Blake is out

[Lt Dan]

 

[Herby]

lake also had a great offseason and trade deadline with the exception of another horrible coaching pick. I was hoping that would continue.

People keep saying this, but saying Blake had a great off-season last summer is like giving someone credit for putting quartz countertops into a condemned home before trying to sell it.

Foegele, Edmundson, Jeannot, even Kuemper were never moving the needle one iota in the big picture.

 

[Lt Dan]

 

[Lt Dan]

Ya know it's strange the older I get the less upset I am about 2001 and the more upset I am about 2008.

how old are you Jesse?

 

[funky]

People keep saying this, but saying Blake had a great off-season last summer is like giving someone credit for putting quartz countertops into a condemned home before trying to sell it.

Foegele, Edmundson, Jeannot, even Kuemper were never moving the needle one iota in the big picture.

I would argue they did. Each of those guys played with heart, each played hard, played physical and each did better than we thought they would. That is what you want in the locker room. Their playing style alone should have gave the others on the team at least the thought of playing a bit harder.

I do not believe we lost the first round on roster construction. I concede that Jeannot would have helped but only if the coach played them. That series was lost on coaching staffs strategic "lets fall back with the lead and let them come to us" and the leaders not being able to stop the swoon once it started. The coaching staff let the Oilers smell blood with game 3 and 4. Once that happened momentum and confidence was gained, our guys became exhausted and it was to late.

 

[SherVaughn30]

How likely is Bergevin to becoming the Islanders GM? Elliot Friedman has said Bergevin is high on the Islanders list of candidates. Could have a domino or reverse domino effect here. If Bergevin becomes the Isles GM, the Kings hand would be forced to find an outside GM, which would be very likely the outside GM fires Hiller. If Bergevin stays, then he becomes the new Kings GM and that means he keeps Hiller as coach.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

My favorite thing about Blake forcing his way out of LA in 2001 (besides the booing) was his player profile on divealanche.com.

 

[Herby]

Ya know it's strange the older I get the less upset I am about 2001 and the more upset I am about 2008.

2001 should have been the end of Rob Blake in the LA Kings organization. It was a slap in the face of the fanbase when DL brought him back on two different occasions, one of those occasions even after Dean himself was screwed over by Rob Blake at the 2008 deadline that you mentioned.

Fool me once, shame on you
Fool me twice, shame on me

Can anyone think of a pro sports team that a player with a retired jersey is as unpopular with that fanbase as Rob Blake and the LA Kings? I am struggling to think of any. OJ Simpson never had his jersey retired by the Bills, and even that, his unpopularity would have only happened decades after he left.

 

[KINGS17]

2001 should have been the end of Rob Blake in the LA Kings organization. It was a slap in the face of the fanbase when DL brought him back on two different occasions, one of those occasions even after Dean himself was screwed over by Rob Blake at the 2008 deadline that you mentioned.

Fool me once, shame on you
Fool me twice, shame on me

Can anyone think of a pro sports team that a player with a retired jersey is as unpopular with that fanbase as Rob Blake and the LA Kings? I am struggling to think of any. OJ Simpson never had his jersey retired by the Bills, and even that, his unpopularity would have only happened decades after he left.

There is always one in the stands, like axl, saying "Boo-lake"

 

[Herby]

I would argue they did. Each of those guys played with heart, each played hard, played physical and each did better than we thought they would. That is what you want in the locker room. Their playing style alone should have gave the others on the team at least the thought of playing a bit harder.

Your definition of "big picture" must be different than mine.

When I am thinking of moves that moved the needle in year eight, I am thinking of things like Marian Gaborik being the final piece to a contending team, not a bunch of depth pieces playing well for a faux contending team didn't have a #1 center or #1 defenseman.

Edmonton lost significant pieces in the off-season, they were without their #1 defenseman for the entire series and they had replacement level goaltending, and they still beat the Kings again, despite Rob Blake's excellent off-season that everybody keeps talking about.

That would have been a great off-season if Byfield and Clarke were the 1C and 1D, or Blake had traded for Eichel and never traded Faber. You have to have the foundation in place before you can add the countertops.

 

[All The Kings Men]

2001 should have been the end of Rob Blake in the LA Kings organization. It was a slap in the face of the fanbase when DL brought him back on two different occasions, one of those occasions even after Dean himself was screwed over by Rob Blake at the 2008 deadline that you mentioned.

Dean Lombardi gets a lot of credit for stuff that isn't true about him.

Understanding Kings fans is one of them.

Fool me once, shame on you
Fool me twice, shame on me

Can anyone think of a pro sports team that a player with a retired jersey is as unpopular with that fanbase as Rob Blake and the LA Kings? I am struggling to think of any. OJ Simpson never had his jersey retired by the Bills, and even that, his unpopularity would have only happened decades after he left.

I feel like maybe I can say this now...

In what... 2013 was it? We (me and my content creating hockey buddies) were working on a project I called "The Trial of Rob Blake" and the idea was going to be having a trial for Rob Blake to decide once and for all how Kings fans should view him.

I had a bunch of buy in from content creators (some of whom are still active) and we had assigned roles of prosecutor and defense attorney etc etc etc

Then he got hired as Assistant GM and that idea went away.

Maybe it can be resurrected now but probably not.

Not by me anyway but it was one of my ideas that I was most proud of.

 

[Lt Dan]

 

[Herby]

Dean Lombardi gets a lot of credit for stuff that isn't true about him.

Understanding Kings fans is one of them.

I feel like maybe I can say this now...

In what... 2013 was it? We (me and my content creating hockey buddies) were working on a project I called "The Trial of Rob Blake" and the idea was going to be having a trial for Rob Blake to decide once and for all how Kings fans should view him.

I had a bunch of buy in from content creators (some of whom are still active) and we had assigned roles of prosecutor and defense attorney etc etc etc

Then he got hired as Assistant GM and that idea went away.

Maybe it can be resurrected now but probably not.

Not by me anyway but it was one of my ideas that I was most proud of.

The whole handling of Blake post-2001 is mostly the organization spitting in the collective face of it's diehard fanbase, most of whom never wanted to see him back in the organization in any capacity. Instead he has been allowed back as a player and a GM, and had his jersey retired.

I would be fairly certain that your trial of Blake would result in his banishment.

 

[All The Kings Men]

I would be fairly certain that your trial of Blake would result in his banishment.

Well sure...

But I think there's actually an interesting conversation to be had about what happened in 2000-2001.

I don't think there's much to be said about 2008 frankly but I wasn't gonna be the defense attorney so who knows what they might have come up with.

EDIT: one of the worst parts of getting old is that those darn kids don'tk now or remember the past

I try and tell the kids these days that Rob Blake was booed at the all-star game in 2002 and they don't believe me

But I KNOW he was because I was there... booing him.

But with the benefit of hindsight I can say that the version of me in his late 40s thinks that the version of me that was in his early 20s was wrong and was an idiot about a lot of things.

 

[King'sPawn]

2001 should have been the end of Rob Blake in the LA Kings organization. It was a slap in the face of the fanbase when DL brought him back on two different occasions, one of those occasions even after Dean himself was screwed over by Rob Blake at the 2008 deadline that you mentioned.

Fool me once, shame on you
Fool me twice, shame on me

Can anyone think of a pro sports team that a player with a retired jersey is as unpopular with that fanbase as Rob Blake and the LA Kings? I am struggling to think of any. OJ Simpson never had his jersey retired by the Bills, and even that, his unpopularity would have only happened decades after he left.

I agree. I reluctantly accepted him back during Lombardi's tenure.

But his second stint back, he blocked a trade to SJ because he "wanted to stay in LA", and so LA couldn't get futures for him.

Then when Lombardi didn't get back to him fast enough, he took a deal with San Jose.

There was so much ill will that SHOULD have caused, that he shouldn't have been brought back a THIRD time in an executive capacity. And not only was he brought back, he was elevated.

To say the organization was tone deaf in bringing him in is an understatement.

 

[All The Kings Men]

To say the organization was tone deaf in bringing him in is an understatement.

Lombardi.

Lombardi was tone deaf.

He always was.

 

[DoktorJeep]

Is he not Blake's friend. He might be part of the casualties (hopefully) when all is said and done. That guy can't seem to develop a sun tan let alone a hockey prospect.

Since it was a “mutual parting of the ways”, I feel like the beach volleyball squad is going to stay in tact.

I agree. I reluctantly accepted him back during Lombardi's tenure.

But his second stint back, he blocked a trade to SJ because he "wanted to stay in LA", and so LA couldn't get futures for him.

Then when Lombardi didn't get back to him fast enough, he took a deal with San Jose.

There was so much ill will that SHOULD have caused, that he shouldn't have been brought back a THIRD time in an executive capacity. And not only was he brought back, he was elevated.

To say the organization was tone deaf in bringing him in is an understatement.

I always felt that Luc was the person pushing to bring back Blake each time. End of last season he said no one had more integrity than Blake. I read into that a slight at Dean saying he lacked integrity.

 

[King'sPawn]

Lombardi.

Lombardi was tone deaf.

He always was.

I'll take your word for it. I spoke with Lombardi very briefly quite a few times, and always just saw him more brutally honest than tone deaf, but you undoubtedly had more interactions with him.

I don't think the tone deafness left when Lombardi left though.

 

[Papa Mocha 15]

Cool... How about we get a GM with a sense direction this time.

 

[AbsentMojo]

I'll take your word for it. I spoke with Lombardi very briefly quite a few times, and always just saw him more brutally honest than tone deaf, but you undoubtedly had more interactions with him.

I don't think the tone deafness left when Lombardi left though.

the only semi-negative thing I heard about DL is that he was not political at all..which you could call tone-deaf, or to me its a strength. I mean how tone deaf are you if you convince your boss to start a full rebuild? To me that is setting the tone and making things happen.

 

[johnjm22]

People keep saying this, but saying Blake had a great off-season last summer is like giving someone credit for putting quartz countertops into a condemned home before trying to sell it.

Foegele, Edmundson, Jeannot, even Kuemper were never moving the needle one iota in the big pictur

It's also what he (or they) didn't do.

There's a big difference between trading away your 1st and/or your top prospects while getting eliminated in the 1st round, verse not doing those things and still having the same result.

 

[All The Kings Men]

I'll take your word for it. I spoke with Lombardi very briefly quite a few times, and always just saw him more brutally honest than tone deaf, but you undoubtedly had more interactions with him.

I don't think the tone deafness left when Lombardi left though.

I remember Dean Lombardi once making a quote about being surprised at the passion of LA Kings fans.

I was insulted in the moment and never got over it.

 

[GKJ]

I didn’t realize it was 8 years. Holy shit.

Blake had a contract extension on the table for months and didn’t sign it. He should’ve been fired last year. Marc Bergevin has been waiting in the weeds which also seems like a bad move.

 

[Telos]

I don't hate Blake, but I don't like him and was against his jersey retirement. I feel that fan sentiment should play an important role in that. His jersey would never have been retired if Robitaille was not the President. Period. I sympathize slightly behind the scenes because players have mentioned that he's been good to them blah blah, but overall I sort of hope this definitely closes the book on him. They'll probably have a Blake Legends night or some shit in the future and the boos will rain down, but for the most part I hope he stays away.

I would take Futa back in a second, but if Robitaille remains in place, that will never happen. This is the regime that ousted him in the first place. Futa never wanted to leave.

 

[Herby]

Well sure...

But I think there's actually an interesting conversation to be had about what happened in 2000-2001.

I don't think there's much to be said about 2008 frankly but I wasn't gonna be the defense attorney so who knows what they might have come up with.

EDIT: one of the worst parts of getting old is that those darn kids don'tk now or remember the past

I try and tell the kids these days that Rob Blake was booed at the all-star game in 2002 and they don't believe me

But I KNOW he was because I was there... booing him.

But with the benefit of hindsight I can say that the version of me in his late 40s thinks that the version of me that was in his early 20s was wrong and was an idiot about a lot of things.

I agree that my 40's self would disagree with a lot of the things my 20's self thought.

But I think my 20 year old self was 100% right on Rob Blake, once you remove the C from your jersey as a contract negotiating ploy you can F-off forever.

It was an insult to the importance of wearing a C in the National Hockey League.

Blake also greatly overstated his value, he demanded to be the highest paid defenseman in the league, and he was clearly not as good as Lidstrom or Pronger. It's not as if the Kings were insulting him with the offers that were made. Like they did with Robitaille a year later.