I will preface this by saying, if the rumors are true about the AGM role, I have more reservations, however if Bergevin is just an advisor for this season, I think it could be helpful to Blake to have an experienced GM for the deadline to provide guidance. Blake has never been a significant buyer at the deadline before. Selling and buying are two different animals. I think the kings have done a pretty good job at establishing the value of their players, and agreeing to deals when that value has been met. All of the bigger trades he’s had (Muzzin, Toffoli, Martinez) came before the deadline with only smaller deals on deadline day.
You have a lot less control when buying, and as has been said on this board, Blake tends to be a more patient (insert a less flattering word if you’d like) GM. Bergevin on the other hand, has never been afraid of trades. It can also be helpful to have an outside perspective on how other teams view some of the Kings prospects and have a voice in the room who doesn’t have the same emotional attachment to the prospects some in the Kings organization may have after spending years developing them. I think JAD is a great example of a player who the organization loves for everything he brings on the ice as well as the intangibles off the ice, yet where does he fit into the kings future lineup? For the foreseeable future you have Kopitar/Byfield/Danault with Helenius coming not too far behind. You could move JAD to the wing, but you have plenty of wingers in the system as well with guys like Kempe/iafallo/ardvisson/Kaliyev/kupari/Pepe/Moore already in the lineup and either signed for next year or an RFA. JAD requires waivers next year, so this off-season is kind of a crossroad for him in the organization. I’m not advocating we trade JAD, just using him as an example of the Kings have too many guys coming and not enough spots. Someone like JAD I think has more trade value now, than if he spends next year as the 13th forward. You can diminish the value of your prospects if you’re too patient/hesitant to move any, and that’s where I see an outside voice being more objective in where guys can fit and identifying extra pieces that can be used in trades.
I don’t think this is the year to spend high-level assets on rentals as I’m not sure the kings are ready to compete with Colorado, Vegas, STL, Min in the playoffs. But could the Kings have a similar deadline to MTL last year and add some lower cost, complementary pieces to help a run? Sure. Could they make a splash and add a guy with term aka Chychrun, absolutely. I don’t think it would be humanly possible for the kings to trade enough assets to destroy the longterm plan in place in one deadline. So if it’s just for one deadline, I don’t see too much harm in bringing in a guy with experience buying.
Again, if he’s signed to be the AGM after this season, I think that’s a different story, but regardless of the connection to Blake and Luc, I actually think it’s a good think they have a pattern of bringing in experienced guys before doing things they haven’t done before (Hextall before tearing it down, now Bergevin as they build).
You have a lot less control when buying, and as has been said on this board, Blake tends to be a more patient (insert a less flattering word if you’d like) GM. Bergevin on the other hand, has never been afraid of trades. It can also be helpful to have an outside perspective on how other teams view some of the Kings prospects and have a voice in the room who doesn’t have the same emotional attachment to the prospects some in the Kings organization may have after spending years developing them. I think JAD is a great example of a player who the organization loves for everything he brings on the ice as well as the intangibles off the ice, yet where does he fit into the kings future lineup? For the foreseeable future you have Kopitar/Byfield/Danault with Helenius coming not too far behind. You could move JAD to the wing, but you have plenty of wingers in the system as well with guys like Kempe/iafallo/ardvisson/Kaliyev/kupari/Pepe/Moore already in the lineup and either signed for next year or an RFA. JAD requires waivers next year, so this off-season is kind of a crossroad for him in the organization. I’m not advocating we trade JAD, just using him as an example of the Kings have too many guys coming and not enough spots. Someone like JAD I think has more trade value now, than if he spends next year as the 13th forward. You can diminish the value of your prospects if you’re too patient/hesitant to move any, and that’s where I see an outside voice being more objective in where guys can fit and identifying extra pieces that can be used in trades.
I don’t think this is the year to spend high-level assets on rentals as I’m not sure the kings are ready to compete with Colorado, Vegas, STL, Min in the playoffs. But could the Kings have a similar deadline to MTL last year and add some lower cost, complementary pieces to help a run? Sure. Could they make a splash and add a guy with term aka Chychrun, absolutely. I don’t think it would be humanly possible for the kings to trade enough assets to destroy the longterm plan in place in one deadline. So if it’s just for one deadline, I don’t see too much harm in bringing in a guy with experience buying.
Again, if he’s signed to be the AGM after this season, I think that’s a different story, but regardless of the connection to Blake and Luc, I actually think it’s a good think they have a pattern of bringing in experienced guys before doing things they haven’t done before (Hextall before tearing it down, now Bergevin as they build).
