Speculation: 2023-24-25 Sharks Roster Discussion

[fasterthanlight]

I wish we talked contacts in terms of percentage of the cap. It's harder but it puts things in perspective. For example (if chatgpt is not lying to me) Joe Thorntons 7.2M deal would map onto a 13.7M deal today

 

[Barrie22]

I wish we talked contacts in terms of percentage of the cap. It's harder but it puts things in perspective. For example (if chatgpt is not lying to me) Joe Thorntons 7.2M deal would map onto a 13.7M deal today

It was 12.70% of the cap when he signed. His highest was actually 1 of his lowest salaries, at 17.09% with a 6.67 cap hit.

 

[Jargon]

Prime Joe would definitely be getting paid 12 million+ right now.

 

[WSS11]

I'm pretty sure they don't and it has nothing to do with them or me. Fans in general are incapable of being objective about their own team and that cuts both ways - they tend to be too pessimistic when the team is good and too optimistic when the team is bad. Most of them are too close to the situation to see it clearly.

I guess the Kings org is just being emotional too.

Thread 'Los Angeles Kings and GM Rob Blake part ways'

May 5, 2025

• Homelander
• Replies: 170
• Forum: National Hockey League Talk

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[Hodge]

I guess the Kings org is just being emotional too.

Thread 'Los Angeles Kings and GM Rob Blake part ways'

May 5, 2025

• Homelander
• Replies: 170
• Forum: National Hockey League Talk

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Bro have you actually been reading this thread? I started the entire Blake discussion by sharing a report from Frank Seravalli that he turned down a contract extension with the Kings.

 

[coooldude]

I don't have as strong of feelings for or against Blake as many others, but I do think that adding another management layer to the current structure does not feel positive at all. We already have a head of the business of sports side (Becher), we have a head of the hockey side (Grier), and we have a bunch of great brains in advisory of Grier. Do we really want a situation like TOR where it's super unclear where the buck stops?

I think let Grier cook -- he has about 3 years to build the core and build a roster around that core, and if it's not looking great, they'll bring another GM in to try to pull a Tallon->Bowman.

 

[Juxtaposer]

Bro have you actually been reading this thread? I started the entire Blake discussion by sharing a report from Frank Seravalli that he turned down a contract extension with the Kings.

Bro, if the Kings were in such an enviable situation, then there's no way Blake would have turned down a contract extension with them. You can't preach "Blake is toooooo good for the Kings" and also "the Kings are extremely well-positioned now and in the futurrrrre!!!1" in the same breath, seriously pick a struggle.

If you want to spam inflammatory opinions to rile everyone up, then you have to eat the flaming shit headed your way when you're dead wrong.

 

[Hodge]

Bro, if the Kings were in such an enviable situation, then there's no way Blake would have turned down a contract extension with them. You can't preach "Blake is toooooo good for the Kings" and also "the Kings are extremely well-positioned now and in the futurrrrre!!!1" in the same breath, seriously pick a struggle.

If you want to spam inflammatory opinions to rile everyone up, then you have to eat the flaming shit headed your way when you're dead wrong.

Does nobody else actually read the posts here? The entire reason I brought up Blake as a possibility for Sharks Prez in the first place was the report that he turned down an extension with LA. None of us have any idea why but he certainly didn't get fired as @WSS11 was implying.

 

[Juxtaposer]

Does nobody else actually read the posts here? The entire reason I brought up Blake as a possibility for Sharks Prez in the first place was the report that he turned down an extension with LA. None of us have any idea why but he certainly didn't get fired as @WSS11 was implying.

No, I can't say I read every post about the Kings' front office.

But the point is that you've been gagging over Rob Blake and the Kings' 'rebuild' for years, and faced with empirical proof that the Kings are a disaster that even Blake himself doesn't want to run, you can only double-down.

 

[Hodge]

No, I can't say I read every post about the Kings' front office.

But the point is that you've been gagging over Rob Blake and the Kings' 'rebuild' for years, and faced with empirical proof that the Kings are a disaster that even Blake himself doesn't want to run, you can only double-down.

Me: "It sounds like Rob Blake might leave the Kings based on something Frank Seravalli said on his podcast. What would you guys think about the Sharks hiring him?"

*Blake leaves the Kings a few days later*

You and WS11 for some reason: "The thing you said would happen just happened. Why can't you admit that you're wrong and have been owned?"

Who knows why Blake turned down an extension with the Kings? This could easily be another Dubas situation where he wanted Luc Robitaille's job and the org was never going to give it to him. If the Kings had fired him you would actually have a point but that's clearly not what happened.

 

[Juxtaposer]

Me: "It sounds like Rob Blake might leave the Kings based on something Frank Seravalli said on his podcast. What would you guys think about the Sharks hiring him?"

*Blake leaves the Kings a few days later*

You and WS11 for some reason: "The thing you said would happen just happened. Why can't you admit that you're wrong and have been owned?"

Who knows why Blake turned down an extension with the Kings? This could easily be another Dubas situation where he wanted Luc Robitaille's job and the org was never going to give it to him. If the Kings had fired him you would actually have a point but that's clearly not what happened.

You're just shaping the narrative to fit what you want. Nine times out of ten, "mutually agreed to part ways" is just a kind way to fire someone. In that vein, Blake turning down an extension is functionally Blake firing the Kings.

 

[WSS11]

Jux beat me to it. “Mutually agreed to part ways” is firing someone with grace. If Blake was truly coveted by leadership then they would have figured out a way to retain him. It’s very rare that an organization loses a high ranking employee that they want to keep.

 

[Hodge]

You're just shaping the narrative to fit what you want. Nine times out of ten, "mutually agreed to part ways" is just a kind way to fire someone. In that vein, Blake turning down an extension is functionally Blake firing the Kings.

I agree that Blake has functionally fired the Kings. You're making the logical leap that this is because he thinks the team he is 100% responsible for building is in shambles. This doesn't make much sense as an explanation because the only other open GM job is the Islanders who are in an objectively worse spot in their competitive cycle than the Kings. Most likely he wants to be POHO somewhere and it won't be LA because of Robitaille.

 

[Hodge]

Jux beat me to it. “Mutually agreed the part ways” is firing someone with grace. If Blake was truly coveted by leadership then they would have figured out a way to retain him. It’s very rare that an organization loses a high ranking employee that they want to keep.

We'll never know for sure but reading between the lines it's pretty obvious they picked Luc Robitaille over Blake. I guess you could argue that's an indictment of Blake but Robitaille is a Kings franchise legend.

 

[Juxtaposer]

I agree that Blake has functionally fired the Kings. You're making the logical leap that this is because he thinks the team he is 100% responsible for building is in shambles. This doesn't make much sense as an explanation because the only other open GM job is the Islanders who are in an objectively worse spot in their competitive cycle than the Kings. Most likely he wants to be POHO somewhere and it won't be LA because of Robitaille.

Hey, if I were a GM who spent eight years with a team, took them through a full rebuild in which they had 2nd, 5th, and 8th overall picks whom all hugely disappointed their draft positions, traded a top pairing 21 year old RHD and a 1st round pick for a soft one-way winger, traded good assets for Pierre-Luc Dubois only to flip him for a cap dump goalie, and had four consecutive first round playoff exists to my name, I just know that I'd be out there expecting a promotion just like ol' Rob!

 

[gaucholoco3]

Bro have you actually been reading this thread? I started the entire Blake discussion by sharing a report from Frank Seravalli that he turned down a contract extension with the Kings.

And then they made the smart decision to part ways. Last thing a team needs is a GM who is not in it for the long haul.

 

[Hodge]

Hey, if I were a GM who spent eight years with a team, took them through a full rebuild in which they had 2nd, 5th, and 8th overall picks whom all hugely disappointed their draft positions, traded a top pairing 21 year old RHD and a 1st round pick for a soft one-way winger, traded good assets for Pierre-Luc Dubois only to flip him for a cap dump goalie, and had four consecutive first round playoff exists to my name, I just know that I'd be out there expecting a promotion just like ol' Rob!

How is that any worse than Kyle Dubas' resume in Toronto that earned him a $40 million contract and promotion to POHO in Pittsburgh? Blake took a team from drafting 2nd overall to 4 straight 100 point seasons (and consistent playoff revenue, which I've heard owners tend to like) in 2 years. He'll be an in-demand executive whether you agree with his moves or not.

 

[Cas]

You're just shaping the narrative to fit what you want. Nine times out of ten, "mutually agreed to part ways" is just a kind way to fire someone. In that vein, Blake turning down an extension is functionally Blake firing the Kings.

"Mutually agreed to part ways" is a corporate euphemism for "either you quit or we fire you and try to destroy the rest of your career."

 

[Juxtaposer]

How is that any worse than Kyle Dubas' resume in Toronto that earned him a $40 million contract and promotion to POHO in Pittsburgh? Blake took a team from drafting 2nd overall to 4 straight 100 point seasons (and consistent playoff revenue, which I've heard owners tend to like) in 2 years. He'll be an in-demand executive whether you agree with his moves or not.

Hey, I'm no Dubas defender and Pittsburgh is stupid, to answer your question.

And if all you care about is getting your three games of playoff revenue every year, then I can see your point. But I'm a Sharks fan, I do not see how anyone could be happy with Blake's tenure.

 

[TheBeard]

The fact that Blake’s best moves in 8 years was drafting Ian Laferriere and signing Warren Foegele speaks volumes.

 

[Hodge]

The fact that Blake’s best moves in 8 years was drafting Ian Laferriere and signing Warren Foegele speaks volumes.

He also drafted Brock Faber (and acquired a 25yo first line winger for him when it became clear he wasn't gonna sign with the Kings out of college), Danault was one of the best UFA signings in recent history, acquired 3+ years of Gavrikov's prime for a late 1st, re-signed Kempe and Anderson to two of the best value contracts in the league, re-signed Byfield to a contract with a lower AAV than Matt freakin Coronato. The list goes on.

 

[Hodge]

"Mutually agreed to part ways" is a corporate euphemism for "either you quit or we fire you and try to destroy the rest of your career."

Usually true but we have additional context here. Seravalli said again on his podcast today that Blake has had an extension offer on the table from the Kings "for months."

 

[TheBeard]

He also drafted Brock Faber (and acquired a 25yo first line winger for him when it became clear he wasn't gonna sign with the Kings out of college), Danault was one of the best UFA signings in recent history, acquired 3+ years of Gavrikov's prime for a late 1st, re-signed Kempe and Anderson to two of the best value contracts in the league, re-signed Byfield to a contract with a lower AAV than Matt freakin Coronato. The list goes on.

The Kempe and Anderson signings I'll give you, but I have issues with the rest. I won't go through it because it's pointless, but at the end of the day all these FA moves brought the team no closer to the promised land just as your favorite, DW, did with the Sharks, not to mention he did the same thing as DW in that he refusds to accept a changing of the guard on the ice while continuing to dump young picks/prospects for one last kick in the can. The result is one of the older teams in the NHL at nearly 29, one of the worst prospect pools in the game and a couple of highly drafted first rounders who have just a many warts as positives.

What the kings did this year in the regular season was an impressive display of defensive cohesion, but as Edmonton showed, they're really no better now than they were 4 years ago.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

Blake's not a guy I'd like to see added to the front office. Grier has done the job about as well as I would expect for the circumstances that this team has to deal with in an ongoing basis. Hiring Blake would signal a level of mistrust in him that doesn't seem warranted. I also just don't think Blake has a real vision for a team that he can realistically execute here that would succeed. He's much more likely to get trigger happy on making moves that have good odds of backfiring instead of just being patient and letting kids mature.

 

[matt trick]

Think y'all are missing the real value of Blake being out. Does this mean Gavrikov makes it to free agency?