Adam Proteau of The Hockey News believes that Los Angeles Kings general manager Rob Blake is under massive pressure to produce playoff success in the upcoming season. The Kings have been ousted in the first round for three consecutive seasons and have yet to win a playoff series since winning the Stanley Cup a decade ago. Blake has been at the helm since April 10th, 2017 and steered the team through a rebuild that has seen the team acquire several good young players but produce mixed results on the ice.
Blake has made some solid moves for Los Angeles, including the acquisitions of Kevin Fiala, Quinton Byfield, and Phillip Danault. However, he has also had some big misses, particularly the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade (and subsequent extension) from last season.
The Kings will likely need to win at least a round in the playoffs for Blake to remain in his role long-term and given the summer he has had that possibility appears remote. The Kings have traded for goaltender Darcy Kuemper, and forward Tanner Jeannot, while signing veteran defenseman Joel Edmundson and forward Warren Foegele. These moves are unlikely to get the Kings over the hump, meaning they’ll be counting on a lot of internal improvement if they hope to take the next step.
Foegele’s signing is fine, he fills a need for the Kings in their middle-six and could potentially play on the top line in the right circumstances, while Edmundson’s signing is confusing. Los Angeles didn’t necessarily need a player with his skillset and Edmundson’s four-year $15.2MM contract could become a problem if his back problems force him to change his game or keep him out of action.
The Kings have shuffled the furniture and will certainly have a different look next season should they run into Edmonton in the playoffs once again. However, between significant roster subtractions (Dubois, Matt Roy, Viktor Arvidsson), and underwhelming additions, it is possible that this could be Blake’s last season in Los Angeles.
Luc and Blake should have been fired for the PL debacle. The only reason they weren’t is that Phil anschutz dosent care about the Kings
Uninformed & tired opinion.
Insightful! The trade was bad, but the extension was made to cover up for the horrible trade and should have got him fired.
Kings and mediocrity go together both in the recent past and in the foreseeable future. Management is part of the problem, but does ownership really want to commit to winning?
Mediocrity? Made the playoffs 3 straight years, always spend against the cap! Blake’s questionable moves are the problem!
One bad move, maybe two if you count Faber. Who supposedly wasn’t going to sign. Besides that he built a really good team. Or should I say was forced to build. If it wasn’t for Kopitar and Doughty demanding the rebuild stop and to get players to contend now. This isn’t Blake’s plan for the rebuild. I’m sure ownership told him to do it. So this is on them and the owners, not Blake. He shouldn’t be fired for following directions. So they couldn’t get pass the team that no one could. Except the Stanley cup champions. Should every team that lost to Edmonton fire everyone?
That’s wrong. The trade was a bad move, the extension was a fireable offense.
Patrick Laine could be acquired relatively cheaply, just need to get Columbus to bite on taking back salary (& Turcotte)
Pass! Don’t need another PLD and besides he has substance abuse issues! Should have signed Skinner for cheap after his buyout!
While I agree that the Edmundson signing was poor, saying they didn’t need a player with his skill set couldn’t be more wrong. That’s the exact type of player they needed, acquiring him was not the problem, the price was. Same with Jeannot, and swapping PLD for Kuemper was a genius move.
The problem is, was , and will be the PLD trade. That move sunk what was a promising point in the rebuild, and handicapped their options this year. Blake has completely botched this stage of the rebuild and honestly should not have been allowed to keep his job after what transpired this season.
Really? You always have to pay more in free agency. So to get what Kopitar and Doughty want. He had to pay a little more.
Skinner was the move I wanted to. For every great thing he has done. It is followed up with a boneheaded move.
But Anschuts allows him to spent to the cap. It’s about how you spend that money.
Rob & Luc will be gone before too long… be careful what you wish for.
#GoKings
Blake for sure If we don’t win 1 round next year!
I’m inclined to agree with this statement. With Luc &/or Blake gone, that just leaves Bergevin & it seems to me that when he came onboard was on or about the time that the organization seemed to lose their focus as to team identity, which IMO is their fundamental issue—the Kings don’t seem to know what kind of a team they want to be. Unlike Danault, for example, expecting PLD to fit into the passive defensive scheme that the Kings play was folly, unless they sought to change their game approach, in which case, it was an interesting move. But then they moved him out again. I have no idea what to expect from this team this season, and for that, I blame Bergevin
Fialas awesome but so is Faber and a 1st. Not like he helped them win a cup so Im not going to write home about it.
Fiala is a giveaway machine. As a fun thought experiment, I was wondering how far he would get under the last coach to steer the Kings to any kind of success. I don’t think Fiala would’ve gotten too far under Sutter LOL
We have a better chance to with Fiala than without. Faber was gone anyways. So that is a mute point.
This is a great point. The team seemed to be just fine building towards something with T-Mac’s defensive system but sunk the whole thing with the PLD trade when what they really needed was a consistent goaltender who could make saves when needed. The team that got ousted by the Oilers this year was absolutely worse than the team that pushed a more talented team to the limit each of the previous two years in almost every way. The point is, a system that seemed to work was taking hold and just needed a bit of tinkering and some internal youth improvement. What Blake did sunk the whole thing, and now he’s caught in the most crucial year of his GM career with a team that is worse than the one they had two seasons ago, and the Kings are a few years away from restarting this rebuild without Kopi or Doughty.
Luc & Blake should have been fired over the way they handled moving # 32 out.