The Kings will likely not make any selections Thursday during the opening day and first round of the NHL entry draft and, oddly enough, that might be a welcome change for their fans.

While some teams might lack first-round picks because of ill-fated trades, including some in the distant past, or even penalties resulting in forfeitures (like the Arizona Coyotes last season), the Kings traded theirs (No. 19 overall) along with a prospect (Brock Faber) for a core player in his prime, winger Kevin Fiala.

More broadly speaking, their lack of a first-round pick is yet another signal that the misery of 2019, 2020 and 2021 appears increasingly distant in the franchise’s rearview mirror.

During that period, the Kings were working frantically to restock a nearly bare cupboard at the lower levels of their organization. They were selling off asset after asset in return for prospects and picks – to wit Jack Campbell, Alec Martinez, Jake Muzzin, Derek Forbort, Tyler Toffoli, Kyle Clifford, Tanner Pearson and Jeff Carter. As they stockpiled futures in the front office they piled up losses on the ice.

Yet last season the Kings appeared to be wading their toe into the win-now waters, only to see all three value acquisitions they made – a long deal for Phillip Danault, a short one for Alex Edler and a reasonable trade cost to acquire Viktor Arvidsson – make a much bigger splash. They made the postseason for the first time in four years and played in their first Game 7 in eight seasons, lowering their draft position and putting their pick in play.

“Ultimate success is always winning and continued winning and we have a lot to work on, a lot to build on,” General Manager Rob Blake said.

That building process began with the Fiala trade, and regardless of whether or not the Kings see fit to trade back into the first round or not, it will continue with the draft. On Day 2, they have their own picks in the second (No. 51 overall), fourth (No. 116), fifth (No. 148) and sixth rounds (No. 180), and that of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the third (No. 86).

Last season, the Kings owned the eighth selection in the draft and had multiple contingency plans in place to move up but stayed pat. They did anything but that in the later rounds, packaging their six picks into trades for three choices that netted them prospects that scouting director Mark Yannetti believed firmly were all future NHL players.

This season, the Kings are similarly prepared for a vast multitude of scenarios, with the flexibility to move up or down or in or out of any given selection or round. Blake said the Kings could repeat their consolidation strategy of last year, stay where they are positionally or trade down to diversify assets.

“It’s up in the air. A lot of it has been run in the backroom but it really takes shape after that first day,” Blake said.

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Positionally, Blake said organizational needs – one could infer left defense, goalie and perhaps wingers – might dictate who the Kings pluck from a particular grouping or tier of players, but that he was “not sure there’s one definite area or anything.”

He expressed confidence in Yannetti’s ability to plan for the unanticipated, to create contingency plans and to approach the draft with a clear philosophy but not one that limited his flexibility. It did sound, however, as if the most likely outcome would be a wait-and-see approach on Day 1 and then regrouping for Day 2, on which NHL teams will make 193 selections across Rounds 2 through 7.

“Going over the different scenarios with Mark in the past few days, a lot will depend on how the first round shapes up,” Blake said. “So you come home after that, and you identify players that may have dropped out of that first round and then, if they’re available, how do you get them? Do you move up?”

All questions will be answered on Thursday and Friday, and fans will see which of hockey’s princes will become tomorrow’s Kings.