The shift to BLuc

[chris kontos]

What happened to asst gm mike futa? I always thought he was a sought after exec...

 

[Moses Doughty]

What happened to asst gm mike futa? I always thought he was a sought after exec...

Had that partial year as a Hurricanes advisor but it is odd he hasn't found anything since, unless he doesn't want to do management any more

 

[FrozenKing18]

California storm cancelled my commute to work yesterday so I had a boring day working remote. I finally read through this whole thread as this is my first season back watching/following the Kings full time and i’ve been wanting to post this for a good while. Post 2014 Cup season, my free time just died. I wanted to catch up on what I missed. Very interesting stuff. Hope y’all dont mind that I have some follow up questions, I know the thread focused on management but i’m super curious about the roster and season results.

So I have a lot to unpack here, and I apologize in advance.

- 14/15 Season. Kings missed the playoffs. The hell happened? Exhaustion? Loss of Mitchell and Scuderi hurt the team? Did we have any significant injuries that derailed the season?

-15-16 Season. How did everyone feel about Justin Williams not resigning with the Kings? I read that they couldn't afford him, but I feel that a guy like JW would've been a priority signing as he is integral to the locker room and a guy you want to keep around the younger guys coming up.

Lucic trade. I read a lot about this one and the majority seemed to dislike this trade. Was it a bad trade then or was it bad because Lucic didn’t end up resigning? And what was the reason for that? Asked for too much or Lucic himself didnt want to come back? Also, this trade is always marked as “DL trying to save his job” why was Lombardi given such a short leash after bringing in 2 Stanley Cups and one rough season?

Lecavalier & Schenn trade. This one baffled me at the time of the trade as I saw it during the rare times of me watching the NHL network. At the time, I thought it was a weird trade. Getting Schenn made some sense, but Lecavalier? What were people’s thoughts on this? How much help was he after he was acquired?

- 16/17 season. Brown stripped of captaincy. Was there a clear cut reason why this happened? Only stuff that I read was that Sutter did not like Brown or vice versa. I know theres a few here that disliked Brown so I had assumed some were happy it happened. What were everyone else’s reaction to this?

Quick's injury. Ben Bishop trade. This one was strange to me. Why was Bishop acquired so late in the season? Was Quick expected to be back earlier and they just rode it out with the Budaj-Zatkoff tandem?

- 17/18 Out goes DL and DS. In comes Blake. Seemed that the guys had some resurgence this season only to fall to Vegas in the 1st round. Kopi had a selke season, Doughty had a norris level season, Brown scored near-30Gs. What happened this season? Were we fighting for a playoff spot and just fizzled out?

- 18/19 to 22/23 These years looked like a shit sandwich. I read a lot about Willie D hiring, losing to Edmonton in the 2 playoff meetings. When did the rebuild actually start? and what was Kopitar and Doughty's involvement on this as I read from these boards regarding those two. And what ultimately led to Jonathan Quick being traded?

Again, sorry guys, lot to unpack. Long break, so I thought i'd start a discussion.. a painful discussion.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

All I know is we should build a statue of Dean Lombardi outside Crypto.

 

[BigKing]

California storm cancelled my commute to work yesterday so I had a boring day working remote. I finally read through this whole thread as this is my first season back watching/following the Kings full time and i’ve been wanting to post this for a good while. Post 2014 Cup season, my free time just died. I wanted to catch up on what I missed. Very interesting stuff. Hope y’all dont mind that I have some follow up questions, I know the thread focused on management but i’m super curious about the roster and season results.

So I have a lot to unpack here, and I apologize in advance.

- 14/15 Season. Kings missed the playoffs. The hell happened? Exhaustion? Loss of Mitchell and Scuderi hurt the team? Did we have any significant injuries that derailed the season?

-15-16 Season. How did everyone feel about Justin Williams not resigning with the Kings? I read that they couldn't afford him, but I feel that a guy like JW would've been a priority signing as he is integral to the locker room and a guy you want to keep around the younger guys coming up.

Lucic trade. I read a lot about this one and the majority seemed to dislike this trade. Was it a bad trade then or was it bad because Lucic didn’t end up resigning? And what was the reason for that? Asked for too much or Lucic himself didnt want to come back? Also, this trade is always marked as “DL trying to save his job” why was Lombardi given such a short leash after bringing in 2 Stanley Cups and one rough season?

Lecavalier & Schenn trade. This one baffled me at the time of the trade as I saw it during the rare times of me watching the NHL network. At the time, I thought it was a weird trade. Getting Schenn made some sense, but Lecavalier? What were people’s thoughts on this? How much help was he after he was acquired?

- 16/17 season. Brown stripped of captaincy. Was there a clear cut reason why this happened? Only stuff that I read was that Sutter did not like Brown or vice versa. I know theres a few here that disliked Brown so I had assumed some were happy it happened. What were everyone else’s reaction to this?

Quick's injury. Ben Bishop trade. This one was strange to me. Why was Bishop acquired so late in the season? Was Quick expected to be back earlier and they just rode it out with the Budaj-Zatkoff tandem?

- 17/18 Out goes DL and DS. In comes Blake. Seemed that the guys had some resurgence this season only to fall to Vegas in the 1st round. Kopi had a selke season, Doughty had a norris level season, Brown scored near-30Gs. What happened this season? Were we fighting for a playoff spot and just fizzled out?

- 18/19 to 22/23 These years looked like a shit sandwich. I read a lot about Willie D hiring, losing to Edmonton in the 2 playoff meetings. When did the rebuild actually start? and what was Kopitar and Doughty's involvement on this as I read from these boards regarding those two. And what ultimately led to Jonathan Quick being traded?

Again, sorry guys, lot to unpack. Long break, so I thought i'd start a discussion.. a painful discussion.

2015 - Voynov. Pearson broken leg. Voynov. No Mitchell. Richards continued descent. An OT record that would make the current Kings blush. Still only missed the playoffs by one point...at the time anyways, the most points ever by a team to not make the playoffs.

Williams - Rumored to want to go back East. Cap space tight. Did they miss him? Bigly.

Lucic - DL had traded 1st round picks for Penner, Richards and Sekera with the latter occuring at the 2015 trade deadline. People hated it because they knew there wouldn't be cap to sign Lucic and they tossed away another first and a defensive prospect that had upside. Jones being flipped to San Jose for a 1st rounder added salt to the wound. It was an "all-in" move that only had a real chance of working if Voynov came back. I fully believe DL thought he would get him back but he's Russian and not a good old Canadian boy so they deported him.

Lecavalier/Schenn - Kings needed scoring help and Vinny was basically free. Kings needed blueline help so there is Schenn, a guy who seems to be better the last few years than he ever was before. Vinny was fun. This team was fun until they limped into the playoffs and got steamrolled.

Brown - Seemed Sutter driven but they also just gave Kopitar all the money and it seemed like a "new era" for the remaining Cup Core. Also potentially a way to motivate Brown. Not sure if Sutter is a big "your best player should be Captain" but that guy loved him some Kopitar.

Bishop - This one is still strange. Org or some people in it really soured on Cernak. Kings were in the hunt with Budaj in net all season. Seemed like a hedge against a Quick reinjury since, again, DL was going for it but not going for it enough to trade away another 1st round pick.

2018 - Dead cat bounce because the softies were happy to go to work again because Sutter is a meanie. Still didn't win shit with a Hart nomination and Selke for #11 and a Norris for #8 along with a Jennings for Quick and the backup goalies that pretty much didn't lose a game.

From then to present - Blake does Kovy. Oops. "We knew we were going to have to rebuild all along but January of 2019 is a year early" when he signs Kovy to a three year deal six months prior. Blake's trash.

 

[tny760]

learn something new every day.. "dead cat bounce"

what was it you said a couple weeks back, "dry powder"?

you guys have some really funny industry terms that are also really accurate and understandable

 

[LAKings88]

California storm cancelled my commute to work yesterday so I had a boring day working remote. I finally read through this whole thread as this is my first season back watching/following the Kings full time and i’ve been wanting to post this for a good while. Post 2014 Cup season, my free time just died. I wanted to catch up on what I missed. Very interesting stuff. Hope y’all dont mind that I have some follow up questions, I know the thread focused on management but i’m super curious about the roster and season results.

So I have a lot to unpack here, and I apologize in advance.

- 14/15 Season. Kings missed the playoffs. The hell happened? Exhaustion? Loss of Mitchell and Scuderi hurt the team? Did we have any significant injuries that derailed the season?

-15-16 Season. How did everyone feel about Justin Williams not resigning with the Kings? I read that they couldn't afford him, but I feel that a guy like JW would've been a priority signing as he is integral to the locker room and a guy you want to keep around the younger guys coming up.

Lucic trade. I read a lot about this one and the majority seemed to dislike this trade. Was it a bad trade then or was it bad because Lucic didn’t end up resigning? And what was the reason for that? Asked for too much or Lucic himself didnt want to come back? Also, this trade is always marked as “DL trying to save his job” why was Lombardi given such a short leash after bringing in 2 Stanley Cups and one rough season?

Lecavalier & Schenn trade. This one baffled me at the time of the trade as I saw it during the rare times of me watching the NHL network. At the time, I thought it was a weird trade. Getting Schenn made some sense, but Lecavalier? What were people’s thoughts on this? How much help was he after he was acquired?

- 16/17 season. Brown stripped of captaincy. Was there a clear cut reason why this happened? Only stuff that I read was that Sutter did not like Brown or vice versa. I know theres a few here that disliked Brown so I had assumed some were happy it happened. What were everyone else’s reaction to this?

Quick's injury. Ben Bishop trade. This one was strange to me. Why was Bishop acquired so late in the season? Was Quick expected to be back earlier and they just rode it out with the Budaj-Zatkoff tandem?

- 17/18 Out goes DL and DS. In comes Blake. Seemed that the guys had some resurgence this season only to fall to Vegas in the 1st round. Kopi had a selke season, Doughty had a norris level season, Brown scored near-30Gs. What happened this season? Were we fighting for a playoff spot and just fizzled out?

- 18/19 to 22/23 These years looked like a shit sandwich. I read a lot about Willie D hiring, losing to Edmonton in the 2 playoff meetings. When did the rebuild actually start? and what was Kopitar and Doughty's involvement on this as I read from these boards regarding those two. And what ultimately led to Jonathan Quick being traded?

Again, sorry guys, lot to unpack. Long break, so I thought i'd start a discussion.. a painful discussion.

Good post, yep lots there.

I think Williams didn't want to resign honestly but I'm not certain. Sounded like he wanted to go back East but I could be remembering wrong.

Kings chose Greene over Mitchell. I think DL said he tried to require Mitchell but it fell through.

Lucic trade was horrible from the get go. Short sighted off the hop. Could have had Konecny, Barzel, or Connor. Wonder if they would have been developed the same way?

Schenn and Vinny L were a dumpster dive but they actually were pretty decent in LA.

Brown should have never been stripped of the C.

Bishop trade was bad. He wasn't good in his brief stop and arrived at the time Quick came back. Stupid trade.

Vegas series was close mostly due to Quick standing on his head. PP was pathetic leading probably to the Kovalchuck signing.

The Kings could have beat Edmonton in both those series. Some of that falls on Todd, some of it was just McDavid overcoming. Quick sucked his last year but in hindsight, how did either side not work out how to get him back on track? Not sure if it is true that Quick was going to go as ufa. Maybe it was seeing as he is playing for his childhood fav.

 

[tny760]

i feel like i remember that bishop trade being sold as "lightening the load on quick" for the rest of the season, "hedging against reinjury" is probably a fair way to put it. man i'm bitter about this one

budaj was definitely faltering but i remember him being played on MULTIPLE b2bs throughout the season so he was truly just beaten into submission by daryl. zatkoff was a sieve though, so...yeah. a little recovery platooning budaj with quick and i think we're playing cernak on our 2nd pairing to this day. wild. seven f***in games of bishop. seven.

 

[Nasti]

All I know is we should build a statue of Dean Lombardi outside Crypto.

If nothing else, both Lombardi and Sutter should get a Legends Night.

 

[Nasti]

I’ll add a couple notes to what’s already been said.

2015 - Stoll was another player whose play completely fell off the map. Those who mentioned it are correct in that Williams wanted to go back east, similar to Scuderi. The Kings missed the playoffs partly because the Flames would not die that season. They were down 3 or 4 goals so many times that year only to come back and win. One of those games was against the Kings. The Kings were in a playoff spot going into the final week. They were in the drivers seat and then went on to lose all three games of the western Canadian road trip.

2018 - The Kings had a new coach boost and a healthy Quick. Brown also started scoring again. They got completely caved in by Vegas. BLuc thinking they just needed to add Kovalchuk for more scoring was similar to how some posters on here think. The Kings couldn’t score in that series because they couldn’t even get the puck into the offensive zone not because they couldn’t finish their chances. Vegas skated circles around them. Quick had one of the best series I’ve seen from a goalie who got swept.

 

[Herby]

I’ll add a couple notes to what’s already been said.

2015 - The Kings missed the playoffs partly because the Flames would not die that season. They were down 3 or 4 goals so many times that year only to come back and win. One of those games was against the Kings.

Yes, that was the game Gaudreau received his career long blessing vs the Kings from this forum. After getting off to a good start the narrative was "he won't be able to do it vs. a team like the Kings"

The Kings went up 3-0 in that game and then Gaudreau scored three in a row to force OT, and begin his consistent domination of the Kings for the next 8 years (nearly a 100 point pace vs. LA)

The Kings were unlucky that year, but that was not a team that was going to win a SC. They lost key personnel and just played to many games the previous three seasons.

 

[tigermask48]

I’ll add a couple notes to what’s already been said.

2015 - Stoll was another player whose play completely fell off the map. Those who mentioned it are correct in that Williams wanted to go back east, similar to Scuderi. The Kings missed the playoffs partly because the Flames would not die that season. They were down 3 or 4 goals so many times that year only to come back and win. One of those games was against the Kings. The Kings were in a playoff spot going into the final week. They were in the drivers seat and then went on to lose all three games of the western Canadian road trip.

Looking back in hindsight, his decline was likely at least partially related to his partying and drug use. Summer of 2015 was his arrest in Vegas for cocaine and ecstacy.

Completely speculation on my part:
I always have wondered how widespread the partying and drug use actually was with those teams, and how much it lead to the decline.

We know Richards had something crossing the border which led to nullified contract. There was those rumors floating about dry island, and we know the team liked to party in Vegas no less. I'm smart enough to know that Stoll getting popped more than likely wasn't the first time ever in his he had drugs in his possession.

Always made me wonder about what happened behind the scenes during those years that we'll never know about.

 

[BigKing]

Looking back in hindsight, his decline was likely at least partially related to his partying and drug use. Summer of 2015 was his arrest in Vegas for cocaine and ecstacy.

Completely speculation on my part:
I always have wondered how widespread the partying and drug use actually was with those teams, and how much it lead to the decline.

We know Richards had something crossing the border which led to nullified contract. There was those rumors floating about dry island, and we know the team liked to party in Vegas no less. I'm smart enough to know that Stoll getting popped more than likely wasn't the first time ever in his he had drugs in his possession.

Always made me wonder about what happened behind the scenes during those years that we'll never know about.

The Wet Republic incident in Vegas is Roy Munson walking in to the bowling alley all fat with a hook for a hand and grabbing that guy's pizza like he's back to winning the 1979 Iowa Amateur Bowling Championship.

Like, this isn't 2014: it's 2015 and you just missed the playoffs. Yeah...we are going to search you when you come into our pool party.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Lombardi downfall moves:

1. Didn't buy out Richards.
2. Lucic Trade.
3. Sekera trade.
4. Bishop trade.
5. Refusal to fire Sutter.

Blake downfall moves:

1. Hire John Stevens as the coach, then fire him at the first part of the second season and hire Willie Desjardins.
2. Signing Kovalchuk.
3. Peterson contract.
4. The way he handled the Quick trade.
5. Durzi trade - especially to a local rival.
6. PLD trade.
7. Gave TM a one year extension and then firing him when it's too late. Now Ownership is stuck with basically one and half years at 5 million for a coach.

Blake has cost AEG a lot of money with his moves.

 

[Schrute farms]

I'd also add that a downfall of Blake is/was never having a plan for the team/organization (both ST & LT). That's been a constant for him -- as opposed to a moment in time action (trade, signing, etc.).
He's the guy who has nothing in his fridge/freezer/cabinet to make a meal for now nor in the future -- just goes along until he feels hungry and orders something to eat....until next time he gets hungry again.

 

[FrozenKing18]

Thanks for all the responses guys and catching me up!

I completely forgot about that Kovy signing! At the time I saw the rumors and reports, I had thought I traveled back in time reading how the Kings were interested in signing Kovalchuk. Wild! I had read on here, he was never utilized correctly which isn't surprising. Was 2018 the year where the group had a real shot at winning it all? or even if they got through Vegas, would they have gotten steamrolled by other teams?

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Dean was dealt a horrible hand of cards post-2014. No GM would’ve been able to navigate the roster AND off-ice challenges posed by the combined Voynov, Richards, and Stoll scandals, plus losing elder statesmen like Mitchell in the process.

On paper, Kopitar, Brown, and Doughty were supposed to hold the team together, and they didn’t. Kopitar and Doughty were passengers all along in the locker room, and Brown’s leadership was neutered by whatever rift he had with Sutter and the captaincy change.

Dean ACTIVELY made these situations worse with some of his decisions, and put himself in a precarious spot. But there’s no doubt that smarmy, perfumed seneschals like Luc Robitaille were waiting for just this moment. Dean was always an outsider and rubbed a lot of people the wrong way because he came into this pathetic franchise and actually held people accountable.

Lombardi is the best GM this franchise has ever had and may ever have. The fact that he doesn’t even have an office upstairs somewhere after a couple bad seasons is proof positive of the ROT in Los Angeles. The old boys club couldn’t wait to kick Deano and the rest of his east coasters out of town so they could go back to clocking in late and leaving early.

Now we’re here.

 

[DoktorJeep]

BLuc caught a major break with the various Covid interruptions. They were unexpectedly put into a retool and then handed a disruption to their normal operations.

I think early on they were able to paper over issues and buy time for impactful decisions. But with the return to the normal schedule, they were pinched to accelerate the quest for the playoffs.

 

[chris kontos]

Whats up axle?

 

[DryIslandBartender]

I miss DLs long winded answers to everything, very rarely skimps on the details.

So take us back to pulling the trigger on that trade. You obviously meticulously constructed that Kings roster, but that was the trade that is looked upon as the one that really got them over the hump and made them a Stanley Cup team. How did that trade happen?

Well, the first thing you can’t underrate is it’s one thing to look at the last trade that puts you over the hump, but when you’re building from where we were building from, there’s a lot of critical moments that go into that. And you can’t overlook the trade for Matt Greene and Jarret Stoll. Not only were they solid players, but the biggest thing was it started to change the culture. So some people ask me, “What’s your most important trade?” Well, they’re all important. But certainly Jeff stands out not only because of the quality of player, but as you said, he was the last piece. But I think if I look back, trades are a long process. And I remember starting this — I think it was back in December, before we got him. Or at least it was two months prior. And that was the year we hired Darryl (Sutter), and Darryl came in and he looked at the team and he knew we had something special here. It needed a push. Terry Murray did a great job laying that foundation and Darryl came in and said, “There’s a lot of good things here, but we’re not strong enough down the middle to beat the big boys.”

And I also remember Darryl saying … because, remember, we used to get into the playoffs as the seventh or eighth seed, and I would always be uptight about it, and he said, “Don’t worry about it.” He said, “Just get in, the playoffs are a totally different game than the regular season. In the regular season, playoff teams are a lot of pretenders.” And he said, “We’re built for the playoffs.” And I remember him saying this in my garage. He said, “Don’t worry about it.” He said, “We’re a playoff team and that’s all that matters. But we’re missing one piece.” And when we did the matchups and everything, it was clear that at center ice if we were going to beat the big boys, that that’s where we were lacking. And that’s still the traditional model in any sport. It’s generally strength down the middle. And we figured if we had a middle of (Anze) Kopitar, Carter, (Jarret) Stoll in the three-hole and our boy (Colin) Fraser in the four-hole that that middle, it was a playoff-type middle.

It might not have been sexy. It may not have the rock star, but it was a playoff-type middle. So we started the process and the conversations went on for at least a couple of months, but the one thing about Jeff that people on my staff were concerned about was, early in Jeff’s career, you know, he wasn’t a very likable guy. Because I was in Philly when he broke in. That was my first tour with the Flyers and he had a little bit of, I don’t know what you call it, “fratboy arrogance” to him. But he was young. And I remember driving to the rink with him and I said, “Yeah, he’s got a little of that, but that’s not unusual for kids that are top athletes. He’s just a kid. He’s going to grow up.” But I knew deep down he was a good kid. You get him in the car and you drive and you say, “He’s all right, he’s going to grow up.” So I had that in my back pocket (to negate) some of the rumors about him not being a great team guy or not being very likable. I said, “I’m going to discount that. I’ve got no problem with that.”

But there were two other things that kind of pushed me because I knew it was going to be a big deal and we were giving up a good player in Jack Johnson. The idea that when a player goes to Philadelphia he’s drafted by them — and I had seen this firsthand, it’s a very special place. The culture that’s been created there by Mr. Snider (former owner Ed Snider) and Bob Clarke that’s carried on, a player goes there initially and probably thinks that’s the way it is. And you can get spoiled. And I knew that in my back pocket, and at the time we’re trading for him he’s in Columbus.

And I remember scouting him at that time and my scouts would go in and say, “Geez, he’s awful.” But I could see he’s pouting. And that’s another thing that’s a red flag. Well, “Even if you’re unhappy you shouldn’t be out there pouting.” But he clearly wasn’t playing at the level he was capable of. So that was kind of a red flag. But again I was banking on two things. One, I knew the kid, and the next one was that I figured, you know what? After going to Columbus, and they certainly got their act together now and it’s a darn good team and what they’ve done is incredible, but at the time they were, you know, kind of a mess. And I said if I get this kid now he’s going to appreciate what he had in Philadelphia, and if he doesn’t go through that and see what it can be like on the other side of the street, you’re not going to have that appreciation.

And he’s going to get a second wind here because we’re a good team and I adopted a lot of the Flyer-type culture things in L.A. that he would then remember when he got here. And the other thing too is I knew he had an agent that I had a good relationship with and he was one of the old-time agents and he wasn’t afraid to tell his client what he needed to hear. He wasn’t one to make excuses. So anyway, we pulled the trigger and the rest is history but I remember when we made that decision in the garage, Darryl and I were sitting there and it was, “What do you think about Carter?” And we went through everything and we were sitting in my garage and I said, “Let’s go for it, man, this is our guy.” So anyway it certainly worked out. They don’t all work out but that one certainly did.

Your garage talks with Darryl have the appeal of a Roosevelt fireside chat …

I think whenever you’re a general manager it’s a process. I don’t care if you’re a manager of a big business or anything you’re running, where you have a huge staff. At some point you have to bring it to that small group and essentially the most important relationship, particularly when you’re building or making trades, is that relationship between the coach and the GM. They have to be on the same page, and fortunately Darryl and I, you know 95 percent of the things we were different, but we believed in the same things and it was all about winning.

It wasn’t about ego or anything like that and that’s generally what happened. You take in all the information, you do all the homework. Darryl’s got his sources. He certainly knew how to build good teams. I trusted him on what it took to win and then we’d sit in the garage there late at night and we’d draw on the walls and have a couple of beers and say, “OK, let’s go for it.” And that’s just the way it is. I mean, you don’t go around the room and vote. It’s people’s jobs to get you all that information and then when that decision’s made, your job is to get on board, and I think we were a well-oiled machine on and off the ice back then and that’s why we won two Cups.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

Compare that to Blake who doesn’t even know what qualities Hiller brings to the team and a reporter has to walk him through his background.

If I had to guess, I think Luc lets go of Blake (one year left on contract after this season) and replaces him with Bergevin.

 

[AbsentMojo]

I miss DLs long winded answers to everything, very rarely skimps on the details.

What DL had was a clear vision honed from being a GM once before and having been a scout and understanding talent and culture. Not to mention the guy was several deviations above average in the IQ department.

 

[AbsentMojo]

If I had to guess, I think Luc lets go of Blake (one year left on contract after this season) and replaces him with Bergevin.

God I hope you're wrong. Thats why Lucky needs to be cleaned out at the same time... we'll go from the 90s Kings buddy system to 100% the Francois buddy system which is already partially in place.

 

[kilowatt]

Compare that to Blake who doesn’t even know what qualities Hiller brings to the team and a reporter has to walk him through his background.

If I had to guess, I think Luc lets go of Blake (one year left on contract after this season) and replaces him with Bergevin.

This would be a nightmare

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Compare that to Blake who doesn’t even know what qualities Hiller brings to the team and a reporter has to walk him through his background.

If I had to guess, I think Luc lets go of Blake (one year left on contract after this season) and replaces him with Bergevin.

This is the darkest timeline.