Dean Lombardi vs Rob Blake

[Jericho111091]

I'll always be thankful for what Dean helped this franchise achieve, but it was time to move on. Blake hasn't been in charge long enough for me to fairly assess him as a gm

 

[HeadInjury]

Also, a request. Can we please stop referring to this mythical "BLuc"? It's not even chuckle-worthy at this point. If it's a comment regarding an area or decision that falls under the GM's purview, just say Blake - even if you hate the guy.

Would LuB be more acceptable? I'm thinking that might help ease the pain for you.

 

[bland]

Would LuB be more acceptable? I'm thinking that might help ease the pain for you.

At least the friction...

 

[Choralone]

Would LuB be more acceptable? I'm thinking that might help ease the pain for you.

Yes, my comment totally means I like it up the ass. f*** off.

 

[BigKing]

You think someone with 420 in their username would be more chill about it.

It isn't even a debate at this point because it has been rehashed time and time again. Here is my issue with where things are at when it comes to this "debate":

- It's obvious that Dean's moves--starting with keeping Richards--were almost universally horrible until he was fired. While the two Cups could have been worthy of not being clipped, his moves since the '14 Cup were worthy of being let go.

- Blake's moves up to this point have generally been horrible as well, yet it is not his fault. Dean's bad moves--even though you can understand the reasoning--are bad but Blake's bad moves are okay once you understand the reasoning. Like, the results matter with Dean but they don't with Rob because of "reasons". The results should matter for Rob as well.

- You can say that most of his moves have been horrible and, if giving a grade today, it would be a bad one; however, his draft picks becoming very good NHL players has the ability to flip it. Problem is, if you say this, it means you hate Rob Blake and want Dean Lombardi back as the GM.

- The argument for criticism of Blake primarily being due to his infamous history as a player of the Kings is a cop out when applied to the majority of posters. I'm personally not a fan but good moves will be complimented and bad moves will be criticized. Hell, I criticized Lombardi before the Cups and don't have a problem doing so in regards to the numerous mistakes he made post-2014 Cup since those are the most damning. That being said, it is kind of mind blowing to me that posters can support Blake so much while constantly destroying Lombardi. I mean, I know who has provided me with more joy as a Kings fan and it is not even close. The good that Blake did on the ice plus all of the bad doesn't come close to the good of Lombardi bringing Cups and then the bad of everything that has happened since. My experience as a Kings fan has been made much better by Lombardi than it has by Blake which is why it is strange to me that support of Blake has to contain constant criticism of Lombardi. Again, one can support Blake's moves without having to compare them to the worst moves of Lombardi. If that is the only or best way to support a move, is the move that good to begin with?

I don't think one has to draw a line because it isn't a fair fight: Lombardi won two Cups and Blake is presiding over a 2nd straight next-to-last-place finish but didn't inherit as good of a situation as Lombardi did. I just don't understand the desire to absolve Blake for anything that has happened during his nearly three years on the job. It's unfair to criticize him for the Kings not being a playoff team at the moment but he is also on the hook for his own poor decisions.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

You think someone with 420 in their username would be more chill about it.

It isn't even a debate at this point because it has been rehashed time and time again. Here is my issue with where things are at when it comes to this "debate":

- It's obvious that Dean's moves--starting with keeping Richards--were almost universally horrible until he was fired. While the two Cups could have been worthy of not being clipped, his moves since the '14 Cup were worthy of being let go.

- Blake's moves up to this point have generally been horrible as well, yet it is not his fault. Dean's bad moves--even though you can understand the reasoning--are bad but Blake's bad moves are okay once you understand the reasoning. Like, the results matter with Dean but they don't with Rob because of "reasons". The results should matter for Rob as well.

- You can say that most of his moves have been horrible and, if giving a grade today, it would be a bad one; however, his draft picks becoming very good NHL players has the ability to flip it. Problem is, if you say this, it means you hate Rob Blake and want Dean Lombardi back as the GM.

- The argument for criticism of Blake primarily being due to his infamous history as a player of the Kings is a cop out when applied to the majority of posters. I'm personally not a fan but good moves will be complimented and bad moves will be criticized. Hell, I criticized Lombardi before the Cups and don't have a problem doing so in regards to the numerous mistakes he made post-2014 Cup since those are the most damning. That being said, it is kind of mind blowing to me that posters can support Blake so much while constantly destroying Lombardi. I mean, I know who has provided me with more joy as a Kings fan and it is not even close. The good that Blake did on the ice plus all of the bad doesn't come close to the good of Lombardi bringing Cups and then the bad of everything that has happened since. My experience as a Kings fan has been made much better by Lombardi than it has by Blake which is why it is strange to me that support of Blake has to contain constant criticism of Lombardi. Again, one can support Blake's moves without having to compare them to the worst moves of Lombardi. If that is the only or best way to support a move, is the move that good to begin with?

I don't think one has to draw a line because it isn't a fair fight: Lombardi won two Cups and Blake is presiding over a 2nd straight next-to-last-place finish but didn't inherit as good of a situation as Lombardi did. I just don't understand the desire to absolve Blake for anything that has happened during his nearly three years on the job. It's unfair to criticize him for the Kings not being a playoff team at the moment but he is also on the hook for his own poor decisions.

Maybe I'm coming late to the party here, but what moves do you think Blake has made that have been "horrible" Immediately Kovalchuk comes to mind, but it was understandable what they were coming off of, doesn't mean it was good, but it wasn't like we scored 26 goals in 4 games against the Knights and let in 30, and then go and sign a prolific scorer type of WTF move....It didn't work out, it happens,

What other moves have been horrible?

 

[BigKing]

Maybe I'm coming late to the party here, but what moves do you think Blake has made that have been "horrible" Immediately Kovalchuk comes to mind, but it was understandable what they were coming off of, doesn't mean it was good, but it wasn't like we scored 26 goals in 4 games against the Knights and let in 30, and then go and sign a prolific scorer type of WTF move....It didn't work out, it happens,

What other moves have been horrible?

The "but it was understandable" is what I'm talking about with his mistakes but the same understanding of Dean's mistakes are dismissed. We either lessen the criticism because of the understanding behind the move for both guys or we just judge the result.

Stevens
Rolling out Lombardi's same team in 2018
Kovy and thinking they were a contender prior to being the 2nd worst team in the league.
Willie D hire when he was still trying to right the ship
Dion trade
Pearson asset management

You'll notice that these are all NHL-level moves. Blake's best NHL level move is probably signing Iafallo? Muzzin trade if you want to say that is NHL level but that is a play for non-NHL players. Everything in Blake's favor is currently unrealized prospect potential.

His important moves dealing with the NHL roster have been poor. That isn't a big deal when you've finally decided to tank but it isn't a good look when you are actively trying to win.

I know I criticize him but I also love the Muzzin trade and really like the last draft on paper. So I like these things and they are more recent so that is good but the time leading up to the Muzzin trade was not good.

For everything we put on DL and/or Blake, the players really let DL down and they aren't doing Blake any favors either. T-Mac's comments last night are pretty damning. We can all argue about the talent level and the roster, but when he says there is a "team" problem then you have to question the players and the compete level. The PK last night with all of the blocked shots felt like a fever dream because that couldn't be the 2020 Kings. The rest of the game let us know that, yes, these are the 2020 Kings.

 

[Bandit]

Finally, a containment thread.

You f***ing wish this is gonna contain a damn thing.

Dean Lombardi is the best GM this franchise ever had. Until Blake wins two cups I DGAF what else he does, he's not in the conversation.

 

[DoktorJeep]

Do you expect them to say ‘we have given up’?

Since we were invited to contain bitching about management to outside the rumors thread, I’ll respond here.

Yes, I expected them to announce a rebuild, they just waited a couple months to do it, while in the interim saying otherwise. The only thing consistent is that the story changed 6 times in 17 months.

April 2017 The team is fine, the problem is the stars hated the former coach and the former GM traded away all the draft picks and prospects.

April 2018 The team is fine, the problem is the stars need help with goal scoring, so we’re signing a proven nhl goal scorer in the offseason in order to make another cup run.

November 2018 The players aren’t performing up to expectations and you can’t trade everyone, so the coach had to go in order to send a message to the locker room that now is the time to turn things around.

November 2018 The players are acting entitled so one of the former cup core players is being traded to shake the team out of complacency.

January 2019 The season is over and the team sucks because Ilya Kovalchuk doesn’t play defense. See ya Jake Muzzin for a better future for the franchise.

August 2019 The Kings are ready to re envision their identity and will be turning over the roster to get the average age down to 24 yo.

 

[DoktorJeep]

Why limit this to DL vs Blake? Bowelby isn’t even the second best GM this franchise has ever had. We should be debating the moves of Sam The Disaster McMaster vs Rob before even considering a showdown with the Dean The Godfather Lombardi.

1. Deano
2. Nick Beverly
3. Dumpster Diving DT
4. Rogie
5. George McGuire
6. Jake Milford
7. Larry Regan
8. BLuc
9. Sammy Mac

 

[DryIslandBartender]

Bottom line is, we were told that Sutter/DL were of antiquated hockey minds. It was time to put them out to the pasture. It was time for the Kings to be more modern aka SPEED. As if speed was a new concept in the NHL.

The Kings were going to be annual contenders and such. This was all said at the Bluc or Lub intro presser. Here:

-Don’t expect to see any concerted rebuilding process. “We believe this team has the core in place to compete for the Stanley Cup,” Robitaille said.

”We want to compete for the Stanley Cup every year,” said Beckerman. “It would be unrealistic for me to say ‘we need to win the Stanley Cup every year, or we haven’t reached our goals.’ That’s probably not realistic. But we need to compete every year for it. And we have the roster, we have the players and the investment and the people and the infrastructure and the development system, so I don’t think it’s an unrealistic expectation that we want to compete for the Stanley Cup every year.”

Blake said. “I’m not going to make anything up. We don’t score. It’s flat. It’s been that way this year. There needs to be some emphasis on how we’re going to do that. And there’s time now through this off-season to come up with those different philosophies. Whoever the head coach, when he is hired, will have a major impact on that. These players are going to have an impact. I’m going to lean on these players to find out. They’re the ones on the ice delivering that and we’re going to share ideas here over the next course and they’re going to direct us in the right way.”

Again that was the introduction presser, nowhere do they emphasize or make it a top goal to stock the pipeline. They only pivoted to that mantra once they traded Muzzin. These guys don’t know what they are doing. Going from talking about annual cup contention to annual lottery pick is quite a gap.

 

[KINGS17]

Finally, a containment thread.

Too late cases of Blake vs Obviously Superior Lombardi have already spread to 33 countries.

 

[KINGS17]

The "but it was understandable" is what I'm talking about with his mistakes but the same understanding of Dean's mistakes are dismissed. We either lessen the criticism because of the understanding behind the move for both guys or we just judge the result.

Stevens
Rolling out Lombardi's same team in 2018
Kovy and thinking they were a contender prior to being the 2nd worst team in the league.
Willie D hire when he was still trying to right the ship
Dion trade
Pearson asset management

You'll notice that these are all NHL-level moves. Blake's best NHL level move is probably signing Iafallo? Muzzin trade if you want to say that is NHL level but that is a play for non-NHL players. Everything in Blake's favor is currently unrealized prospect potential.

His important moves dealing with the NHL roster have been poor. That isn't a big deal when you've finally decided to tank but it isn't a good look when you are actively trying to win.

I know I criticize him but I also love the Muzzin trade and really like the last draft on paper. So I like these things and they are more recent so that is good but the time leading up to the Muzzin trade was not good.

For everything we put on DL and/or Blake, the players really let DL down and they aren't doing Blake any favors either. T-Mac's comments last night are pretty damning. We can all argue about the talent level and the roster, but when he says there is a "team" problem then you have to question the players and the compete level. The PK last night with all of the blocked shots felt like a fever dream because that couldn't be the 2020 Kings. The rest of the game let us know that, yes, these are the 2020 Kings.

The primary responsibility for this is on the players. Many of the cup winning players are simple a case of their best days being well behind them. Some of the guys who should have shouldered a larger leadership role as cup winning vets left the team have failed miserably in that regard.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

The "but it was understandable" is what I'm talking about with his mistakes but the same understanding of Dean's mistakes are dismissed. We either lessen the criticism because of the understanding behind the move for both guys or we just judge the result.

Stevens
Rolling out Lombardi's same team in 2018
Kovy and thinking they were a contender prior to being the 2nd worst team in the league.
Willie D hire when he was still trying to right the ship
Dion trade
Pearson asset management

You'll notice that these are all NHL-level moves. Blake's best NHL level move is probably signing Iafallo? Muzzin trade if you want to say that is NHL level but that is a play for non-NHL players. Everything in Blake's favor is currently unrealized prospect potential.

His important moves dealing with the NHL roster have been poor. That isn't a big deal when you've finally decided to tank but it isn't a good look when you are actively trying to win.

I know I criticize him but I also love the Muzzin trade and really like the last draft on paper. So I like these things and they are more recent so that is good but the time leading up to the Muzzin trade was not good.

For everything we put on DL and/or Blake, the players really let DL down and they aren't doing Blake any favors either. T-Mac's comments last night are pretty damning. We can all argue about the talent level and the roster, but when he says there is a "team" problem then you have to question the players and the compete level. The PK last night with all of the blocked shots felt like a fever dream because that couldn't be the 2020 Kings. The rest of the game let us know that, yes, these are the 2020 Kings.

Ok, so what's the criticism, that he actually made those moves, or that he's not being criticized for them but Lombardi is for his?

As far as the list you listed, I don't see Stevens as a mistake, I have two schools of thought, the continuity, was/is a good thing, and also, they gave the man his word, if they break it, they run the risk of not being able to hire quality hires.

Rolling out Lombardi's team in 2018, so 2017-2018, the team that missed the playoffs by 8 points, then turned around and made the playoffs, and improved 14 points, not sure how that gets leveled as a criticism.

Kovy, I already went there, I believe that was a mistake, even though you can understand how it happened.

Willie D hire, yea, definitely a meh, but I don't know if he was still trying to right the ship, more than, Willie D was the only one who would come in as interim, and Blake wasn't ready to give a multi year deal out....but yea, I will give you not one of his best moves, but I don't know how handcuffed he was

Dion trade, not sure how that's a criticism, Gaborik never played again, I guess you can say he should have seen that, but Phaneuf was serviceable and gave time for young players to incubate.

Pearson asset management, no clue what you are getting at there, that somehow Blake should have been able to see in the future that Pearson was going to regain his scoring touch, hell, he went to Pittsburgh, played with Malkin and Crosby and even THEY GAVE UP on him....not sure how Blake gets criticized for that...

I'm not a huge Blake fan, I loved Lombardi, but Blake is doing absolutely fine, he's crushed the draft so far, he's made excellent signings in Iafallo, Lizotte, etc, Muzzin deal was big, see what he does this off season and go from there....

I think part of the problem is what I alluded to earlier, 1 winner, 30 teams, the most successful team in the league since it's inception, only has what, 26 cups? You are going to fail the majority of the time, it's tough as hell to win, but no one seems to adjust their standards, fans I am talking about. My team didn't win, players suck, coaches suck, management suck, burn it all.....my team won, yea, everyone else sucks, we lost, we all suck again....the nature of sport is that you aren't going to win all the time, so it's the process that matters. I don't know if they have the process yet, I think T-Mac knows what he wants, and knows he can't get there yet....hell Lombardi started in 2006, took 6 years to win, and started off with a better situation, and Blake in what, 2.5 years people think he's doing bad? I don't get it.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

The primary responsibility for this is on the players. Many of the cup winning players are simple a case of their best days being well behind them. Some of the guys who should have shouldered a larger leadership role as cup winning vets left the team have failed miserably in that regard.

It’s also a case of doing just enough for some, just going to show up at the rink and collect a paycheck enough.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Both have done good things and made mistakes.

I will forever be thankful for the legacy Lombardi left.

My feelings on the legacy Blake leaves behind TBD.

This basically sums up my feelings, too.

 

[BigKing]

@GoldenBearHockey

Your post is exactly what one poster said about Lombardi supporters yesterday: explain away every mistake. Just like Lombardi's mistakes, a mistake is a mistake.

It's funny that the majority of Lombardi supporters aren't even saying he should still be the GM and they actually do admit that he was horrible at the end but the Blake crowd does a lot of excuse making while then also dropping the "it's Dean's fault anyway" as the topper.

It is ignorance to ignore the fact that Blake grossly miscalculated the roster he inherited. I know the excuse is made that so many people couldn't be traded but that is horse shit. Sure, maybe you don't get much back but it seems people would rather have guys gone than still have them on the team. Muzzin and Pearson have been traded. Toffoli will be and probably Martinez. They could have been traded immediately upon Blake taking over but, as stated earlier in this thread, it was full-speed ahead with the same dudes that we've been shitting on for the last two seasons.

Should Blake be able to "see in to the future"? YES!!! That's the whole damn point about scouting and analyzing the roster. It's the exact thing that Lombardi is crucified for. He should have seen that one year of Lucic wasn't going to be worth it. He should have seen that keeping Cernak was the play. He should have seen that drafting Forbort was stupid. On and on and on.

This isn't fantasy football where it is important to make moves just to win the current week and then figure it out later. If Blake correctly sees that this team is washed when he took over, they have a jump on what they pivoted towards nearly two years after Rob took over. Keeping the picks in 2017 and, luckily, '18 was not a rebuild effort. That didn't start until Muzzin was dealt.

Hopefully he digs out of the hole he is in. He inherited a team in a hole but then he dug it deeper before doing what is necessary to get out of it. Hopefully these prospects pan out and he is able to maximize whatever value is there for tradeable assets.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I still have yet to see anyone suggest anything sound or logical as to what Blake should've done. Just hang wringing from armchair GMs who think this is some fantasy league.

 

[Choralone]

@GoldenBearHockey

Your post is exactly what one poster said about Lombardi supporters yesterday: explain away every mistake. Just like Lombardi's mistakes, a mistake is a mistake.

It's funny that the majority of Lombardi supporters aren't even saying he should still be the GM and they actually do admit that he was horrible at the end but the Blake crowd does a lot of excuse making while then also dropping the "it's Dean's fault anyway" as the topper.

It is ignorance to ignore the fact that Blake grossly miscalculated the roster he inherited. I know the excuse is made that so many people couldn't be traded but that is horse ****. Sure, maybe you don't get much back but it seems people would rather have guys gone than still have them on the team. Muzzin and Pearson have been traded. Toffoli will be and probably Martinez. They could have been traded immediately upon Blake taking over but, as stated earlier in this thread, it was full-speed ahead with the same dudes that we've been ****ting on for the last two seasons.

Should Blake be able to "see in to the future"? YES!!! That's the whole damn point about scouting and analyzing the roster. It's the exact thing that Lombardi is crucified for. He should have seen that one year of Lucic wasn't going to be worth it. He should have seen that keeping Cernak was the play. He should have seen that drafting Forbort was stupid. On and on and on.

This isn't fantasy football where it is important to make moves just to win the current week and then figure it out later. If Blake correctly sees that this team is washed when he took over, they have a jump on what they pivoted towards nearly two years after Rob took over. Keeping the picks in 2017 and, luckily, '18 was not a rebuild effort. That didn't start until Muzzin was dealt.

Hopefully he digs out of the hole he is in. He inherited a team in a hole but then he dug it deeper before doing what is necessary to get out of it. Hopefully these prospects pan out and he is able to maximize whatever value is there for tradeable assets.

Who cares that "most people" would rather have guys gone. Win our prospect pipeline in tatters, it would have been a stopgap, and as you admit, "we wouldn't get much back." Blake played it right in my book - he went out and got college players with potential to inject promising, cheap youth with no loss of assets. He let the vet contacts burn off another year and gave them time to improve their stock to get more favorable trade returns (even if they played exactly the same, their value improves with the shorter contract length). A useless vet in Phaneuf was sent to the phantom zone. And most importantly he kept - and added to - his draft picks. It seems to me like he's trying to do it right, at the expense of trying to something quickly.

I loved Lombardi. I think there's way too much focus on the post-cup years - which we all suspected were coming. Just by saying Blake is doing well so far doesn't mean I'm saying it at Lombardi's expense.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

@GoldenBearHockey

Your post is exactly what one poster said about Lombardi supporters yesterday: explain away every mistake. Just like Lombardi's mistakes, a mistake is a mistake.

It's funny that the majority of Lombardi supporters aren't even saying he should still be the GM and they actually do admit that he was horrible at the end but the Blake crowd does a lot of excuse making while then also dropping the "it's Dean's fault anyway" as the topper.

It is ignorance to ignore the fact that Blake grossly miscalculated the roster he inherited. I know the excuse is made that so many people couldn't be traded but that is horse ****. Sure, maybe you don't get much back but it seems people would rather have guys gone than still have them on the team. Muzzin and Pearson have been traded. Toffoli will be and probably Martinez. They could have been traded immediately upon Blake taking over but, as stated earlier in this thread, it was full-speed ahead with the same dudes that we've been ****ting on for the last two seasons.

Should Blake be able to "see in to the future"? YES!!! That's the whole damn point about scouting and analyzing the roster. It's the exact thing that Lombardi is crucified for. He should have seen that one year of Lucic wasn't going to be worth it. He should have seen that keeping Cernak was the play. He should have seen that drafting Forbort was stupid. On and on and on.

This isn't fantasy football where it is important to make moves just to win the current week and then figure it out later. If Blake correctly sees that this team is washed when he took over, they have a jump on what they pivoted towards nearly two years after Rob took over. Keeping the picks in 2017 and, luckily, '18 was not a rebuild effort. That didn't start until Muzzin was dealt.

Hopefully he digs out of the hole he is in. He inherited a team in a hole but then he dug it deeper before doing what is necessary to get out of it. Hopefully these prospects pan out and he is able to maximize whatever value is there for tradeable assets.

This isn't fantasy anything, I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but Blake, T-Mac, the players, they are paid to WIN GAMES. They aren't paid to think about 10 years down the road, this isn't fantasy where a guy isn't working out, you put him in a trade offer, add a 2nd round pick, and presto you can turn him into the next young superstar.

As for this comment " it was full-speed ahead with the same dudes that we've been ****ting on for the last two seasons." Seems to be like a FAN issue, not an organizational issue. People shit on Pearson for how long? Now they want him back? Talk about revisionist history and hindsight.

Please, show me a GM that has SEEN into the future.....for every Cernak out there, there are 10 Jessiman's out there,

Are you really advocating to make trades just to make trades "sure you don't get much back" seriously?

 

[KINGS17]

I still have yet to see anyone suggest anything sound or logical as to what Blake should've done. Just hang wringing from armchair GMs who think this is some fantasy league.

Blake could have done a lot of things differently. Your refusal to admit it doesn't make criticism of Blake the stuff of fantasy league hockey.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Blake could have done a lot of things differently. Your refusal to admit it doesn't make criticism of Blake the stuff of fantasy league hockey.

So your answer is a lot of things? Like trading Kopitar for Ryan Johansen? What am I refusing to admit? That I’m not irrational with unreasonable expectations? The team was carried by one line in 2017-18 and most of us knew and agreed that performance was unsustainable, but I also didn’t expect Blake to trade everyone on the roster and start with Michael Amadio as his number one center.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Honestly the biggest difference between Blake and DL is the benefit of a full tenure and several years of hindsight and further development with which to evaluate DL.

Most of the Blake stuff is crystal ball science in comparison, most of his moves haven't come to full fruition. Probably better off comparing him to GMs of other rebuilding teams for context.

 

[KINGS17]

So your answer is a lot of things? Like trading Kopitar for Ryan Johansen? What am I refusing to admit? That I’m not irrational with unreasonable expectations? The team was carried by one line in 2017-18 and most of us knew and agreed that performance was unsustainable, but I also didn’t expect Blake to trade everyone on the roster and start with Michael Amadio as his number one center.

The first part is the usual snarky response from you. When you can tell me what the value of retaining Kopitar was to this franchise you can make a list and post it. It sure isn't contending for a cup or making the playoffs. So, I am guessing it must be his stellar example of leadership. After all, no one can break a stick over the crossbar like good ol' Kopi.

No one said they expected Blake to trade everyone on the roster.

Maybe he could have forgot about bringing in Kovalchuk after getting swept by an expansion team in the first round of the playoffs. Let's start with that one.

Did fine with trading Muzzin, but why wait to move Martinez? Just increased the chance of injury and depleting an already rapidly depleting asset.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

So what did the Kings end up losing by signing Kovalchuk? His signing was a failure, but did it hurt the future of the team? No. If anything, it signaled that adding one player to be a source for offense wasn’t going to fix anything.

I still have yet to hear about any rationale idea as to what Blake should’ve done. You just want him to make trades without putting any thought, rhyme or reason into it. Just wave a magic wand and make anyone over 30 disappear.

And do you know why that silly suggestion of Kopitar for Johansen is brought up? It’s because it’s a great example that you guys don’t have all the answers and the ideas passed around here are far worse than what Blake has done with this team.