Jeff Zatkoff, all of whom have signed with the Kings since April 1.

QUOTE TO NOTE
"I think a lot of our fans know that our pricing is a lot more affordable than a lot of other organizations, because they go to a lot of games and they come back to us and they tell us that. 'Wow, I can't believe how much tickets are in Dallas. We're lucky in L.A.'" -- Kings chief marketing officer Chris McGowan, explaining the team's season-ticket pricing increases.

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