Tony Gasparini, the Kings’ Amateur Scout – United States, is a Grand Forks, N.D. native whose father previously coached men’s hockey and served as an athletic director at the University of North Dakota. Though he spends countless hours driving through the Midwest – he was en route from Omaha to Kearney, Neb., when we spoke – he also is often able to catch North Dakota games in person and on television over the course of the season. It was in his scouting that he caught Derek Forbort with the United States National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich. multiple times during his draft year, and subsequently at UND once he was selected by Los Angeles 15th overall in 2010. Gasparini was also able to get a head start on watching Forbort when the defenseman was a student at Duluth-East high school in Minnesota prior to joining the development program.

In our conversation, Gasparini noted that Forbort is a “different young man” and “a more mature young man,” and expressed pride in how far he has come since his name was called at Staples Center in June, 2010.

“He’s really taken ownership of his game, and that’s a big part in his development,” Gasparini said of Forbort, who is expected to make his NHL debut tonight when the Minnesota Wild visit Staples Center.

LA Kings Insider: Over the past six or seven seasons, where have you seen the biggest strides in Derek’s growth?

Tony Gasparini: I think the biggest area of growth in Derek’s game is just his maturity, both physically and mentally. When we drafted Derek as a 17-turning-18-year-old young man, physically he was still immature, despite the fact that he was six-foot-five and a 185, 190 pounds at that time. Over the course of the time we drafted him to that time now, not only has he matured physically and gotten stronger and added weight, he’s matured as a young man, and to go along with that, his game has. Sometimes when you’re evaluating and drafting 18-year-old young men, sometimes it happens very quickly in terms of their maturity as a young man, other times it just takes a little bit more time. One thing that’s been pretty consistent throughout is there is a will in him towards wanting to become an NHL player, and he’s been willing to do that work, and over the last three, four years, he really took stock in doing everything he could both on and off the ice towards reaching his goal.

LAKI: How would you define his last two years of development since he signed with the Kings?

TG: I think they’ve been outstanding, and I think a lot of the credit has to go to not only our development staff with Mike O’Connell, but also our new staff in Manchester last year and now in Ontario. They really have done a nice job communicating and helping Derek define his game, and Derek is really taken to them – Coach Stothers and Chris Hajt – and I think in combination with our development staff and our staff down in the American League, they’ve just done a great job with Derek, and Derek has really opened up with them and as a result you’re seeing some growth in his game.

LAKI: Between last year’s Calder Cup run and his ability to make the team out of training camp this season, are you now seeing windows into the type of player you had envisioned when scouting Derek?

TG: I think so. When we drafted Derek, he only had one year with the development program, and he chose to stay at home during his Grade-11 year, and he decided to join the team, which is usually a two-year commitment. He decided to join the team his Grade-12 year. And as a result, when we drafted Derek, there were a lot of things within his game that needed to mature. When we drafted him, we saw a very impressive grouping of physical tools, and what you’re starting to see now and most importantly the last couple years is that his game is defined. It’s starting to be defined, and he’s an outstanding defender at utilizing both his size and his length. I think his level of competitiveness and willingness to engage physically has improved immensely over the last few years, and that’s probably in conjunction with him maturing physically, as well, so I think we’re starting to see what we hoped to project when he was a physically underdeveloped 18-year-old man.