Speculation: Fire Rob Blake Blow it Up Offseason Thread (update: Robitaille, Blake and Hiller stay)

[Sol]

Thats adrians wall. Where the phrase "yo adrian" originated


Your friend went to the wrong zip code. Because he's a big fat liar

Look I’m not going to put up with you comparing some rock wall from Wish to the Great Wall of China. My social credit score is through the roof and looks like yours isn’t buddy

 

[chris kontos]

Hey tony
You need to sit here and report so the restof us can go do something productive- like me Im going to fantasy land- otherwize known as the gym

 

[tny760]

You need to sit here and report so the restof us can go do something productive- like me Im going to fantasy land- otherwize known as the gym

well fortunately i lift late night so that's already done

i could definitely go tune the chainsaw though, maybe that's not as important

 

[chris kontos]

Look I’m not going to put up with you comparing some rock wall from Wish to the Great Wall of China. My social credit score is through the roof and looks like yours isn’t buddy

I'll have you know i was voted mr sociable by the russian mob.

 

[tigermask48]

I just don't understand the business fascination, like are these guys so easily hoodwinked by a trio of charming French dudes that they just f***ing drop everything that works and give them the keys?

Not a single one of them has had a modicum of business education OR success in hockey management

What the f*** are we doing here

Uncle Phil blink twice if you're in trouble, are you not of sound mind and they made you sign the trust? Where are the adults here?

Look how long Kevin Lowe was able to run that mess in Edmonton. Some owners just want to hang out with ex-players and be viewed as cool.

 

[chris kontos]

well fortunately i lift late night so that's already done

i could definitely go tune the chainsaw though, maybe that's not as important

I just paid these guys a c note to trim my hedges lol

 

[KINGS17]

I just don't understand the business fascination, like are these guys so easily hoodwinked by a trio of charming French dudes that they just f***ing drop everything that works and give them the keys?

Not a single one of them has had a modicum of business education OR success in hockey management

What the f*** are we doing here

Uncle Phil blink twice if you're in trouble, are you not of sound mind and they made you sign the trust? Where are the adults here?

 

[King'sPawn]

CNN.com - Kings fire general manager Taylor - Apr 18, 2006

Kings fire Lombardi, Sutter; promote Robitaille

With the firing of GM Dean Lombardi and head coach Darryl Sutter, the Los Angeles Kings have parted with the duo that led the franchise to two Stanley Cups.

www.espn.com

The 2005-06 season ended on April 17th 2006. Dave Taylor was fired April 18th.

The 2016-17 season ended on April 9th 2017. Lombardi was fired April 10th.

So if Blake isn't fired today, he's probably not getting fired. That's my guess.

What a torrent of emotions. My hopes got up at first when I saw "Kings fire..."

Then I was confused at how CNN would be breaking the story.

Then I got angry when I realized it was about Dave Taylor.

 

[fivehole32]

It’s amazing how quickly all of these losers undid years of Lombardi’s meticulous changing of the culture.

Luc Robitaille is an eternal f***ing loser and should not be employed by this team in any capacity above sign twirling guy on a street corner.

I think Luc should take this position. He's more than qualified.

 

[Kudelski37]

What a torrent of emotions. My hopes got up at first when I saw "Kings fire..."

Then I was confused at how CNN would be breaking the story.

Then I got angry when I realized it was about Dave Taylor.

Those stories were posted at 5:30 and 8:30 ET, so might have to wait 3-6 more hours if working on the same schedule.

 

[johnjm22]

I can't imagine a world in which they freeze him at the deadline and dont' let him go today, would just be wild

Are you sure they "froze" him? That always sounded liked fan speculation to me.

Anyways, if we don't hear anything in the next few hours it might not be happening.

 

[AbsentMojo]

I can't imagine a world in which they freeze him at the deadline and dont' let him go today, would just be wild

What happens in next few days gives clear insight into LAK org and AEG:

Nothing happens - AEG is a socialist org - no accountability, politburo does not want to make waves and have more payroll on the books, have co-opted media propagandize the fans into believing all is well
Fire Blake/Hiller, Luc stays and installs Bergovin - Beckerman is a useful idiot figurehead, and Luc is the autocrat for LAK org
Luc, Blake, Bergovin, Hiller dumped - Beckerman learned his lesson and realizes these guys are incompetent
Above + Beckerman gone - Phil had seen enough. He signed off on the Liewike/DL era and knows what success looks like - concludes this regime is an abject failure.

 

[tny760]

Those stories were posted at 5:30 and 8:30 ET, so might have to wait 3-6 more hours if working on the same schedule.

appreciate it bro

 

[Ollie Weeks]

Could be tomorrow too, as it’s Friday.

 

[Sol]

JU - can u give a short synopsis pls?

1. 1-3-1 got the kings killed and they need to scrap it.
2. Buy out PLD
3. Kings aren’t deep with talent
4. Awful special teams

 

[The Butcher]

I think the next few weeks will show us just how interested AEG is in having a competitive hockey team.

 

[bland]

Just hoping that some bean counter at AEG has sniffed out what sure appears to be collusion between Brisson and Robitaille. When players receive abnormal contracts with large commissions from a team to the agent - who happen to be close friends - there should be at least a preliminary investigation.

 

[SmytheKing]

God damn those links regarding Taylor and Lombardi gave me a sudden jolt of excitement until I saw it wasn't about Blake.

 

[Schrute farms]

Could be tomorrow too, as it’s Friday.

Yeah, i'd think so too. If not by tomorrow, then I don't think it's happening. In which case, i just opened up a lot of extra free time in my personal schedule from Sept 2024 - April 2025.

 

[Sol]

It tells you everything about this organization when they extended Kopitar for another 2 years early in the season at 14 million. What was the urgency to extend him before the season ends?


Kopitar and Doughty have been the symbol of the Kings accomplishments and now after years of failures they’ve become the symbols of the Kings failures.

I don’t want either of these guys if they’re not giving us anything worthwhile. I love Kopitar and that OT goal was cool, but he was a non factor again. And so was doughty. There was 5 games and they were only noticeable for one game total. What’s the point? It was so hard to watch especially when even McDavid started coasting because he knew the series was over the last two games. Why do we hold onto these players when they’re failing the Kings in more ways than one. Keeping them good enough to not get talent but bad to the point they’re non factors in the playoffs.

Kopitar and Doughty have got to go.

 

[DoktorJeep]

I think Rosen got it right when he said a couple of guys fall on their sword and the fans get smoke blown up their ass in the form of The Plan 2.0.

Blake and Hiller are the obvious guys to fall. My guess is Blake quits immediately and Jim keeps the interim tag for a couple of months before the real next coach is hired. I'm sure they'll allow him to interview in the interim. Who knows, if Sturm bounces then Hiller might want the Ontario job.

I think Luc stays and it is because Dan Beckerman isn't prepared to overhaul the franchise. And the team, while disappointing in the post season, remains a playoff team next year and for a couple more, as long as Kopitar and Doughty are still productive.

As for the new GM, my money is on Bergie. And he'll get the official title, not interim. There are just too many connections to the front office to assume anyone else has the inside track. And I think there is no appetite for a protracted GM search. The only thing that makes me hesitate somewhat is I can see Luc wanting to look like a sharp President who scours the league for the next man (or woman) to be our GM.

The single biggest pressure point is the question of whether to buy out Dubois now. I've already heard the fake news about QB's next contract being the biggest question of the off season. First, all he is owed is his qualifying offer by, I believe, July 3rd. And then he has until camp to accept it. In the interim, they negotiate. So there is no deadline for QB until camp or the regular season or December deadline. He has zero rights and leverage and his 50 point season doesn't earn him a big money, long term deal, a la Stutzle. And his young age is going to make comparables difficult. Finally, Lafreniere signed a 3 year $2.35M deal last summer and scored like 40 goals this year. So he's going to fall somewhere north of there, but I doubt it's more than $5M on a short term deal, 2-3 years.

But the decision on Dubois is due first, before the draft or free agency, and it's purely driven by his age and birthdate. My guess is that it is too large a change at this time if you include the new GM and coach in the equation. Frankly, the only hope I have of them actually buying out Dubois is if Blake remains GM. He'll have the job security to make the tough decision. But I don't really see either scenario happening.

I think The Plan 2.0 will include a weighty post mortem on the Dubois year one disaster. One of the lessons learned will be that it turned out the head coach completely screwed up Dubois' line mates and deployment. Fingers will be pointed directly at Blake, McLellan and Hiller for not turning Dubois into Phil Danault, but more physical.

On a podcast, McLellan was recently interviewed and spoke at length about his admiration of Torts and their close friendship. I didn't know that before. And it was interesting to think about Dubois' notorious time under Torts and some of the comments right after McLellan got fired about the lift in the mood of the locker room. We were told McLellan was a hard coach who could be a real downer. When were uniformly fed the line about the only real problem with the team was confidence, what they meant was Todd was a good task master but didn't do a good enough job pointing out good things when the team was struggling to key players, like Dubois and I'm sure others will be called out (Gavrikov, Anderson, any other guys who regressed to the point of underperforming their contract value).

So assuming the answer to the Dubois question is that he is coming back, then we get right back to the question of next head coach. If it is Bergie's call, then the top two candidates that jump to my mind are Claude Julien and Gerard Gallant. I won't go into why, just look at the names. But whoever it is, I'm almost certain it will be a veteran coach. The big names are Quennville and Berube, but they'll have multiple suitors, and I don't see the Kings over paying for the next coach in order to win a bidding war. As for the rest of Blake's supporting cast (Emmer, Muzz, etc), I think they're on the clock for getting fired and busily updating their resumes since five minutes to go in the third period last night.

Bottom line, I foresee us continuing to operate like a mom and pop franchise, while Beckerman keeps Luc in charge. Hell, who know what TF these guys will do after this massively disappointing (by their own public expectations) season. All I know is that us fans will continue to cling to the ever fading memories of 2012 and 2014 as this front office continues to blow smoke up our collective rears.

 

[Sol]

You know what? Rememebr when people were pissed we traded Quick? Look at where he is now. Quick is now on a good team and his play actually means something. Quick is the only winner in this shitstorm.

 

[kovacro]

It tells you everything about this organization when they extended Kopitar for another 2 years early in the season at 14 million. What was the urgency to extend him before the season ends?

Did not understand that one (extension signed July 6/23 according to CapFriendly) at all and he got a NMC to boot. Even if you entertain resigning him at seasons end, for me it's two options;

1 year @6mil with a M-NTC or 2 years @5mil M-NTC clause - wink wink, we wont trade you in year one, but year 2 come mid way through the season, if we are not contending, we are coming to you with a list of teams - pick two to three and we will accommodate. Thanks for your years of service to the organization..bye.

 

[funky]

bring back FUTA !!!!

Not sure if that is the solution. Helped draft some OHL kids he had a good grasp on from his time as a scout. Was there other highlights?

Want an outside the organization hire with fresh eyes.

 

[Sol]

Did not understand that one (extension signed July 6/23 according to CapFriendly) at all and he got a NMC to boot. Even if you entertain resigning him at seasons end, for me it's two options;

1 year @6mil with a M-NTC or 2 years @5mil M-NTC clause - wink wink, we wont trade you in year one, but year 2 come mid way through the season, if we are not contending, we are coming to you with a list of teams - pick two to three and we will accommodate. Thanks for your years of service to the organization..bye.

Yeah I don’t know why people gave me shit for this either. What have we necessarily accomplished with Kopitar at the helm? Also, why even extend him in the beginning of the season? Why not just evaluate later? It’s not like he gave the Kings a good deal either. Kopitar has gotten paid well his entire life with the Kings. They extended Todd for zero reason beginning of the season, and strapped an anchor to the Kings another two seasons with Kopitar