Is Rob Blake the Problem?

[Bandit]

I’ve been thinking an awful lot about the “Kovalchuk Disaster” and I have to wonder... whose fault is it really? Kovalchuk is playing very well for Montreal. Is it because he has something to prove now? If the Kings couldn’t even get the bare minimum out of him - three different coaches - is that on Blake? Why is Kovalchuk thriving? Is it Blake’s fault that he didn’t excel here?

I don’t know for certain but I suspect he’s not playing on the 3rd and 4th lines in Montreal? Nor are they healthy scratching him. Admittedly I haven’t watched him barely at all since they signed him but everyone seems to be happy with him in Montreal so... ?

 

[DryIslandBartender]

So explain to me why the team was missing the playoffs and getting eliminated so easily before the management change. Also explain why if keeping picks and acquiring prospects is so easy, why was previous management incapable of doing such an easy thing?

If by previous management = DL, then yes he was capable and proved so in the 2006 rebuild by trading Demitra for draft assets and prospects. Norstrom was traded for first rounder and then DL flipped that into an additional third round pick by moving down one spot. He was also capable in San Jose. Collecting picks and prospects is easy and many teams have done it.

The problem is that the team won 2 cups and the team was a proven winner and DL kept going with the same formula that helped him win 2 cups. Trading for Penner, Regehr, Carter, etc by trading for Sekera/Lucic etc. The plan wasn’t to restock the pipeline but to strengthen the team during their cup window.

You say he has no vision, despite the fact that they’re slowly getting younger and have stated that the team is transitioning to go in a younger direction. The only canned answers I’m seeing are your criticisms of Blake. It seems like facts don’t seem to register with you.

Getting younger isn’t a vision, just like when current management said in the beginning of their tenure that we just need to add SPEED! As if it was a new concept in the NHL. Getting younger doesn’t address the problems the Kings have.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Yeah but any GM can turn a team that had the worst prospect pool in the league to the best. We should be upset with Blake for doing his job of restocking the future of the team.

 

[lexlavender]

Yeah but any GM can turn a team that had the worst prospect pool in the league to the best. We should be upset with Blake for doing his job of restocking the future of the team.

For real, you're all acting like we didn't just turn over our prospect pool in literally two years. That's insane. Not only have we been getting high picks, but we've been hitting on so so many of them. This isn't just luck

 

[DoktorJeep]

The issue is Luc being the top executive for the Kings. Blake reports to Luc, so it’s impossible to separate them at this point.

My suspicion has been that Robitaille stole the power by over promising success to ownership prior to and upon taking control.

Year 1 was the last gasp for the aging cup core, but the team and many fans chose to bet on the team being closer to a contender than a team on the decline.

I didn’t see the complete fall out coming the year after losing to VGK in the first round, but I know I was down on the teams prospects as a whole. I attended games 1 and 2 in person in Vegas in the playoffs and remember leaving with the feeling that despite the coaching staff saying the team was playing a more offensive system, that it wasn’t there in reality.

What I saw was Kopitar, Brown and Doughty being forced all the prime minutes and no focus on playing younger faster players. It never made sense to me to expect the existing players to suddenly become faster just through coaching changes.

Once reality faced the team and fans, management quickly changed their tune and started to claim that a rebuild was always part of the plan, just not this soon. Sorry, you don’t get a mulligan on those types of decisions.

So at this point, if both Luc and subsequently Blake go, as long as the replacement is vetted, qualified and one of the best available at the time, that’s all one can expect.

My preference is that the team has a GM with the authority to make moves without having to get the approval of the business side.

 

[The Tikkanen]

I don’t know for certain but I suspect he’s not playing on the 3rd and 4th lines in Montreal? Nor are they healthy scratching him. Admittedly I haven’t watched him barely at all since they signed him but everyone seems to be happy with him in Montreal so... ?

He is playing top line minutes that are currently being taken up by Alex Iafallo. In 16 games with Montreal Kovy has scored 6 goals and 6 assists for 12 points. In 57 games for LA Iafallo has 15 goals and 17 assists for 32 points. In 16 games Kovy has scored 4 less goals than both Kempe and Brown have ALL season and Kovy would be 13th in scoring for the Kings-in 16 games played .

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Oh, a Blake thread, huh? Surely the GM we fired three years ago won't be brought up oh wait

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Oh, a Blake thread, huh? Surely the GM we fired three years ago won't be brought up oh wait

And we continue to see the same cast of whiners hand wringing anything Blake does, even if it’s for the benefit of the future of the team.

 

[bland]

For real, you're all acting like we didn't just turn over our prospect pool in literally two years. That's insane. Not only have we been getting high picks, but we've been hitting on so so many of them. This isn't just luck

Not a single one of those players has "hit" yet though. Only a small handful have barely entered the team's professional developmental system, which has largely been filling balloons with lead over the past five years.

It is going to take several years before we know if any of these picks turn out to be quality professional players, so let's be patient with praise or criticism. Literally anybody - anybody here even - could sit back, tank, and use quality draft picks to select good players on paper. Let's see how they are molded.

 

[bland]

And we continue to see the same cast of whiners hand wringing anything Blake does, even if it’s for the benefit of the future of the team.

You must be getting saddle sores from riding this same naive post over and over and over and over and oh-ver again.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

You must be getting saddle sores from riding this same naive post over and over and over and over and oh-ver again.

It’s not as bad as the empty headed drivel being spewed by those who lack any understanding, comprehension and patience when the team is rebuilding. What is it you crybabies want the team to do? I see the same naive post from you types over and over again. You guys sure are a fun bunch.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

Yeah but any GM can turn a team that had the worst prospect pool in the league to the best. We should be upset with Blake for doing his job of restocking the future of the team.

GM of the year is his to lose!

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

GM of the year is his to lose!

What should he be doing? None of you ever seem to answer that. I wonder why...

 

[SettlementRichie10]

The issue is Luc being the top executive for the Kings. Blake reports to Luc, so it’s impossible to separate them at this point.

My suspicion has been that Robitaille stole the power by over promising success to ownership prior to and upon taking control.

Year 1 was the last gasp for the aging cup core, but the team and many fans chose to bet on the team being closer to a contender than a team on the decline.

I didn’t see the complete fall out coming the year after losing to VGK in the first round, but I know I was down on the teams prospects as a whole. I attended games 1 and 2 in person in Vegas in the playoffs and remember leaving with the feeling that despite the coaching staff saying the team was playing a more offensive system, that it wasn’t there in reality.

What I saw was Kopitar, Brown and Doughty being forced all the prime minutes and no focus on playing younger faster players. It never made sense to me to expect the existing players to suddenly become faster just through coaching changes.

Once reality faced the team and fans, management quickly changed their tune and started to claim that a rebuild was always part of the plan, just not this soon. Sorry, you don’t get a mulligan on those types of decisions.

So at this point, if both Luc and subsequently Blake go, as long as the replacement is vetted, qualified and one of the best available at the time, that’s all one can expect.

My preference is that the team has a GM with the authority to make moves without having to get the approval of the business side.

This is what the ardent Blake defenders don't seem to remember. Bluc were promising all kinds of success when they first came on the scene, even though it was obvious as far back as 2016 that this core was spent.

Blake should have just been honest from the get go and said, "hey, we need a deep rebuild, it's not going to happen overnight, we have a lot of toxic contracts, but we're going to build the right way just like my predecessor did and return to contention."

If he would have been forthright like that from the get go, I don't think anyone would have any problems with Blake or Luc. Instead we got the corporate sell job about the core still contending and blah blah blah. So they either lied (which is bad) or they really believed that (which is worse).

A sterling prospect pool is just that: a prospect pool. No one from this pool is making an impact at the NHL level yet, and until they do, I'm not planning any parades.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

What should he be doing? None of you ever seem to answer that. I wonder why...

Blake should be out there explaining what his plan is and explaining how he’s going to fix this tire fire of a team. “Just getting younger” isn’t a sufficient answer. There’s more to hockey than just a players age.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

And we continue to see the same cast of whiners hand wringing anything Blake does, even if it’s for the benefit of the future of the team.

At least we're whining about the state of the franchise in 2020 and not what Dean Lombardi should or shouldn't have done half a decade ago.

And for the record, I'm not advocating for Blake to do much of anything right now. The team is what it is, and he's got his hands full with a lot of toxic, immovable contracts largely inherited from Lombardi's regime. So there's really not a lot Blake can do, even if he wanted to.

The issue I have is people already anointing him as some wunderkind when not a single pick has yet to make a significant impact at the NHL level, the current roster is still more or less the same roster Lombardi trotted out years ago, and we're headed for a second consecutive bottom-two finish.

I understand these things take time, and that's exactly why we should withhold our praise. The only thing I criticize Blake for is lying to the fanbase back in 2017 about how we were still going to contend for a championship (lol).

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

For real, you're all acting like we didn't just turn over our prospect pool in literally two years. That's insane. Not only have we been getting high picks, but we've been hitting on so so many of them. This isn't just luck

Sorry, too soon to say we have been hitting on so many of them, completely way too soon.

 

[KopitarGOAT420]

The answer to this question is so clearly: No he's not the problem right now.

Most of this team is still left over from Lombardi (Lombardi draft picks and vets), plus some un-drafted free agents. It's not Blake's 'fault' this team is bad.

It's a rebuild, and Blake is clearly rebuilding through the draft as he should be. Yes, he's made mistakes (notably the Kovy signing), but he's also done a lot of good things. He's built an incredible prospect pool (that will only get much better with a top 5 2020 pick and likely a top 10 2021 pick coming) and he's made some decent trades (Muzzin trade and Campbell/Clifford trade being his two best in my opinion).

He's also in the process of making more moves that will bring back more future assets and provide more roster turnover (much needed on both fronts).

For the most part, he's doing just about everything he should be doing as a GM rebuilding a team. So I'm a little confused why so many people on here already want to get rid of him?

That said, as other people have pointed out, he also might not be the solution and might not be the right person to build a contender. But we won't really know that for another year or two at least, so we just have to be patient and have some faith.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

This is what the ardent Blake defenders don't seem to remember. Bluc were promising all kinds of success when they first came on the scene, even though it was obvious as far back as 2016 that this core was spent.

Blake should have just been honest from the get go and said, "hey, we need a deep rebuild, it's not going to happen overnight, we have a lot of toxic contracts, but we're going to build the right way just like my predecessor did and return to contention."

If he would have been forthright like that from the get go, I don't think anyone would have any problems with Blake or Luc. Instead we got the corporate sell job about the core still contending and blah blah blah. So they either lied (which is bad) or they really believed that (which is worse).

A sterling prospect pool is just that: a prospect pool. No one from this pool is making an impact at the NHL level yet, and until they do, I'm not planning any parades.

Just want to point how ridiculous and hyperbolic the bolded statement is.

2013-2014 - Kings win the cup
2014 - 2015 - 2 pts from playoffs, would have been same spot they won the cup from, Kopitar 64 points, Carter 24 goals
2015-2016 (apparently the year the core was spent) - 2nd in Pacific, 102 pts, Kopitar, 72 points, Carter 24 goals
2016 - 2017 (year after the core was obviously spent) - 6 points out of playoffs, Kopitar, 52 points, Carter 32 goals

Please expand on how obvious it was as far back as 2016 that this core was spent.....

 

[lumbergh]

I understand these things take time, and that's exactly why we should withhold our praise. The only thing I criticize Blake for is lying to the fanbase back in 2017 about how we were still going to contend for a championship (lol).

I actually don't think Blake was lying to the fanbase. I think he actually believed the Kings could compete for the Cup at that time. Obviously he was wrong about that, and paid for it with Kovalchuk and two coaches.

He gets no points for being a sucker in my book, but let's not paint him as a liar without any evidence.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Just want to point how ridiculous and hyperbolic the bolded statement is.

2013-2014 - Kings win the cup
2014 - 2015 - 2 pts from playoffs, would have been same spot they won the cup from, Kopitar 64 points, Carter 24 goals
2015-2016 (apparently the year the core was spent) - 2nd in Pacific, 102 pts, Kopitar, 72 points, Carter 24 goals
2016 - 2017 (year after the core was obviously spent) - 6 points out of playoffs, Kopitar, 52 points, Carter 32 goals

Please expand on how obvious it was as far back as 2016 that this core was spent.....

I mean, both K17 and I were on record all the way back in the summer of 2016 that this team needed a rebuild. Lucic was a one and done. We had lost a ton of depth, and we didn't have the prospects available to replace it. And the vaunted 15/16 campaign was propped up by an insane, unsustainable 3v3 overtime record. A lot of smoke and mirrors to that season. And of course, we know how that season ended: an embarrassing, decisive 4-1 loss to the Sharks.

It's not hyperbole if we were RIGHT. This team has won zero playoff games since 2016.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

I actually don't think Blake was lying to the fanbase. I think he actually believed the Kings could compete for the Cup at that time. Obviously he was wrong about that, and paid for it with Kovalchuk and two coaches.

He gets no points for being a sucker in my book, but let's not paint him as a liar without any evidence.

That's even scarier in my book, though. If Blake really believed that 2017 roster could still contend for a championship, I don't trust him to correctly analyze professional hockey.

Ultimately, I would rather Blake lie to the fanbase due to internal pressure from new management than actually believe that 2017 shell of a team was contending for anything ever again.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

I mean, both K17 and I were on record all the way back in the summer of 2016 that this team needed a rebuild. Lucic was a one and done. We had lost a ton of depth, and we didn't have the prospects available to replace it. And the vaunted 15/16 campaign was propped up by an insane, unsustainable 3v3 overtime record. A lot of smoke and mirrors to that season. And of course, we know how that season ended: an embarrassing, decisive 4-1 loss to the Sharks.

It's not hyperbole if we were RIGHT. This team has won zero playoff games since 2016.

It's absolutely hyperbole, you say it's obvious, yet you use smoke and mirrors to describe that season, HOW is that obvious? You say the core was spent, but you talk about 3 on 3 records.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and you had 50/50 chance of being right or wrong, anything other than that, cmon man, seriously?

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

That's even scarier in my book, though. If Blake really believed that 2017 roster could still contend for a championship, I don't trust him to correctly analyze professional hockey.

Ultimately, I would rather Blake lie to the fanbase due to internal pressure from new management than actually believe that 2017 shell of a team was contending for anything ever again.

Sorry, I don't know if I trust Blake or not, but I sure as hell trust him over ANYONE on these boards, I will tell you that....it's amazing some of the mind bending gyymnastics fans take on to fit a narrative, any narrative, either way.

 

[KopitarGOAT420]

I mean, both K17 and I were on record all the way back in the summer of 2016 that this team needed a rebuild. Lucic was a one and done. We had lost a ton of depth, and we didn't have the prospects available to replace it. And the vaunted 15/16 campaign was propped up by an insane, unsustainable 3v3 overtime record. A lot of smoke and mirrors to that season. And of course, we know how that season ended: an embarrassing, decisive 4-1 loss to the Sharks.

It's not hyperbole if we were RIGHT. This team has won zero playoff games since 2016.

Okay cool, congrats??

I'm sorry man but I'm so sick of these "they should've started the rebuild in 2016" people. Do you realize how absolutely absurd that would have been at the time?? Fans would have gone absolutely bat **** crazy if they had blown up the team in 2016 and started rebuilding. A team that had just brought 2 stanley cups to Los Angeles. Some of you are still upset about losing Clifford... Imagine if they had traded players like him, Toffoli, etc in 2016!!!! It would've been a total **** storm. For all you know management could've known they needed to rebuild just like you back in 2016 but was told not to do so by ownership.

I mean, in 2015/2016 people were still debating whether the Kings and Hawks were each dynasties. DYNASTIES!!! Not just cup contenders... DYNASTIES, MAN.

Ownership had an on-ice product that had been extremely successful and was selling really well. From a business perspective, it would have been incredibly dumb to start a rebuild back in 2016 even if that's what would've been best from a hockey perspective. And at the end of the day it's a business. Ownership was probably just trying to milk the team's success for as long as possible.

Basically what I'm saying is good for you but even if they had seen all the signs like you apparently did, a rebuild in 2016 probably wasn't even remotely a possibility (and it's not what happened) so get over it.