Yeah, because trading Kopitar and Doughty isn't brought up every day. For years, and years, and years. So no, a little hyperbole in this case isn't sycophantic. Just highlighting the kinds of moves made around the league.
There's a wide range between trading Kopitar/Doughty and making room for a prospect who is outperforming below-replacement players.
Especially since for most of the years, the people advocating trading Kopitar and Doughty have received a lot of pushback until recently, when they're shadows of their former self.
So hyperbolizing an extreme case when the majority have mostly discussed moving a player like Walker seems disingenuous. Or you just wanted to pick a random fight. Or you think this reinforces your point that minor trades are most common this time of year. Nobody's disputed that. Bigger trades usually happen at the deadline. That doesn't mean:
- Bigger trades are impossible
- Trading a meh player like Walker is "too big to trade" this time of year
- Trading is Blake's only recourse of action
- Blake has zero takers
I'll be honest, it's frustrating discussing these issues with you because in my experience, you have a tendency to shoot down any reasonable if unpleasant action. For example, burying Walker and Petersen's gross contracts in the AHL while they are underperforming. They're viable. And yes, GMs don't WANT to do that. But you don't discuss the viability in that move even if Blake is unlikely to do it. You take the hard stance of GMs don't like to do this so they won't. And they won't do this either. And they won't do this other thing you suggested.
We all have that one friend who is going through a lot in life. Lost his job. Crappy car. Crappy relationships. Then you try to help that friend get a job. "But I don't have a car." So you help your friend look for a car. "But I don't have any money, because I'm unemployed." Then someone suggests he finds a sugar mama. "But I don't have a car or a job, so nobody will go out with me." It's this perpetual cycle of "I know these things need to be fixed but none of the suggestions work."
When the Kings are struggling, and even though you seem to agree that changes seem to be made organizationally, you sound like the friend making the above excuses for him.
So, jumping up at the slightest trade to use as affirmation for excuse-making highlights to me (and maybe others) your agenda and unwillingness to have an honest discussion, and that you would prefer to troll while chest thumping over every minor trade. Basically becoming the people who annoy you when they jump on every trade and say "Rob Blake asleep at the wheel!"
Blake is in this situation because six years of his management with the Kings have brought him to this moment. Whether or not you see this situation as good or bad is up to you. You can choose to believes he planned it this way, he's flying by the seat of his pants, or somewhere in between. But if you DO believe that changes need to be made, then I think you'd have a more fruitful discussion if you cared more about the "how" than the "why not."
Or, who knows, maybe you feel the only thing Blake needs to do is wait so he can ship off a player closer to the trade deadline, and hopefully Blake never makes a sequence of decisions like this so he's in this same situation again. If you feel that's the best choice for Blake, I'd grudgingly accept that, even if I think Blake should be moving something sooner.
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