Speculation: Another year of this Bluc **** (The 2024 season thread)

[SettlementRichie10]

If Blake scurries off to become GM of the Sharks, they should take his f***ing jersey off the rafters.

 

[All The Kings Men]

Good points, maybe he’s financially secure with solid investments

His career earnings as a player was north of $80M

On top of that he's been paid for various post playing career jobs since the day he stepped off the ice. If he's NOT financially secure something horrible has happened.

 

[Piston]

I find it f***ing hilarious you think the org needed Hoven to plant a ‘Blake’s staying’ piece in order to check the temperature of the fan base. That’s about as absurd as
It gets around here….

You're absolutely right. never in the history of the planet has the press ever been used by anyone to float a trial balloon. What could I have possible been thinking /sarcasm off.

 

[bouncesonly]

If Blake scurries off to become GM of the Sharks, they should take his f***ing jersey off the rafters.

If the Sharks win a cup under Blake, maybe that's what it'll take to get Luc booted completely out of the organization.

 

[Sol]

Just how does Robitaille keep getting away with this?

 

[Statto]

wooeeee rosen continuing on and saying the PLD trade happened around Blake rather than with him


We are absolutely f***ed unless the Luc-Brisson-Bergevin human centipede gets ousted as well

I always said it (PLD) felt like a Luc trade, as did ending the rebuild. This was the first year every move felt like a Rob Blake one.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

You're absolutely right. never in the history of the planet has the press ever been used by anyone to float a trial balloon. What could I have possible been thinking /sarcasm off.

The bozos on Twitter have hated Blake and every coach under the Kings for years now, they expected the tune would change suddenly? lol….

 

[All The Kings Men]

Just how does Robitaille keep getting away with this?

Without granting the idea that he's "getting away with anything" I could explain it to you but I suspect you wouldn't accept it.

 

[Herby]

And I do agree with the notion that Blake perhaps came to the realization that turning this team into a contender and having one more mini-run with 11 and 8 is over, and that the only way to get back to contending is to tear it down, and just didn't want to go through that, even if an extension was on the table.

The cold hard truth is the Kings are as far away from being a contender as any team in the NHL. There is no way to get the type of players you need to build around without tearing this whole thing down and having 4-5 years picking inside the top 10, with a couple of those at least being inside the top 5. That obviously takes Doughty and Kopitar out of equation, but it also takes Kempe, Fiala, Moore, Gavrikov, Foegele and Edmundson out, and heck even a guy like Mikey Anderson will be on the wrong side of 30 when this next rebuild ends.

I think they originally did have something resembling a plan, starting around December 2018, they were going to suck for three years, pick very high and hope to roll a Yahtzee with at least two of those picks and have them ready to be added to Kopitar and Doughty.

1. Bad Luck. In the three drafts the Kings were targeting to roll that Yahtzee, there was only one guy in the top 10 of those drafts (Jack Hughes) that ended up being a sure-thing face of the the franchise type player. Contrast that between say the 16-18 drafts where there was Matthews, both Tkachuk's, Heiskanen, Suzuki, Q Hughes and Makar.

2. 2019 draft. It really can't be understated just what a disaster the 2019 draft ended up being for Blake's mission to rebuild quickly on the fly. Three picks inside the top 32, including a top 5 pick, I would assume that they figured they had at worst a championship caliber 2C, a 25 goal 2nd line winger and a solid all-around 2nd pairing defenseman. Six years later all you have to show for it is a 4th line winger. One of the worst nights/weekends in franchise history.

3. Poor development. This one is on Blake for sure, no bad luck or bad analysis by the scouts. The handling of many players from those drafts, including the three highest picks were terrible and set back not only the time-frame, but the players potential as well.

I think by the summer of 2021 Blake probably already knew that the on the fly rebuild was doomed, that those drafts weren't going to provide the type of players needed, and that is when all the stupid reactive moves for band-aid veterans started being made (Danault, Arvidsson, Fiala, PLD) in a Hail-Mary attempt to win.

 

[bmr]

Blake leaving means nothing if Luc, Bergevin, and Hiller all get to stay at their positions. The slate needs to be completely wiped for the team to have any future success, a complete purge of all upper management. I'm still baffled and livid that Hiller basically threw the series with his terrible tactics, especially in games 3 and 4. Also, Trevor Lewis needs to f*** off and retire already. Also want to see Doughty gone if possible.

I've never looked at Doughty or Kopitar (for that matter) as the type of leadership guys that win you Stanley Cups. We had a lot of other guys that made the difference in 2012 and 2014. You need guys that have an edge and put winning above everything. Even though the Kings were better this year, you could tell that all the LA fans were anticipating Edmonton to come back after that Kane goal.

There is a ton of salary tied up in Doughty and Kopitar and those are the 2 guys outside of the coach that really need to keep the focus right with the team.

The series with Edmonton really exposed some cracks that need to be filled for us to have a better chance at being actual contenders.

 

[Sol]

Without granting the idea that he's "getting away with anything" I could explain it to you but I suspect you wouldn't accept it.

Okay, I am inclined to believe what Rosen says since he seems to be on the dot about all the innerworkings.

So I'll set the stage. Judging by the context, Robitaille has a lot of influence. Mentioned many times by many people. Too much smoke to be wrong.

With that being said, Luc has been around long and the team has gone nowhere. He obviously has a lot of blame in this.

Now that I set the stage, how does he dodge any backlash? Seems like Blake or Gms take the dagger while Luc has too much influence on the Gms failures.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Without granting the idea that he's "getting away with anything" I could explain it to you but I suspect you wouldn't accept it.

The prevailing sentiment seems to be that Luc wants to be involved with hockey decisions. He was generally on the outside looking in during the Lombardi regime, but became much more involved after Lombardi was fired.

Surely you understand why a certain portion of the fanbase is just done with Luc at this point? And that’s not even getting into his relationship with Brisson and how much the team tends to favor Brisson clients.

 

[AbsentMojo]

Just how does Robitaille keep getting away with this?

Close ties w the Anschutz family seems like the most likely answer. It would be ideal to have a president of hockey ops in between Luc and any GM hire to firewall his influence. I have a feeling Blake pushed back after the PLD fiasco - if indeed what Rosen said is true (what we all suspected) that it was Luc/Brisson/Bergovin behind that move.. and that is why last season's moves made more sense. But F Blake. He didnt know what he was doing. He hired Koala, dealt the best picks of the tank, burned JQ for not a lot, and basically had zero results to be proud of in his 8 years.

 

[BigKing]

And I do agree with the notion that Blake perhaps came to the realization that turning this team into a contender and having one more mini-run with 11 and 8 is over, and that the only way to get back to contending is to tear it down, and just didn't want to go through that, even if an extension was on the table.

The cold hard truth is the Kings are as far away from being a contender as any team in the NHL. There is no way to get the type of players you need to build around without tearing this whole thing down and having 4-5 years picking inside the top 10, with a couple of those at least being inside the top 5. That obviously takes Doughty and Kopitar out of equation, but it also takes Kempe, Fiala, Moore, Gavrikov, Foegele and Edmundson out, and heck even a guy like Mikey Anderson will be on the wrong side of 30 when this next rebuild ends.

I think they originally did have something resembling a plan, starting around December 2018, they were going to suck for three years, pick very high and hope to roll a Yahtzee with at least two of those picks and have them ready to be added to Kopitar and Doughty.

1. Bad Luck. In the three drafts the Kings were targeting to roll that Yahtzee, there was only one guy in the top 10 of those drafts (Jack Hughes) that ended up being a sure-thing face of the the franchise type player. Contrast that between say the 16-18 drafts where there was Matthews, both Tkachuk's, Heiskanen, Suzuki, Q Hughes and Makar.

2. 2019 draft. It really can't be understated just what a disaster the 2019 draft ended up being for Blake's mission to rebuild quickly on the fly. Three picks inside the top 32, including a top 5 pick, I would assume that they figured they had at worst a championship caliber 2C, a 25 goal 2nd line winger and a solid all-around 2nd pairing defenseman. Six years later all you have to show for it is a 4th line winger. One of the worst nights/weekends in franchise history.

3. Poor development. This one is on Blake for sure, no bad luck or bad analysis by the scouts. The handling of many players from those drafts, including the three highest picks were terrible and set back not only the time-frame, but the players potential as well.

I think by the summer of 2021 Blake probably already knew that the on the fly rebuild was doomed, that those drafts weren't going to provide the type of players needed, and that is when all the stupid reactive moves for band-aid veterans started being made (Danault, Arvidsson, Fiala, PLD) in a Hail-Mary attempt to win.

2019 draft is brutal. Spence is the only one on the roster and Kaliyev is the overall leader in total games played out of all the picks.

Muzzin trade was great, except he flubbed the 1st round pick that was part of the return and the best player in the deal was dumped in order to get PLD in the fold.

This is the start of the rebuild. Rough stuff.

 

[bmr]

Close ties w the Anschutz family seems like the most likely answer. It would be ideal to have a president of hockey ops in between Luc and any GM hire to firewall his influence. I have a feeling Blake pushed back after the PLD fiasco - if indeed what Rosen said is true (what we all suspected) that it was Luc/Brisson/Bergovin behind that move.. and that is why last season's moves made more sense. But F Blake. He didnt know what he was doing. He hired Koala, dealt the best picks of the tank, burned JQ for not a lot, and basically had zero results to be proud of in his 8 years.

It's the old saying of six of one and half a dozen of the other. Luc and Blake were both a problem and need to go. I think most of the old-school, serious LA Kings hockey fans understood that you can't have guys like this running the organization and expect to win Stanley Cups. Give Anschutz, Leiweke and Lombardi some credit. They knew what it took and they executed. Lombardi did get lucky with the right pieces at the right times and made some mistakes, but the culture was the most important thing to set the stage for those huge wins.

Until they get back to that, we are going to be stuck in the let's hope things change next year loop.

 

[FrozenKing18]

Rosen dropping some info tweet after tweet. Interesting stuff.

 

[DAkings20]

Great but the Vampire needs to go

 

[All The Kings Men]

Okay, I am inclined to believe what Rosen says since he seems to be on the dot about all the innerworkings.

So I'll set the stage. Judging by the context, Robitaille has a lot of influence. Mentioned many times by many people. Too much smoke to be wrong.

With that being said, Luc has been around long and the team has gone nowhere. He obviously has a lot of blame in this.

Now that I set the stage, how does he dodge any backlash? Seems like Blake or Gms take the dagger while Luc has too much influence on the Gms failures.

It's not that complicated and with all due respect to Rosen you don't need an insider or complicated palace intrigue theories to explain it.

Luc Robitaille was named the President of Business Operations in 2007. Hockey ops and Business Ops merged in 2017 and Luc Robitaille has been the president of the team since then.

Luc Robitaille has been serving in his role in one form or another for almost 20 years.

You think it's an easy decision for a company to fire their president of 20 years with industry contacts, influence, clout, experience etc etc etc while the company is hitting it's financial goals and has had other forms of success during his tenure because some folks on the internet are mad about some stuff some other folks on the internet said online?

I mean... I get it we're all fans and this is emotional stuff but sometimes it's just not that complicated.

And that's NOT me stumping for my employer that's me telling you how I think the real world works.

 

[KopitarGOAT420]

It's going to really depend on what Luc says in the presser tomorrow... My knee jerk reaction was that Blake's departure was great news and a step in the right direction. Now I'm not so sure.

Mainly due to the fact that there was reportedly a contract extension on the table for Blake. Which means it likely wasn't really that the team and Blake "mutually agreed to part ways" it was more that the team offered an extension and Blake didn't really want to be GM anymore so the organization has decided to label it as "mutually parting ways"... But that doesn't seem to actually be the case. Blake's departure seems less a matter of the organization actually wanting to hold people accountable for not meeting standards and more a matter of convenience/coincidence that Blake just happened to not really care for the job anymore.

Which all basically just suggests that it really might just be business as usual for the Kings.

I really really hope that's not the case. I need to hear SOMETHING from Luc tomorrow that indicates that they understand the organizations current approach / philosophy DOESN'T work and that they understand significant changes are needed. Although as I type that I'm pretty sure I said the same exact thing after last season so I'm not holding my breath.

I just hope for the love of god we don't hear more talk about "we were right there" and "we need to get uncomfortable"....

 

[KingsFan7824]

And I do agree with the notion that Blake perhaps came to the realization that turning this team into a contender and having one more mini-run with 11 and 8 is over, and that the only way to get back to contending is to tear it down, and just didn't want to go through that, even if an extension was on the table.

The cold hard truth is the Kings are as far away from being a contender as any team in the NHL. There is no way to get the type of players you need to build around without tearing this whole thing down and having 4-5 years picking inside the top 10, with a couple of those at least being inside the top 5. That obviously takes Doughty and Kopitar out of equation, but it also takes Kempe, Fiala, Moore, Gavrikov, Foegele and Edmundson out, and heck even a guy like Mikey Anderson will be on the wrong side of 30 when this next rebuild ends.

I think they originally did have something resembling a plan, starting around December 2018, they were going to suck for three years, pick very high and hope to roll a Yahtzee with at least two of those picks and have them ready to be added to Kopitar and Doughty.

1. Bad Luck. In the three drafts the Kings were targeting to roll that Yahtzee, there was only one guy in the top 10 of those drafts (Jack Hughes) that ended up being a sure-thing face of the the franchise type player. Contrast that between say the 16-18 drafts where there was Matthews, both Tkachuk's, Heiskanen, Suzuki, Q Hughes and Makar.

2. 2019 draft. It really can't be understated just what a disaster the 2019 draft ended up being for Blake's mission to rebuild quickly on the fly. Three picks inside the top 32, including a top 5 pick, I would assume that they figured they had at worst a championship caliber 2C, a 25 goal 2nd line winger and a solid all-around 2nd pairing defenseman. Six years later all you have to show for it is a 4th line winger. One of the worst nights/weekends in franchise history.

3. Poor development. This one is on Blake for sure, no bad luck or bad analysis by the scouts. The handling of many players from those drafts, including the three highest picks were terrible and set back not only the time-frame, but the players potential as well.

I think by the summer of 2021 Blake probably already knew that the on the fly rebuild was doomed, that those drafts weren't going to provide the type of players needed, and that is when all the stupid reactive moves for band-aid veterans started being made (Danault, Arvidsson, Fiala, PLD) in a Hail-Mary attempt to win.

Whatever they did in Dec 2018 was a plan like hiring Sutter in Dec 2011 was part of a plan. Both happened because the team was underperforming.

I agree that any assets they got, were going to be utilized in the service of trying to win with Kopitar and Doughty leading the way. Whether on the team, traded for something, whatever.

I figure whatever they do next, they'll try again next year. One year left with Kopitar and Kempe before they're UFAs, and then Doughty and Danault with one year left. They have cap to spend. After next year, whatever happens, that's when you completely reassess. If Kopitar were to retire, maybe you can get Doughty to leave. Danault would be easy to deal at 50% for a year.

 

[Herby]

2019 draft is brutal. Spence is the only one on the roster and Kaliyev is the overall leader in total games played out of all the picks.

Muzzin trade was great, except he flubbed the 1st round pick that was part of the return and the best player in the deal was dumped in order to get PLD in the fold.

This is the start of the rebuild. Rough stuff.

The most disappointing thing to me in all of it was whoever made the decision to not pursue Eichel **AFTER** they had basically abandoned the rebuild and started adding veterans. Was that Blake, was it Luc, both?

If you add Eichel, which then assumes you are never making the move for PLD or Fiala.

- Eichel - Vilardi
- Kopitar - Kempe
Iafallo- Byfield -Foegele
Turcotte- Danault - Kupari

Gavrikov- Faber
Anderson - Doughty

Spence/Clarke/Durzi

Now obviously a couple of these pieces are gone for Eichel, so it's not quite as impressive. You also have some balance issues, especially at C. But it's very likely you have the best C situation in the entire league even if you move one of them, and you have a legit 1st d-pair and a very good 2nd d-pair.

Even if they had traded Clarke, Turcotte, Vilardi and a 1st, the team is worlds closer to contender than they were this season when they tried to claim to be contenders without a 1C.

 

[Herby]

You think it's an easy decision for a company to fire their president of 20 years with industry contacts, influence, clout, experience etc etc etc while the company is hitting it's financial goals and has had other forms of success during his tenure because some folks on the internet are mad about some stuff some other folks on the internet said online?

It happens all over the NHL, and professional sports in general, but we know, the rules for everyone else in North America never seem to apply to the Kings, in everything they do. They are just this unique unicorn franchise that can't be evaluated by traditional metrics and analysis. And anyone who tries to do that is just "folks mad on the internet"

What other forms of success have the Kings had under Robitaille's leadership?
And why should they matter so much more than results on the ice?

How many people running a non-expansion professional sports team have won zero playoff series or won zero division championships in 8 seasons and have come back for a 9th?

 

[Johnny Utah]

I don't care what happens from here on out as long as the team gets more offensive and tougher.

I wouldn't be shocked if names like Mike Futa and Marc Bergeron are considered.

 

[Sol]

It's not that complicated and with all due respect to Rosen you don't need an insider or complicated palace intrigue theories to explain it.

Luc Robitaille was named the President of Business Operations in 2007. Hockey ops and Business Ops merged in 2017 and Luc Robitaille has been the president of the team since then.

Luc Robitaille has been serving in his role in one form or another for almost 20 years.

You think it's an easy decision for a company to fire their president of 20 years with industry contacts, influence, clout, experience etc etc etc while the company is hitting it's financial goals and has had other forms of success during his tenure because some folks on the internet are mad about some stuff some other folks on the internet said online?

I mean... I get it we're all fans and this is emotional stuff but sometimes it's just not that complicated.

And that's NOT me stumping for my employer that's me telling you how I think the real world works.

I think it's important to note and not understate his influence on the team. If Luc does have a lot of say on what the GM does then I think thats far different than Business Operations. I think the goal of any company to keep aware of projections. As a business owner myself, I have to forecast what the future will look like. Any and every business owner can't just be present. It has to consider, what will the future hold if I keep this trajectory.

I think it goes against logic to suggest the current model that Robitaille has been pushing forward is a sustainable model. You are confusing short term gain vs long term gain (sustainability)

When DL uprooted the team he did so with the long term in mind. That's what brought many years of success.

 

[Piston]

It's not that complicated and with all due respect to Rosen you don't need an insider or complicated palace intrigue theories to explain it.

Luc Robitaille was named the President of Business Operations in 2007. Hockey ops and Business Ops merged in 2017 and Luc Robitaille has been the president of the team since then.

Luc Robitaille has been serving in his role in one form or another for almost 20 years.

You think it's an easy decision for a company to fire their president of 20 years with industry contacts, influence, clout, experience etc etc etc while the company is hitting it's financial goals and has had other forms of success during his tenure because some folks on the internet are mad about some stuff some other folks on the internet said online?

I mean... I get it we're all fans and this is emotional stuff but sometimes it's just not that complicated.

And that's NOT me stumping for my employer that's me telling you how I think the real world works.

I doubt Luc has been making any business decisions during his tenure. Just ask him if he knows the difference between an income statement and a balance sheet. There are lots of quality people in place beneath him making good decisions, but that's likely due more to Beckerman than Robitaille.

Luc is there because he plays the role of 'face of the franchise' so well. He has good looks, charisma, is easily approachable, gets along with the fans and the press. Beckerman told me himself that Luc was always willing to play that role without complaining and did so very effectively.

As director of Hockey ops, there is no hiding behind a Kelly Cheeseman or a Darren Abbott who are responsible for revenues and profits. Luc clearly didn't like playing second fiddle to DL and probably, although we'll never know for sure, engineered his demise. Now, the results are in and someone has to be held responsible. The problem is the both #4 and #20 are hanging from the rafters which means they have to be treated with kid goves. THis is effectively what has taken place. I refuse to believe that Blake had any intention of leaving and would have gladly signed an extensiuon had one been offered. THis way his dignity is intact. We will learn more in the coming days just how reduced Luc's tole is.

My money is on dividing the two roles again, leaving Luc in charge Business Operations (ostensibly) and hiring a President of Hockey Operations. That is how the real world works- you don't humiliate people unnecessarily that have bled for you, but you do make the necessary changes.