Blake is out

[FSL KINGS]

Everyone should be pissing their pants right now.......soemone said it, the devil you know vs the devil you don't, I can name 5 off hand right now that come with "hockey pedigree" that would be a disaster for LA.....so...here's to nothing lol

Blake was a terrible GM.

If we end up with a worse GM, the much needed rebuild will arrive sooner. It's a win win.

 

[Herby]

I’m not saying he should get the job but I think Yannetti would be an interesting choice. I’ve listened to a couple of interviews where, if you listened to him enough and reading between the lines, he hasn’t agreed with various development decisions.

BTW, his infamous statement about only McDavids play at 18 wasn’t a lie IMO. He was trying to explain a decision (I never felt he agreed with) and just did it in fairly poor fashion. The fact he explained it poorly, given how well he explains things, is part of my opinion on this one. He’s usually very precise and accurate, so I think he was toeing the company line which is what he’s employed to do. Listening to subsequent interviews reinforced my view.

So I hold none of that against him. I listen to his interviews any time I can find them and sometimes I pick up on things he’s doesn’t say (consistently). I think he’s the internal candidate that would do it differently.

Yannetti would absolutely have a plan and I think he’d probably have one ready to go already. Whether that’s the right plan I have no idea. However the plan won’t matter, I suspect it’ll be more important who his agent it. He’s also not Bergevin which is a huge plus.

I’m not sure about Futa, simply because I don’t know why nobody has given him a shot. There must be a reason. He was great in his previous role so why has he not made the next step? There may be good reasons but it makes me question some seeing him as an automatic choice.

(Sigh…) none of it matters because of Luc.

I'm pretty sure it was not Yannetti who made that statement. His whopper was the claim to Hoven that the Kings have slow cooked every prospect for the entire time he has been with the organization, which can be proven false with just a few clicks on Elite Prospects or HockeyDB. But hey, honestly has been optional for these guys for the last eight years, we all know that.

He also heavily implied that teams like Ottawa and Detroit are handling prospect development incorrectly by following a faster model that directly contradicts his belief in a slow cooking approach. Yet Ottawa has built a rising playoff roster composed almost entirely of players drafted since Rob Blake took over the Kings.

First line center: Tim Stutzle, zero AHL games, first round pick in 2020
First pair defenseman: Jake Sanderson, zero AHL games, first round pick in 2020
First line left wing: Brady Tkachuk, zero AHL games, first round pick in 2018
Second line right wing: Drake Batherson, 103 AHL games, fourth round pick in 2017
Second line center: Josh Norris, 56 AHL games, first round pick in 2017 (flipped for current second line center Dylan Cozens)
Third line center: Shane Pinto, zero AHL games, second round pick in 2019
Third line left wing: Ridly Greig, 39 AHL games, first round pick in 2020
Fifth defenseman: Tyler Kleven, 53 AHL games, second round pick in 2020

Do you think many of these players are handled the same way by the LA Kings? History would say no.

But do not worry. The person who made the comment "Only the McDavids of the world can jump to the NHL without AHL time" is apparently also under consideration for the job. Despite poor results in prospect development that would have earned most people a pink slip, he is being talked about as a candidate for promotion, his qualifications apparently being a player for the Kings in the late 90's. Welcome to the wonderful world of Luc Robitaille!

Given what lies ahead for this team, likely starting next offseason when Anze Kopitar retires, the Kings must hire a general manager who understands modern prospect development. This means someone who is more open to allowing players to jump directly to the NHL and produce on entry level contracts, instead of continuing with the outdated AHL heavy approach that has significantly harmed our draft classes from 2017 to 2021.

Perhaps Yannetti was simply being a good soldier and toeing the company line, but it is hard to feel optimistic if the Kings are planning to hire someone who thinks Ottawa’s approach is wrong and the Kings is right.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Blake was a terrible GM.

If we end up with a worse GM, the much needed rebuild will arrive sooner. It's a win win.

With....a worse GM....tell me...how many GOOD GMs have pulled off a successful rebuild? You wanna take your shot with a worse GM than Blake?

 

[funky]

I'm pretty sure it was not Yannetti who made that statement. His whopper was the claim to Hoven that the Kings have slow cooked every prospect for the entire time he has been with the organization, which can be proven false with just a few clicks on Elite Prospects or HockeyDB. But hey, honestly has been optional for these guys for the last eight years, we all know that.

He also heavily implied that teams like Ottawa and Detroit are handling prospect development incorrectly by following a faster model that directly contradicts his belief in a slow cooking approach. Yet Ottawa has built a rising playoff roster composed almost entirely of players drafted since Rob Blake took over the Kings.

First line center: Tim Stutzle, zero AHL games, first round pick in 2020
First pair defenseman: Jake Sanderson, zero AHL games, first round pick in 2020
First line left wing: Brady Tkachuk, zero AHL games, first round pick in 2018
Second line right wing: Drake Batherson, 103 AHL games, fourth round pick in 2017
Second line center: Josh Norris, 56 AHL games, first round pick in 2017 (flipped for current second line center Dylan Cozens)
Third line center: Shane Pinto, zero AHL games, second round pick in 2019
Third line left wing: Ridly Greig, 39 AHL games, first round pick in 2020
Fifth defenseman: Tyler Kleven, 53 AHL games, second round pick in 2020

Do you think many of these players are handled the same way by the LA Kings? History would say no.

But do not worry. The person who made the comment "Only the McDavids of the world can jump to the NHL without AHL time" is apparently also under consideration for the job. Despite poor results in prospect development that would have earned most people a pink slip, he is being talked about as a candidate for promotion, his qualifications apparently being a player for the Kings in the late 90's. Welcome to the wonderful world of Luc Robitaille!

Given what lies ahead for this team, likely starting next offseason when Anze Kopitar retires, the Kings must hire a general manager who understands modern prospect development. This means someone who is more open to allowing players to jump directly to the NHL and produce on entry level contracts, instead of continuing with the outdated AHL heavy approach that has significantly harmed our draft classes from 2017 to 2021.

Perhaps Yannetti was simply being a good soldier and toeing the company line, but it is hard to feel optimistic if the Kings are planning to hire someone who thinks Ottawa’s approach is wrong and the Kings is right.

Did he not say that a balance between the two ways would be ideal in one of his interviews? That was during my concussion recovery time so I may be miss-remembering and totally wrong. I thought on one of the Yank interviews he hinted at or admitted the Kings org might be overbaking the prospects and the answer was somewhere in the middle.

I find it funny how in a lot of Yank's interviews there is stuff he wants to elaborate on and say, but backtracks and says he will get in trouble. Maybe he got his peepee slapped in the past and is towing the company line?

Would love to sit down 1 on 1 with Dean, Blake and Yank and get the behind the scenes, no holds barred stories as to how things unfolded and what their philosophies were, and why certain decisions were made. Yes, I will bring a polygraph to make sure its truthful. I think it would be fascinating to hear their real, unedited, pure version stories.

 

[Kudelski37]

With....a worse GM....tell me...how many GOOD GMs have pulled off a successful rebuild? You wanna take your shot with a worse GM than Blake?

I worse GM might get Luc and company fired before Doughty's contract is up.

 

[Herby]

Did he not say that a balance between the two ways would be ideal in one of his interviews? That was during my concussion recovery time so I may be miss-remembering and totally wrong. I thought on one of the Yank interviews he hinted at or admitted the Kings org might be overbaking the prospects and the answer was somewhere in the middle.

I find it funny how in a lot of Yank's interviews there is stuff he wants to elaborate on and say, but backtracks and says he will get in trouble. Maybe he got his peepee slapped in the past and is towing the company line?

Would love to sit down 1 on 1 with Dean, Blake and Yank and get the behind the scenes, no holds barred stories as to how things unfolded and what their philosophies were, and why certain decisions were made. Yes, I will bring a polygraph to make sure its truthful. I think it would be fascinating to hear their real, unedited, pure version stories.

I believe his implication was that those teams were cutting corners, I think he even used the term "instant gratification", although I am not 100% sure.

But he certainly did say that the Kings have "always been a slow cook team, for as long as I've been here"

And I know people hate to accuse somebody of lying, and lean on things like "different interpretation" but by my count the Kings had the following players debut under DL without spending any time in the AHL before.

Anze Kopitar
Jack Johnson
Drew Doughty
Wayne Simmonds
Oscar Moller
Brayden Schenn
Jonathan Bernier

Even a guy like Quick, as a goaltender he played games in his first pro-season and was the Kings clear cut starting goaltender in his 2nd professional season.

It's just hard to imagine somebody could "mis-remember" something like this so badly. There is just zero chance anybody could consider an organization that had that many players play early as being a slow-cook organization.

 

[FSL KINGS]

With....a worse GM....tell me...how many GOOD GMs have pulled off a successful rebuild? You wanna take your shot with a worse GM than Blake?

So we shouldn't address incompetence & just see how things go for another decade? Says a lot.

It is a very real possibility that if Luc is allowed to choose the next GM, he'll get someone even less qualified. Looking forward to mocking the new GM.

 

[All The Kings Men]

Dean was giving a compliment to Kings fans and how passionate we were despite the organization never winning a damn thing.

That maybe how you heard it.

I heard it differently.

 

[King'sPawn]

I believe his implication was that those teams were cutting corners, I think he even used the term "instant gratification", although I am not 100% sure.

But he certainly did say that the Kings have "always been a slow cook team, for as long as I've been here"

And I know people hate to accuse somebody of lying, and lean on things like "different interpretation" but by my count the Kings had the following players debut under DL without spending any time in the AHL before.

Anze Kopitar
Jack Johnson
Drew Doughty
Wayne Simmonds
Oscar Moller
Brayden Schenn
Jonathan Bernier

Even a guy like Quick, as a goaltender he played games in his first pro-season and was the Kings clear cut starting goaltender in his 2nd professional season.

It's just hard to imagine somebody could "mis-remember" something like this so badly. There is just zero chance anybody could consider an organization that had that many players play early as being a slow-cook organization.

It's okay. You can single me out as I am the only one who has used that phrasing recently.

And I've addressed this before.

Brayden Schenn is the most recent of your examples. 16 years ago now. And it was an off-the-cuff phrasing in an interview where he didn't have the questions pre-planned.

Maybe he erred. Or misremembered. It had been so long (since the statement was in 2022?). Or maybe, as Statto said, he fumbled towing the line of "we've been doing it for as long as Blake had been working with him." Or maybe that's been the message internally since he joined but there were exceptions. After all, Lombardi said "you can never overprepare a player."

Your gotcha of his "lie" is 13 years old. A lot has happened. Because of your hard-on for getting angry at Hoven for not pushing back, you are missing the overall point.

Which prospects, between Schenn and Laferriere, played no more than half a season in the AHL before staying in the NHL? Only one I can remember is Lizotte. Then Anderson at 53 games.

Or am I a liar because I can't think of any other examples?

 

[DryIslandBartender]

I think a guy like Blake is fine as a #2 under a visionary with executive decisiveness like Lombardi.

What’s interesting is that DL pointed out in the interview the organization dynamics that the guys under him and Luc as former king players, were all still acting like teammates and so on. Blake would fit right in.

I do think DL respects Blake and one of the reasons why he was hired was because Blake sees things differently sometimes, specifically from a player perspective. They had tough negotiations so DL could appreciate that point of view and have a different voice in the room so to speak.

Hextall was the same way, he’ll give his unfiltered opinion to DL.


I do think if Sutter was given another year, and DL kicked up to President of Hockey operations with Blake as GM. Blake would have been more successful, the fact that it was Luc instead probably made it a difficult situation as friends since they both have different views.

Remember Luc was all about style. Blake not so much, but he went along with it. The early days of their reign, the mantra was speed and that was something that was planted into the Kings media ecosystem. “We are slow, we need speed!”, DL rejected that premise on Coffee with Bob. The first couple years of that post DL era, the Kings were obsessed with speed and got guys like Hagel, AA, Iafallo, the center/wing from Cryotes. Add Kovalchuk to the mix after the VGK embarrassment.

It was all style and flash in mind with these moves. Not a whole lot of thought and effort into these moves. One of the most blatant and unethical decisions Luc made was bypassing everyone including his own GM and a player on the Montreal Canadians and conspiring with his best friend who happened to be the players agent to TAKE LESS MONEY and force the Canadians to accept a trade. Of course, Pacioretti shitcanned Brisson and went a different direction for himself, ended up with a better deal and a cup.

I was very surprised Luc and the Kings weren’t docked a draft pick for tampering, or fined. But then again, the league has a kid glove approach to HOFers.

 

[Herby]

It's okay. You can single me out as I am the only one who has used that phrasing recently.

And I've addressed this before.

Brayden Schenn is the most recent of your examples. 16 years ago now. And it was an off-the-cuff phrasing in an interview where he didn't have the questions pre-planned.

Maybe he erred. Or misremembered. It had been so long (since the statement was in 2022?). Or maybe, as Statto said, he fumbled towing the line of "we've been doing it for as long as Blake had been working with him." Or maybe that's been the message internally since he joined but there were exceptions. After all, Lombardi said "you can never overprepare a player."

Your gotcha of his "lie" is 13 years old. A lot has happened. Because of your hard-on for getting angry at Hoven for not pushing back, you are missing the overall point.

Which prospects, between Schenn and Laferriere, played no more than half a season in the AHL before staying in the NHL? Only one I can remember is Lizotte. Then Anderson at 53 games.

Or am I a liar because I can't think of any other examples?

I was not trying to single you out, as there were multiple people who defended what Yannetti said. Sorry for not being able to remember which excuse each individual person had, I will try to be better in that regard going forward.

The reason Brayden Schenn was the most recent one was because of two reasons.

1. The Kings were contending or trying to contend between 2011 and when Dean was fired in 2017.
2. The Kings had no prospects good enough to jump straight to the NHL. Which happens when you don't pick inside the Top 10 over a seven draft period.

Although a player like Toffoli, who was in the Kings playoff lineup in 2013 in his first professional season in the organization was pushed through much quicker than players under Blake.

That is a far cry from the current Kings regime, that became one of the only teams in the last dozen years to not have a forward taken as high as QB was in the draft start in the NHL, and has members of the oprganization do self-aggrandized interviews where they praise how great their development strategies are and how great "paying the dues", "learning the system" and "saving years on ELC's" are, as the players almost universally fail to live up to draft night expectations.

Do you think that DL, after the success of most of those players suddenly was against letting players develop in the NHL?

It's not a gotcha, it's somebody making a factually incorrect statement in an interview. Of course since there was no pushback or attempt to correct that (shocking I know) we will never know if he truly meant it, but taking the statement literally, it's an incorrect statement. Maybe in the future somebody can ask him a simple question like "Why do you think the organization changed its strategy in developing your high picks between DL and Blake" and he can answer accordingly, or maybe hard hitting questions like, "what is your favorite CHL city to visit" can be asked instead.

If it were only during the Blake tenure it's unlikely the words "for as long as I've been with the Kings, even when Dean was here" wouldn't have been used. But again, we will just have to agree to disagree.

If you put a gun to my head, it's probably toeing the line, and playing to the person interviewing him, as I don't think Yannetti is an idiot, and judging from his memory on other things, I'd guess it's quite strong, certainly enough to remember that seven players between 2006 and 2009 made the team out of camp without spending time in Manchester.

 

[KINGS17]

That maybe how you heard it.

I heard it differently.

To each his own. I spoke with Dean multiple times over the years and I think he had a great deal of respect for Kings fans. Maybe not so much for "content creators". I am sure he wouldn't have much time for Rob Blake trial nonsense, if that was the content you were creating and wanted to ask questions of him about.

I think if you ask other creators like KP, he might tell you that Dean was willing to talk with him at length about his philosophy on the draft, etc.

 

[All The Kings Men]

To each his own. I spoke with Dean multiple times over the years and I think he had a great deal of respect for Kings fans. Maybe not so much for "content creators". I think if you ask other creators like KP, he might tell you that Dean was willing to talk with him at length about his philosophy on the draft, etc.

I was partially joking.

Obviously Lombardi was a great GM and was well liked by all his players and lieutenants. I had a chance to interact with him and his wife at the 2014 Cup reunion even this past summer and it was obvious how much respect everybody still had for him and to be perfectly honest I was terrified of disappointing or upsetting him because he's DEAN LOMBARDI.

I just like to push back on the image of him as an infallible legend of a perfect human being. I've seen plenty of interviews with him where I've smacked my forehead and screamed at the podcast or youtube video and said "how can someone so smart be so clueless about (fill in the blank)"

His comment about being surprised about Kings fans was made VERY early in his tenure as Kings GM and I don't even remember what he said or what the setting was I just remember thinking "oh brother... ANOTHER non-Angelino showing up who had no idea that hockey fans actually exist in LA"

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I remember the interview, it was from 2006 when he was first hired. He just talked about being a visiting scout with the Flyers, sitting in the press box (or wherever it is they sit), and noticing the passion of Kings fans.

And if you want to look at the dumbest thing Lombardi did, it was allowing Voynov back at practice after his domestic abuse arrest. Think the league heavily fined him for that as well.

Found the article:

Los Angeles Kings fined $100k after suspended Slava Voynov practices with team

One day after pleading not guilty at his arraignment hearing, suspended Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov took part in an optional skate with the team. As a result, the NHL has fined the Kings $100,000 for violating the terms of Voynov’s suspension.

thehockeynews.com

 

[KINGS17]

I was partially joking.

Obviously Lombardi was a great GM and was well liked by all his players and lieutenants. I had a chance to interact with him and his wife at the 2014 Cup reunion even this past summer and it was obvious how much respect everybody still had for him and to be perfectly honest I was terrified of disappointing or upsetting him because he's DEAN LOMBARDI.

I just like to push back on the image of him as an infallible legend of a perfect human being. I've seen plenty of interviews with him where I've smacked my forehead and screamed at the podcast or youtube video and said "how can someone so smart be so clueless about (fill in the blank)"

His comment about being surprised about Kings fans was made VERY early in his tenure as Kings GM and I don't even remember what he said or what the setting was I just remember thinking "oh brother... ANOTHER non-Angelino showing up who had no idea that hockey fans actually exist in LA"

I don't think anyone here sees Dean as infallible. He made plenty of mistakes. However, I do think he was pretty good at critical self evaluation and moved quickly to correct any errors he made in building the team.

I still believe he would have righted the ship and we would be better off today as an organization had he been given the multitude of opportunities the current management has been given. ...but we will never know.

 

[FrozenKing18]

I don't think anyone here sees Dean as infallible. He made plenty of mistakes. However, I do think he was pretty good at critical self evaluation and moved quickly to correct any errors he made in building the team.

I still believe he would have righted the ship and we would be better off today as an organization had he been given the multitude of opportunities the current management has been given. ...but we will never know.

This. Yes, he made some terrible moves but it sucked that he wasn’t given a longer leash to correct his mistakes.

 

[King'sPawn]

I was not trying to single you out, as there were multiple people who defended what Yannetti said. Sorry for not being able to remember which excuse each individual person had, I will try to be better in that regard going forward.

Sorry, I just didn't see anyone else using my phrasing, so I thought you were trying to spare my feelings.

The reason Brayden Schenn was the most recent one was because of two reasons.

1. The Kings were contending or trying to contend between 2011 and when Dean was fired in 2017.
2. The Kings had no prospects good enough to jump straight to the NHL. Which happens when you don't pick inside the Top 10 over a seven draft period.

We've established that plenty of players outside the top-10 didn't go through the AHL though. They stayed in Europe, NCAA, or just managed to make the team after turning 20 in the CHL. So, yes, Lombardi buried players in the AHL. And sorry, but citing exceptions of "no top 10 picks" sounds like one of those excuses you don't like others throwing out.

What about Derek Forbort? He could have played his senior year at UND. Nick Shore signed as a junior too. Prokhorkin stayed for extra years in Russia because he didn't want to while away the hours in Manchester. Paul LaDue signed as a junior. Jonny Brodzinski in St Cloud.

Adrien Kempe was playing in the AHL as a 19 year-old. He played 1.5 seasons in Ontario before staying up in LA. Matt Roy signed as a junior and then spent a couple seasons in the AHL. Maybe he could have cooked in college hockey longer.

That is a far cry from the current Kings regime, that became one of the only teams in the last dozen years to not have a forward taken as high as QB was in the draft start in the NHL, and has members of the oprganization do self-aggrandized interviews where they praise how great their development strategies are and how great "paying the dues", "learning the system" and "saving years on ELC's" are, as the players almost universally fail to live up to draft night expectations.

Yannetti has certainly praised the developmental staff, but that's normal...? He'd be a pretty shitty person to say "we pick the best but our development staff doesn't know what to do with them." I don't know what your beef is with that. But he has also put out there that it remains to be seen whether or not slow-cooking everyone is the right choice. Or at least acknowledged there nay be times it's not the best case.

As far as other members of the org, like Murray or Emerson, I won't address it. I don't cling onto their words as much, for one. But also, because we're talking about Yannetti and his "lies."

Do you think that DL, after the success of most of those players suddenly was against letting players develop in the NHL?

Yes. Either him or Yannetti said they realized they rushed Moller, so they wouldn't want to do that again.

It's not a gotcha, it's somebody making a factually incorrect statement in an interview. Of course since there was no pushback or attempt to correct that (shocking I know) we will never know if he truly meant it, but taking the statement literally, it's an incorrect statement. Maybe in the future somebody can ask him a simple question like "Why do you think the organization changed its strategy in developing your high picks between DL and Blake" and he can answer accordingly, or maybe hard hitting questions like, "what is your favorite CHL city to visit" can be asked instead.

An incorrect statement isn't a lie though. We say incorrect statements on a daily basis, and we all work within the best of our knowledge to recall and call it out. And maybe as Hoven prepared for the interview, he didn't make note of every potential misstatement. It sucks it was missed, because sure, I'd like to see clarity too. But they have only so much time to have these interviews, and maybe it was missed.

If you put a gun to my head, it's probably toeing the line, and playing to the person interviewing him, as I don't think Yannetti is an idiot, and judging from his memory on other things, I'd guess it's quite strong, certainly enough to remember that seven players between 2006 and 2009 made the team out of camp without spending time in Manchester.

That's fair, but I'll just have to disagree. Yannetti runs his mouth a lot and constantly tries to catch himself when he misspeaks. And he's quite blunt.

I just think the overall attitude of Lombardi not wanting to rush players, even if there has been an exception, permeates in Yannetti's brain more than the exceptions. Yes, there were 7 exceptions, but how many conversations have they had about slow-burning prospects?

And you forget Yannetti himself joined the Kings as a pro scout in 2006-07. So, he wasn't part of the amateur scouting or development side when Kopitar started.

 

[Nasti]

I hope the new GM values size and toughness and that Luc will allow him to acquire such players.

 

[Lt Dan]

If it's Bergevin we riot

 

[unicornpig]

If it's Bergevin we riot

gross

 

[Kudelski37]

If it's Bergevin we riot

The Luc statue will be toppled!

 

[Nasti]

If it's Bergevin we riot

It absolutely will be him. Luc is pretending that there will be a thorough search but in reality, he decided Blake’s replacement years ago.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Every one of those names is awful

 

[DryIslandBartender]

If it's Bergevin we riot

So it’s Bergevin.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

It absolutely will be him. Luc is pretending that there will be a thorough search but in reality, he decided Blake’s replacement years ago.

The only issue is Bergevin isn’t going to get a long leash like Blake, he’ll be tied in with Luc and if the wheels come off, they’ll both be gone.

The islanders Job is on the east coast, #1 pick, Bergevin knows Roy etc. Much more attractive with stability there.