Kings Article: LA Kings Director of Amateur Scouting Mark Yannetti on the 2023 NHL Draft: “We’ve Got to Get a Little Creative”

[King'sPawn]

She's been around the organization for years.....maybe not in an official capacity, but off and on for the better part of 20 years...she's friends with a majority of the personnel etc.

Do you have a single link to verify any of this? Because she started coaching women's hockey 10 years ago. Not sure how she'd be around the organization "off and on" for 20 years. Played a game in the IHL 15 years ago. No quote from staff or her about how well they know her or previous contributions.

 

[LAKings88]

I don’t hate yank but I just didn’t find much interesting in his run of interviews. My two biggest take aways:

Players were and still are strongly effected by Covid.

Most drafted goalies don’t win cups with those teams.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Do you have a single link to verify any of this? Because she started coaching women's hockey 10 years ago. Not sure how she'd be around the organization "off and on" for 20 years. Played a game in the IHL 15 years ago. No quote from staff or her about how well they know her or previous contributions.

Do I have a single link to verify her friendships....no....can't say I do....

Do you have a single link to verify Glen Murrays friendship with Blake?

 

[kovacro]

I don’t hate yank but I just didn’t find much interesting in his run of interviews. My two biggest take sways:

Players were and still are strongly effected by Covid.

Most drafted goalies don’t win cups with their teams.

I am assuming their original drafted teams?

If that is the case, not so sure he's right about that one. The likes of Quick, Crawford, Osgood, Fleury, Murray, Vasi all come to mind in the last 10-15 years.

 

[LAKings88]

I am assuming their original drafted teams?

If that is the case, not so sure he's right about that one. The likes of Quick, Crawford, Osgood, Fleury, Murray, Vasi all come to mind in the last 10-15 years.

I think it’s probably about half and half going back that far I guess.

Even that list though I think Fluery and Vas are the only first rounders.

Unless a goalie is phenomenal, it just isn’t a great expenditure in the first round.

P.S. I knew they wanted walstead but I didn’t know they wanted him enough to trade the rest of their picks for.(maybe that was Jesse’s interview)

 

[King'sPawn]

Do I have a single link to verify her friendships....no....can't say I do....

Do you have a single link to verify Glen Murrays friendship with Blake?

Sorry, you apparently didn't know Murray had played alongside Blake for several years, thus showing a previous working relationship. But here's a link with a confirmation of their friendship that's not behind a paywall: Rob Blake: 'It was a dream and I can sit up here and say I was lucky enough to live it' - Working the Corners

Several of Blake’s longtime friends — Glen Murray, Tony Granato and Nelson Emerson — showed up for the retirement ceremony and Blake noted that each of them was forced to retire because of injuries.

You also said how she's been around the organization off and on for 20 years. Surely you have an article to verify this?

I don't even know why this is being argued. Are you just incapable of understanding points? Instead of discussing Rheaume's contributions since she was brought in, you have to pseudo-fact check a phrase with nothing other than "trust me bro."

 

[BigKing]

Well, the Reign were actually very good under Wroblewski. He just left though, and still no explanation He was also a hire outside of the org, which I think was great. They needed (and still need) more outside people offering feedback and trying to offer criticisms for them to reevaluate.

Imoo's departure seems to have had a major impact on how goaltending development has gone (for reference, he was part of the goaltending development team from 2015-2019).

Mike Futa's role was changed the moment Blake came in and took over. He went from Co-Director of Amateur Scouting to VP of Hockey Operations and Director of Player Personnel in the tail end of Lombardi's tenure. When Blake came in, he was moved to Assistant General Manager, but he was since no longer part of the scouting process, it seemed. He was then let go in 2020.

So, to me it just seems there were some people who were at least good at their job and left for various reasons.

My frustration here is there seems to be very small incremental changes to how the org is doing things - and on the one hand, it makes sense. You don't want to have an overhaul to have stuff too chaotic. But you also need to bring in the right people and have them come in to make the transition easier. Like, Manon Rheaume was brought in last year. Cool. What did she do? How did she assist with the development of prospects? Did they listen to her? I dunno. I just thought it was awesome an "outsider" of the organization was brought in, but aside from the announcement she joined the team, there's been nothing mentioned about her ideas or contributions.

Were they very good? Didn't they lose out in the little play-in "playoff" tournament thing at the end of the COVID season?

Have to give credit to Blake for going outside of people already here, his playing buddies or his former coach in SJ but even when he did that, it blew up in his face.

Still waiting to see the GM that definitely had to be hired in 2017 before another team was lucky enough to snag him. That's the bullshit that was being shoveled at the time and he hasn't been anything close to a visionary or great catch: he's been painfully average.

 

[King'sPawn]

Were they very good? Didn't they lose out in the little play-in "playoff" tournament thing at the end of the COVID season?

Wroblewski went on a leave of absence Dec 8, 2021 and never returned. There were no playoffs the first year he was hired. They were 12-5 in the season at the time he left.

Regarding the rest of your post, I don't disagree. I just think in the grand scheme of things to complain about Blake, bringing in Wrobo just isn't on the list of bad moves to me.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Sorry, you apparently didn't know Murray had played alongside Blake for several years, thus showing a previous working relationship. But here's a link with a confirmation of their friendship that's not behind a paywall: Rob Blake: 'It was a dream and I can sit up here and say I was lucky enough to live it' - Working the Corners



You also said how she's been around the organization off and on for 20 years. Surely you have an article to verify this?

I don't even know why this is being argued. Are you just incapable of understanding points? Instead of discussing Rheaume's contributions since she was brought in, you have to pseudo-fact check a phrase with nothing other than "trust me bro."

I'm just saying her hiring, is not hiring an outsider, she has plenty of ties to the organization...that were there BEFORE her hiring....

I have no idea of her contributions since she was hired....

 

[BigKing]

Wroblewski went on a leave of absence Dec 8, 2021 and never returned. There were no playoffs the first year he was hired. They were 12-5 in the season at the time he left.

Regarding the rest of your post, I don't disagree. I just think in the grand scheme of things to complain about Blake, bringing in Wrobo just isn't on the list of bad moves to me.

17-19-4 in his first season and I'm pretty sure they lost in the "fake playoffs" tournament they had at the end of the season. Now, it isn't about W/Ls when you hire this guy because it is about the development and that team had Kaliyev, Byfield etc. I watched that first season though which is why I had to ask if they were good since I don't remember them being a winning team in his first season.

I bring it up because he hired a guy that wound up coaching 57 total games, left the team and then reappeared to coach the US Women's team. Grand scheme is it big? Maybe not but it does highlight another move that didn't work out but one that, at the time of the hire, came with a lot of back patting about how he's such a smart guy.

This was the same time when everyone here was losing their shit about how Blake was a genius for building such an amazing prospect pool. I always brought up Lombardi's top ranked pools and how they were buyoed by Hickey, Bernier, Teubert, i.e. 1st round picks lead to high rankings until those players show that they shouldn't have been picked as high. Well, here we are and it is looking like the same thing here except that Clarke needs to be Blake's Doughty or this whole enterprise is screwed.

This does tie in to what started this debate about "finding those guys" in the later rounds. I talked about how DL's top ranked pool had flops at the top of it but then there were guys like Martinez that got no love in those rankings that turned in to legit dudes. Blake has one in Anderson but he is going to need some more late-round prospect magic with the cap issues he's put himself in along with trading Faber and two 1sts the last two seasons.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

They have to find guys in the later rounds because of epic failures like this.

 

[King'sPawn]

I'm just saying her hiring, is not hiring an outsider, she has plenty of ties to the organization...that were there BEFORE her hiring....

And you had nothing to substantiate it. And when asked, you instead asked me to give a link to Murray and Blake's friendship that a quick search would have yielded.

But I'll help you.

Rheaume and Robitaille knew each other through mutual friends and charity work. Her son did attend camps down in LA, but she was looking for a job. But she wanted to work for a team after doing other work outside the organization.

Rheaume’s sons had participated in summer camps in Los Angeles and she knew Kings President Luc Robitaille through charity work and mutual friends. Their conversations took a serious turn when she indicated she wanted to work for a team after spending years organizing successful girls’ hockey programs in Michigan and doing analysis for RDS, a French-language TV network in Canada.

Elliott: Manon Rheaume, the first woman to play in an NHL game, continues to break barriers

Manon Rheaume, who played goalie in an exhibition for the Tampa Bay Lightning 30 years ago, is now a member of the Kings' player development department.

www.latimes.com

The only other work she did with the Kings prior to her hire was a gender equity night.

Rheaume also worked with the Kings organization during the 2021-22 season, as she was a part of a pre-game panel during Gender Equality Night on March 24.

Kings Add Manon Rheaume as Hockey Operations and Prospect Advisor - LA Kings Insider

Happy Draft Day, Insiders! Some non-draft news to kick off the day. The LA Kings have hired Manon Rheaume as a Hockey Operations/Prospect Advisor. Rheaume will work alongside executives within the hockey operations department in multiple areas, with a focus on prospect development. She will...

lakingsinsider.com

So unless you have something more substantial than mutual friends with Robitaille and being on a panel for gender equality night, I don't know why anyone should believe your claim of "plenty of ties" to the organization.

I could argue that Will Ferrell and Snoop Dogg have "plenty of ties" as well if we're talking about involvement with the Kings and management.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

And you had nothing to substantiate it. And when asked, you instead asked me to give a link to Murray and Blake's friendship that a quick search would have yielded.

But I'll help you.

Rheaume and Robitaille knew each other through mutual friends and charity work. Her son did attend camps down in LA, but she was looking for a job. But she wanted to work for a team after doing other work outside the organization.

Elliott: Manon Rheaume, the first woman to play in an NHL game, continues to break barriers

Manon Rheaume, who played goalie in an exhibition for the Tampa Bay Lightning 30 years ago, is now a member of the Kings' player development department.

www.latimes.com

The only other work she did with the Kings prior to her hire was a gender equity night.

Kings Add Manon Rheaume as Hockey Operations and Prospect Advisor - LA Kings Insider

Happy Draft Day, Insiders! Some non-draft news to kick off the day. The LA Kings have hired Manon Rheaume as a Hockey Operations/Prospect Advisor. Rheaume will work alongside executives within the hockey operations department in multiple areas, with a focus on prospect development. She will...

lakingsinsider.com

So unless you have something more substantial than mutual friends with Robitaille and being on a panel for gender equality night, I don't know why anyone should believe your claim of "plenty of ties" to the organization.

I could argue that Will Ferrell and Snoop Dogg have "plenty of ties" as well if we're talking about involvement with the Kings and management.

Believe what you want, I can't stop you there....not sure why her friendship with Murray, Blake, Emerson, etc would be immortalized in print.....but you go on believing she is an "outsider"

 

[Lt Dan]

Believe what you want, I can't stop you

 

[AbsentMojo]

Some really good music there havent heard for awhile.. uplifting

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Dude, you don't think Don't Stop, Believing would have been a better one to lead off with?

Kinda disappointed......

 

[KINGS17]

"We are going to need to get creative."

Translation: We're screwed.

 

[AbsentMojo]

And you had nothing to substantiate it. And when asked, you instead asked me to give a link to Murray and Blake's friendship that a quick search would have yielded.

But I'll help you.

Rheaume and Robitaille knew each other through mutual friends and charity work. Her son did attend camps down in LA, but she was looking for a job. But she wanted to work for a team after doing other work outside the organization.

Elliott: Manon Rheaume, the first woman to play in an NHL game, continues to break barriers

Manon Rheaume, who played goalie in an exhibition for the Tampa Bay Lightning 30 years ago, is now a member of the Kings' player development department.

www.latimes.com

The only other work she did with the Kings prior to her hire was a gender equity night.

Kings Add Manon Rheaume as Hockey Operations and Prospect Advisor - LA Kings Insider

Happy Draft Day, Insiders! Some non-draft news to kick off the day. The LA Kings have hired Manon Rheaume as a Hockey Operations/Prospect Advisor. Rheaume will work alongside executives within the hockey operations department in multiple areas, with a focus on prospect development. She will...

lakingsinsider.com

So unless you have something more substantial than mutual friends with Robitaille and being on a panel for gender equality night, I don't know why anyone should believe your claim of "plenty of ties" to the organization.

I could argue that Will Ferrell and Snoop Dogg have "plenty of ties" as well if we're talking about involvement with the Kings and management.

I think its Luc wanted someone to speak a little francais and tick the diversity checkbox .. with bergovin now he has a little group of quebecois expats to hang with

 

[Lt Dan]

Dude, you don't think Don't Stop, Believing would have been a better one to lead off with?

Kinda disappointed......

f*** Journey

Some really good music there havent heard for awhile.. uplifting

yeah ...unlike Journey!


Bam!

 

[SmytheKing]

I think its Luc wanted someone to speak a little francais and tick the diversity checkbox .. with bergovin now he has a little group of quebecois expats to hang with

I'll never, ever understand why any time a woman gets hired it's only because of diversity. It's wild.

 

[Lt Dan]

I'll never, ever understand why any time a woman gets hired it's only because of diversity. It's wild.

I tell myself that I am actually promoting diversity each time I call an escort

 

[King'sPawn]

I tell myself that I am actually promoting diversity each time I call an escort

But you only hire male escorts.

f*** Journey

And who hurt you?

 

[DryIslandBartender]

I could see AEG hiring Manon Rheaume as GM.

 

[bland]

I could see AEG hiring Manon Rheaume as GM.

Over qualified.

 

[kingsfan28]

Yeah he can suck it that the Kings didn’t draft Stutzle and they f***ing picked a guy who’s a ten year project by the looks of it when the team looks like they’re impatient to develop players BUT they draft a project at 2.

I’m cool with Yanetti, Blake, Luc, Todd, and Marco Sturm going on the cross.

People make more excuses on here for Yanetti than battered wives claiming their man will change.

So your head scout tells you to pick Stutzle and Cozen, and the GM picks Byfield and Turcotte. How is it his fault?