Speculation: Fire Rob Blake Blow it Up Offseason Thread (update: Robitaille, Blake and Hiller stay)

[theMajor]

This is the expression Blake held for a good 10 seconds while Luc was gaslighting with the "we were right there in every game just like Carolina was last year"

View attachment 866126

the expression of huffing your best friends farts

 

[Choralone]

I didn't see this elsewhere and I think I'm one of the few people with an Athletic subscription, but for those of you who say the LA press doesn't hold anyone's feet to the fire, here's the first few paragraphs to Eric Stephens' article "Stephens: By staying with Blake and Dubois, L.A. Kings double down and hope for the best"

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Sitting together at a news conference to ensure that the messaging was consistent, Los Angeles Kings general manager Rob Blake and team president Luc Robitaille pulled off quite a feat on Monday as they addressed a disappointing season and a cloudy future.

Blake and Robitaille managed to both double-down on mistakes and kick the can down the road when it comes to what to do with a Kings group that has failed to get out of the first round of the playoffs for three consecutive years. The news, in the postseason media availability, was that there was no news, unless you count a declaration that there would be no buyout of Pierre-Luc Dubois.

The quick version is this: No buyout of Dubois — their disappointing major acquisition last summer — no decision on who their permanent head coach will be, no change in who the main decision-makers are, and no intention to take the club into a retool or another rebuild.

Got it.

Also, ooh boy.

The more that Blake and Robitaille talked about changes they felt were needed before next season, the more it actually came across that there could be more of the same in 2024-25. We’re talking about a team that just finished 12th in the league standings. Which is basically what they are at this point: good enough to be among the 16 in the Stanley Cup playoffs each season — and first-round fodder for a superior opponent.

(This is where David Byrne’s “same as it ever was” refrain toward the end of Talking Heads’ 1980 hit “Once in a Lifetime” gets stuck in your head.)

 

[DyslexicTom]

Kings are doomed as long as LUC and Blake are running the show.

Unfortunately, since they're set to keep PLD, the Kings will be doomed long after Luc and Blake get run out of town. 8 years of essentially dead cap and an active downward pressure on team morale, all because Blake and co. handed out an albatross of a contract. Yikes.

I predict next year PLD will have a decent year, but that will be the high point for the rest of his tenure.

The Kings will be a black hole team, so they'll either make the playoffs as a 3rd seed or wild card, or just barely miss. They're way too good to be as bad as a Chicago or San Jose.

Buckle up, folks.

 

[DyslexicTom]

I didn't see this elsewhere and I think I'm one of the few people with an Athletic subscription, but for those of you who say the LA press doesn't hold anyone's feet to the fire, here's the first few paragraphs to Eric Stephens' article "Stephens: By staying with Blake and Dubois, L.A. Kings double down and hope for the best"

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Sitting together at a news conference to ensure that the messaging was consistent, Los Angeles Kings general manager Rob Blake and team president Luc Robitaille pulled off quite a feat on Monday as they addressed a disappointing season and a cloudy future.

Blake and Robitaille managed to both double-down on mistakes and kick the can down the road when it comes to what to do with a Kings group that has failed to get out of the first round of the playoffs for three consecutive years. The news, in the postseason media availability, was that there was no news, unless you count a declaration that there would be no buyout of Pierre-Luc Dubois.

The quick version is this: No buyout of Dubois — their disappointing major acquisition last summer — no decision on who their permanent head coach will be, no change in who the main decision-makers are, and no intention to take the club into a retool or another rebuild.

Got it.

Also, ooh boy.

The more that Blake and Robitaille talked about changes they felt were needed before next season, the more it actually came across that there could be more of the same in 2024-25. We’re talking about a team that just finished 12th in the league standings. Which is basically what they are at this point: good enough to be among the 16 in the Stanley Cup playoffs each season — and first-round fodder for a superior opponent.

(This is where David Byrne’s “same as it ever was” refrain toward the end of Talking Heads’ 1980 hit “Once in a Lifetime” gets stuck in your head.)

It's good that a publication is saying things that a good chunk of us here were saying at the beginning of this season.

 

[kingsholygrail]

I didn't see this elsewhere and I think I'm one of the few people with an Athletic subscription, but for those of you who say the LA press doesn't hold anyone's feet to the fire, here's the first few paragraphs to Eric Stephens' article "Stephens: By staying with Blake and Dubois, L.A. Kings double down and hope for the best"

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Sitting together at a news conference to ensure that the messaging was consistent, Los Angeles Kings general manager Rob Blake and team president Luc Robitaille pulled off quite a feat on Monday as they addressed a disappointing season and a cloudy future.

Blake and Robitaille managed to both double-down on mistakes and kick the can down the road when it comes to what to do with a Kings group that has failed to get out of the first round of the playoffs for three consecutive years. The news, in the postseason media availability, was that there was no news, unless you count a declaration that there would be no buyout of Pierre-Luc Dubois.

The quick version is this: No buyout of Dubois — their disappointing major acquisition last summer — no decision on who their permanent head coach will be, no change in who the main decision-makers are, and no intention to take the club into a retool or another rebuild.

Got it.

Also, ooh boy.

The more that Blake and Robitaille talked about changes they felt were needed before next season, the more it actually came across that there could be more of the same in 2024-25. We’re talking about a team that just finished 12th in the league standings. Which is basically what they are at this point: good enough to be among the 16 in the Stanley Cup playoffs each season — and first-round fodder for a superior opponent.

(This is where David Byrne’s “same as it ever was” refrain toward the end of Talking Heads’ 1980 hit “Once in a Lifetime” gets stuck in your head.)

 

[AbsentMojo]

the expression of huffing your best friends farts

Totally. He's like - Ive got to cover for this guys bullshit again? He stuck me w PLD and made me the laughing stock of the league

 

[Statto]

I GUARANTEE you that they have some clowns in analytics telling them that they were "right there".

They lost for the exact same reasons three years in a row.

They probably have a new set of private stats then, that they created to support their plan. It’d explain a lot.

 

[Sol]

Lucs body language and answers bothered me a lot more than anything blake said. Kevin Baxter even prefaced he wasn't trying to be "unfair" but Luc had the audacity to almost laugh at his analysis. Asshole.

 

[CowMix]

Unfortunately, since they're set to keep PLD, the Kings will be doomed long after Luc and Blake get run out of town. 8 years of essentially dead cap and an active downward pressure on team morale, all because Blake and co. handed out an albatross of a contract. Yikes.

I predict next year PLD will have a decent year, but that will be the high point for the rest of his tenure.

The Kings will be a black hole team, so they'll either make the playoffs as a 3rd seed or wild card, or just barely miss. They're way too good to be as bad as a Chicago or San Jose.

Buckle up, folks.

Wether they are set to keep him or not no one is gonna trade for PLD after the year he just had and it doesn't really matter if you buy him out this year or next year so you pretty much have to let it play out another year and hope for the best.

 

[The Butcher]

 

[Chazz Reinhold]

You are missing the point.

It doesn't matter if it's true or not with analytics - not one bit. You can cherry pick thru any number of categories to find the results you want. It's a business of finding numbers to support a predetermined narrative.

How often did we hear "they are tied at even strength" as if that mattered?

I'm not missing the point. In the very same press conference Blake cited goals saved above expected as part of their evaluation. In other words, expected goals numbers (which I know you shudder at) are clearly the type of numbers they're looking at. I can all but promise you they don't have some super secret number saying they actually controlled the quality scoring chances for and against in the series (which is what expected goals percentage represents), or otherwise deserved a better fate.

It was just pure unadulterated bullshit spin from a dimwitted, unqualified hockey operations clown that fit in with the broader theme of the Baghdad Bob press conference.

 

[Rorschach]

I can tell you that the AEG brass thought Dean was a PITA and not a company guy, he didn’t care about AEG corporate politics (aka ass kissing). Just focused entirely on hockey, gave respect to his own hockey ops, ran a tight ship etc. Probably not an easy guy to work with from AEGs perspective.

Where areas you have Luc who is just the opposite and will show up to any AEG brass sponsored cocktail party and kiss their ass.

I wish he was more of a fighter. He'd win in a punch out because he has a ring on each hand.

Jokes aside, yeah. The office was probably on eggshells whenever he was interviewed. Between him and Sutter, they're mouths were like a box of chocolates. @Lt Dan

 

[Chazz Reinhold]

Kings’ Rob Blake, Luc Robitaille point to ‘progress’ despite another early exit

They offer mostly hazy responses after a disappointing season that included a coaching change and another first-round playoff loss to Edmonton. Blake says they will not buy out the contract of high…

www.dailynews.com

The impression in the room Monday among reporters present was all but unanimous, such to the point that one asked Blake point blank if fans were being told that they would see more of the same next season from personnel and tactical standpoints.

Blake also said the he thought the team made “progress” during the regular season, insisting it simply did not carry over to the playoffs.

“We still believe this group has made progress in a lot of different areas, we have to find a way to get that to translate into the playoffs,” he said, later reiterating that the Kings were “making progress, [but] the progress is not showing in the playoffs.”

Yet the Kings performed very poorly against the Western Conference’s top teams and playoff clubs in general, winning just eight of 23 games against the other seven postseason qualifiers during the regular season.

They also changed coaches in February, amid a stretch that saw them go from the NHL’s most productive offense to its seventh-least potent one from Dec. 5 onward.

 

[Rorschach]

You can get away having a moron in a figurehead role when the rest of the organization is tightly run. I never got why Luc was so popular with the fans. He has that goofy smile that goes along with a lack of gray matter and a willingness to talk to the press, but why AEG allowed him to stab DL in the back and assume control of the organization is beyond me. You can't ever fix stupid.

I got to know Dan Beckerman pretty well when I did my study. He told me they liked Luc because he was the only guy willing to talk to the press and hype the team. But, that was a different era and Beckerman was #2. Dan is now CEO of a multimillion dollar sports and entertainment empire. The Kings are only a small piece of that, and he's granted Luc carte blanche to run the show. If he watched the press conference as it's been described, Beckerman must be squirming. f*** the Mayor- he's only reporting what Blake is telling him. I'm not so sure that Bluc are on solid ground. I still think the axe might fall, hoping in any case.

What do I got to sacrifice to Jobu? Rum, cigar, bucket of KFC?

 

[Rorschach]

Trading guys like Moore is what you do in a rebuild. Solid role playing character guys are what win championships. I'm not against a rebuild but completely against Blake managing it. You can get a kings ransom for Kopitar and Blake no matter what their cap hit is. I'm not convinced a rebuild is necessary but with Blake at the helm this team isn't going to improve and it isn't going to manage a rebuild. The fans are screwed.

Blake is worthless...you mean Doughty? I think 7m Kopitar has value as a 2nd line player...Maybe Toronto will take him in a 3 way deal where they trade Marner to some desperate for talent, lots of cap team like Utah. But Doughty, who I feel is an above average 2nd pair defenseman at 11m per year at 37yo until he's 40? Luc-y, you got some retainin' to do.

Seriously though I think the young-ish guys who will command something will be guys like Kempe, Danault, Moore, Gavrikov, etc. I think each of those guys might be worth close to or more than a 1st...probably the exact guys you don't want to trade but I think we're way, way more than a couple pieces away. Assuming we don't re-sign Roy or Arvidsson, we will get like 10.5m back when Kopitar's new salary kicks in. That's enough cap room to get one top player. But right now we are missing all three, 1C, 1D and 1G. That's a rebuild to me.

 

[BigBrown]

Kings’ Rob Blake, Luc Robitaille point to ‘progress’ despite another early exit

They offer mostly hazy responses after a disappointing season that included a coaching change and another first-round playoff loss to Edmonton. Blake says they will not buy out the contract of high…

www.dailynews.com

Well written by Andrew Knoll, glad fingers are being pointed at Luc as well. I particularly enjoyed this piece of poetry:

"Dubois is the latest unwieldy roadblock placed in the Kings’ path by Blake, carrying on the ignominious tradition of Ilya Kovalchuk and Cal Petersen. The former was paid to go away, the latter was paid to be taken away and Dubois, now, it appears, will continue to be paid handsomely to be in the way."

 

[Statto]

dude yeah, he came off actually angry about that

what did he say, "he didn't do anything to help us" or something. no kidding bonehead, he's in the press box. what a putrid spin

Is it putrid? Maybe it’s spot on. I want Rob gone and I want Luc gone but they have zero history treating a player like this. If anything he’s been relatively pro-player (awaiting Quick comments), so it makes me think there is definitely something coming from AK’s side on this.

 

[Statto]

My biggest takeaway having just watched the press conference is that Luc is clueless. The only question he tried to answer was the first one and he started babbling on about what they had written in the wall ‘integrity etc’, which had nothing to do with the question. He couldn’t answer a single hockey Ops question, which makes his role even weirder. Blake looked embarrassed and the press stopped asking him questions. Once they started asking Blake all the questions he was staring into the distance and did not look engaged.

I could almost feel sorry for Blake in having to take direction from Luc, except he hasn’t quit so must be content with it. Blake trotted out the answers you’d expect at this point and at least they will look at the systems (I presume the forecheck part based on defensive structure statements). Sounds like Thomas, Turcotte and Clarke will be pencilled into the lineup at least although Cap constraints pretty much forces them to.

God, Luc’s showing was embarrassingly poor.

 

[Schrute farms]

Clearly these are guys (Luc/Blake) spinning and trying their best to stay in charge without their heads being cut off. Unfortunately, the local media has been MIA and outside media have not true clue. So even though some of us knew the foundation was rotting the past couple years, outside the Kings were being praised as still an up & coming team with a great prospect pool.

I think that's over now. Outside/national media have finally caught on. Local media as well. Going forward, i think you will hear & Bluc will feel a continual mounting pressure, true/detailed analysis and negativity aimed their way.

And a lot of "it's about time" and "I told you so" posted on this forum over the course of the next 12 months....until Luc & Blake are finally jettisoned next year after a failed 2024-2025 season.

 

[chris kontos]

we're on a road to nowhere
come on inside
come on and take that ride to nowhere
- david byrne
from the song road to nowhere

 

[Piston]

My biggest takeaway having just watched the press conference is that Luc is clueless. The only question he tried to answer was the first one and he started babbling on about what they had written in the wall ‘integrity etc’, which had nothing to do with the question. He couldn’t answer a single hockey Ops question, which makes his role even weirder. Blake looked embarrassed and the press stopped asking him questions. Once they started asking Blake all the questions he was staring into the distance and did not look engaged.

I could almost feel sorry for Blake in having to take direction from Luc, except he hasn’t quit so must be content with it. Blake trotted out the answers you’d expect at this point and at least they will look at the systems (I presume the forecheck part based on defensive structure statements). Sounds like Thomas, Turcotte and Clarke will be pencilled into the lineup at least although Cap constraints pretty much forces them to.

God, Luc’s showing was embarrassingly poor.

This is what happens when you put a stupid man in a position he isn't qualified for. Unfortunately, this is symptomatic for the country as a whole and not just of the LA Kings. As fans, we have a right to expect better from an organization we support. Like, I've said, I don't think the final chapter to the 2023-2024 season has been written yet.

 

[Mats26]

We lost 14 out of 17 games to eventually fire the coach. We hired an interm with the only goal was just to make it to the playoffs to save his ass (Blake). We were one shot away from being swept in 4 games.

Folks this is progress....according to Blake.

 

[tny760]

Is it putrid? Maybe it’s spot on. I want Rob gone and I want Luc gone but they have zero history treating a player like this. If anything he’s been relatively pro-player (awaiting Quick comments), so it makes me think there is definitely something coming from AK’s side on this.

i don't buy it

if he's, let's say, telling hiller/blake "i'm not going to play on the 4th line" boom unconditional waivers for termination. cut out the cancer. coulda traded him for a bag of pucks at the deadline. hell in the 2nd half they could've just put him on the normal waiver wire, when his exemption ran out. why would anyone carry that level of malcontent and give him an NHL paycheck to practice and risk poisoning the locker room?

i think it's really, really f***ed up to publicly spin a guy who's not in the lineup as "not helping you". like yeah, no f***in shit he isn't. his play this season has OBVIOUSLY been because he's so deep in his own head he can barely hold his stick. he damn near broke his stick on the boards in a game against the DUCKS because he missed a shot..

 

[BaileyFan]

Clearly these are guys (Luc/Blake) spinning and trying their best to stay in charge without their heads being cut off. Unfortunately, the local media has been MIA and outside media have not true clue. So even though some of us knew the foundation was rotting the past couple years, outside the Kings were being praised as still an up & coming team with a great prospect pool.

I think that's over now. Outside/national media have finally caught on. Local media as well. Going forward, i think you will hear & Bluc will feel a continual mounting pressure, true/detailed analysis and negativity aimed their way.

And a lot of "it's about time" and "I told you so" posted on this forum over the course of the next 12 months....until Luc & Blake are finally jettisoned next year after a failed 2024-2025 season.

I don’t know how we can say with any level of certainty that BLuc will finally be gone next year. Russell Morgan brought it up yesterday: in any other organization they would’ve been fired already. Their pull with ownership will still be there regardless of any on-ice results.

Luc obviously has no problem with the process this year as “anyone in the playoffs has a good chance to win” and “we’re right there”. What will actually change next year? A 4th loss to the Oilers? “We could’ve won every game if we got some bounces”. A playoff miss? “It’s hard to make the playoffs and we’re in that group of 20 or so teams that could’ve done some damage.” A lottery finish? “Our players are disappointed but off-years happen in the NHL. Just look at Colorado.”

These guys have the franchise by the balls. AEG seems like they’d rather deal with the devil they know than the one they don’t.

 

[johnjm22]

"Dubois is the latest unwieldy roadblock placed in the Kings’ path by Blake, carrying on the ignominious tradition of Ilya Kovalchuk and Cal Petersen. The former was paid to go away, the latter was paid to be taken away and Dubois, now, it appears, will continue to be paid handsomely to be in the way."

Who knew Andrew had such nice prose!?