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

[Raccoon Jesus]

I always question the financial savvy of season ticket holders. Especially of bad teams. I would never own season ticket seats either. I have zero interest in that awful boring atmosphere. I hate everything about the Kings lol. I wouldn’t mind if Will Ferrell and Snoop Dog got a slap shot to the dome just so the Kings can stop making their entire marketing campaign around two people who have nothing to do with hockey.

Awful team.
Awful marketing.
Awful fans
And most importantly the traffic just ain’t worth it

I live pretty far away but once upon a time not so long ago it was easy to have the tickets pay for themselves and then some in the games that were planned misses anyway

 

[SaltyElkHunter]

And with revenue increases like this, why would they change course and improve the fan experience for the better?
View attachment 900583
They simply do not care about the fans, at least not the diehard ones that make up the core. And as long as Luc is in charge and as long as money continues to flow in (however the f*** that is happening, but I'm guessing it's tied to AEG owning the building and surrounding real estate), it will continue to suck.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1823061022749696230

Blake hates going to Ontario more than Bernstein

 

[Rumpelstiltskin]

- Food options weren't the greatest but have declined in taste and value.
- Music sucks outside of Dieter.
- The "DJ".
- Lack of highlight packages of actual hockey.
- Pathetic Toyota Tundra Tough Hit of the Game (It is hard to find one).
- Crowd sucks and I'm part of it. Almost nothing to cheer for except a goal or a good save. Team is boring. Makes the Kings Crew seem even lamer when they try to get the crowd excited when they've been put to sleep already.
- "Fan since 2012 or '14" much more prominent. This is the brainwashed fanbase that learned hockey from the broadcasts and Kings twitter since then, i.e. "everything is fine".

There is a real lack of passion from the crowd but I do think that can turn around if the product on the ice starts to play with, dare I say, Pride/Passion/Power?

I'm not into that 18-40 or whatever demo anymore though: I'm sure young people that grew up with a certain brand of hockey think the whole thing is swell.

Spot-on IMHO. I'll add ("YMMV" of course):

• Overwrought laser and smoke shows. What they did for the 2013 and 2014 playoffs was perfect (IMHO). What they're doing now would make Taylor Swift's people blush. The last time I went (a few years ago), I was having trouble breathing for a few minutes after the "show" ended - I can only imagine how someone with a genuine respiratory condition would feel.
• The intermission events used to actually be entertaining (these used to include excellent montages of the previous period). Now - not so much.
• Likewise: the TV-timeout/break bits used to be kinda' fun. Now - " "" "".
• You mentioned it, but God do I miss the (Andy) Murray-era music. Van Halen, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden et al. vs. -- whatever "this" is. TBF: this is one my kids (ages 11 and 8) would probably consider an upgrade vs the halcyon days of Staples Center, and at the end of all this, the Powers that Be (i.e., AEG) certainly puts more stock into my kids' opinions than mine.

 

[BigKing]

Spot-on IMHO. I'll add ("YMMV" of course):

• Overwrought laser and smoke shows. What they did for the 2013 and 2014 playoffs was perfect (IMHO). What they're doing now would make Taylor Swift's people blush. The last time I went (a few years ago), I was having trouble breathing for a few minutes after the "show" ended - I can only imagine how someone with a genuine respiratory condition would feel.
• The intermission events used to actually be entertaining (these used to include excellent montages of the previous period). Now - not so much.
• Likewise: the TV-timeout/break bits used to be kinda' fun. Now - " "" "".
• You mentioned it, but God do I miss the (Andy) Murray-era music. Van Halen, Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden et al. vs. -- whatever "this" is. TBF: this is one my kids (ages 11 and 8) would probably consider an upgrade vs the halcyon days of Staples Center, and at the end of all this, the Powers that Be (i.e., AEG) certainly puts more stock into my kids' opinions than mine.

The music is rough and not what you want at a hockey game, although it actually fits the Kings style of play under Bluc. We don't deserve Maiden.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

The passive aggressive Kings sure have drained the energy out of the building. I thought the building was loud again during the playoffs, but the Kings made sure to put a stop to that by playing like a bunch of dickless dipshits.

This was the only moment we saw some life, but they went out on a whimper, as they tend to do against Edmonton.

 

[Johnny Utah]

This is why the Kings added Jeannot, Edmundson, and Burroughs.

Because NO ONE has played like this since Brendan Lemieux. And before that Kurtis MacDermind. And before that Kyle Clifford and Jordan Nolan.

Edmonton bullied us for two years straight particularly Kane and Nurse and now, finally, someone stood up for the team.

 

[johnjm22]

"Fan since 2012 or '14" much more prominent. This is the brainwashed fanbase that learned hockey from the broadcasts and Kings twitter since then, i.e. "everything is fine".

There is a real lack of passion from the crowd but I do think that can turn around if the product on the ice starts to play with, dare I say, Pride/Passion/Power?

I've always said the crowds at Staples/Crypto were way better before the team won a Stanley Cup.

I'm not sure why, but I guess winning cups makes the fanbase less hungry/passionate.

 

[johnjm22]

I always question the financial savvy of season ticket holders. Especially of bad teams.

To a lot of people 5k (or whatever the price is) is nothing.

 

[tigermask48]

The passive aggressive Kings sure have drained the energy out of the building. I thought the building was loud again during the playoffs, but the Kings made sure to put a stop to that by playing like a bunch of dickless dipshits.

This was the only moment we saw some life, but they went out on a whimper, as they tend to do against Edmonton.

Imagine being the "enforcer" on the team, you lay that hit in, and then immediately lose a fight against the guy you laid out. So, so soft.

 

[Telos]

The makeup of the team has definitely been injected with a lot more toughness and players that are hated to play against. Despite all the reasons that exist to not be optimistic about the team's playoff potential, the team will definitely be interesting to watch. I am looking forward to seeing how Jeannot looks, Byfield at center, Spence and Clarke given more runway, no PLD, and some Edmundson crosschecks The team is a mess, but Kings hockey is Kings hockey - for better or worse

 

[Steve Zissou]

3 questions facing Los Angeles Kings | NHL.com

NHL EDGE stats for Los Angeles Kings | NHL.com

Inside look at Los Angeles Kings | NHL.com

Top prospects for Los Angeles Kings | NHL.com

 

[Johnny Utah]

As much as I liked Englund last year - he's not really nasty or instigates. He is more a reactionary enforcer/fighter.

I remember Reaves running around and he did nothing and Tkachuk hitting Talbot on the mask and Englund also did nothing.

Tough to pin the entire team toughness on one player though, in his defense.

Won't happen again this year though...

 

[Johnny Utah]

Imagine being the "enforcer" on the team, you lay that hit in, and then immediately lose a fight against the guy you laid out. So, so soft.

Strange Englund didn't throw one punch.

 

[Sol]

To a lot of people 5k (or whatever the price is) is nothing.

5k is better spent on meme crypto.

 

[tigermask48]

Tough to pin the entire team toughness on one player though, in his defense.

Won't happen again this year though...

I have a fear that, founded in really nothing at all other than I think the Kings' softness is systemic and a team culture issue. But I fear that the addition of Jeanott and Burroughs isn't go to move the needle at all. Sure the amount of hits goes up, but that's it.

The Kings will continue to be a team that gets pushed around and bullied, won't stand up for each other, and are easy to play against on a nightly basis.

The only thing that really changes is the team takes more penalties.

 

[Telos]

3 questions facing Los Angeles Kings | NHL.com

NHL EDGE stats for Los Angeles Kings | NHL.com

Inside look at Los Angeles Kings | NHL.com

Top prospects for Los Angeles Kings | NHL.com

“Put me with [Fiala] hopefully. He’s such a dynamic player offensively, just the way that he can control the game with his speed, his vision, the plays that he makes, not many guys can do that. If I can be with him, we have some chemistry with him, we can be effective together and change the game quite a bit.”

That's an interesting quote from Byfield. I would love to see him with Fiala for an extended period of time.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Byfield got punked a few times over the past few years - twice by Zadorov. Let's see what happens...

Turcotte, Byfield, Thomas, Laffy can all play bigger now.

 

[bland]

I have a fear that, founded in really nothing at all other than I think the Kings' softness is systemic and a team culture issue. But I fear that the addition of Jeanott and Burroughs isn't go to move the needle at all. Sure the amount of hits goes up, but that's it.

The Kings will continue to be a team that gets pushed around and bullied, won't stand up for each other, and are easy to play against on a nightly basis.

The only thing that really changes is the team takes more penalties.

I think that will be one of the two changes we are most likely to see this year. Clarke is a mouthy little shit, Edmundson is abrasive and willing, and Jeannot is a load to handle when healthy. I think they have players more capable of dictating rather than reacting, which should be an interesting thread to follow since the team has traditionally been a "okay, settle down" squad under this captain. Will the villains get to play their game without hindrance?

Secondly, will we FINALLY see a widespread injection of youthful enthusiasm? If Clarke, Turcotte, Thomas, Spence, Laferriere and Byfield get to play to their strengths it will be a great time to be a fan. Screw the playoffs, REAL progress is the natural building of a new identity based on those players instead of playing supporting roles in a story that concluded a decade ago.

I will state until my dying day that extending Kopitar and Doughty to retirement as Kings was the worst possible path to follow, and it has cost the team a decade of potential growth. There is a chance here at real progress if management doesn't keep lousing it up.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I think that will be one of the two changes we are most likely to see this year. Clarke is a mouthy little shit, Edmundson is abrasive and willing, and Jeannot is a load to handle when healthy. I think they have players more capable of dictating rather than reacting, which should be an interesting thread to follow since the team has traditionally been a "okay, settle down" squad under this captain. Will the villains get to play their game without hindrance?

Secondly, will we FINALLY see a widespread injection of youthful enthusiasm? If Clarke, Turcotte, Thomas, Spence, Laferriere and Byfield get to play to their strengths it will be a great time to be a fan. Screw the playoffs, REAL progress is the natural building of a new identity based on those players instead of playing supporting roles in a story that concluded a decade ago.

I will state until my dying day that extending Kopitar and Doughty to retirement as Kings was the worst possible path to follow, and it has cost the team a decade of potential growth. There is a chance here at real progress if management doesn't keep lousing it up.

This is so true but i still died laughing

he might be more animated than Olli Jokinen too, the photo meme potential with this kid is so good, from the deer-in-headlights with the Grandpa Stone incident to the dead-to-jubiliation out-of-the-box OT goal in boston

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

side note look whos the first one in to help Hodgson

god i f***in love this kid

 

[Herby]

There is a chance here at real progress if management doesn't keep lousing it up.

I don’t know, I think to much damage has been done for this era of a rebuild to ever develop into a true contender because of the mistakes made.

They basically traded a guy who’s a star defenseman already, punted what would have been two top 1-10 picks in 2022 and 2023 that could very easily have been the teams two best young assets (depending on lottery luck) for two non-needle moving secondary pieces, they moved a solid 2nd line winger, and a good 4/5 defenseman for another non-needle mover in this ridiculous quest to turn back the clock a dozen years and try and win with 11 and 8. Add in as well the decision to not move guys like Roy and Iafallo for more draft capital or prospects. Had Roy been traded at the 2023 deadline while under contract for 2 more post-seasons at a great cap hit, what is the return? At least a first + probably a prospect. Just add that to the picks and youth flushed down the toilet. How can all of this be overcome?

Even if Byfield and Clarke were to wildly exceed expectations and be (let’s say) Malkin and Karlsson caliber players, was there enough other youth added in this time frame to win a cup, even in that scenario? I think that’s very questionable, and when you consider that it’s unlikely that either achieves first ballot Hall-of-Fame level like the players I listed. What does it take for the Kings to win a cup with this group?

The likely reality is, the Kings will be exactly what they've been the last three seasons, a blackhole team that will lose in Round 1 and be drafting in the 18-22 range where it's extremely difficult to find true game breaking talents like you'd find in the Top 5. A new GM will be brought in, but you still have Kopitar (1 year) and Doughty (2 years) under contract to begin with, you won't have a high first again do to the continued toiling in the blackhole.

Even in a best-case scenario next summer where Kopitar retires and Doughty is traded which opens up the opportunity to pick in the Top 5. What do you have? Byfield in his age 23 season (23 is considered a players prime) on what will be a terrible team just entering a rebuild, and most importantly 4 years from UFA (another huge Blake blunder done strictly to try and win with 11 and 8) and Clarke in his age 22 season. That puts you under pressure to not only hit on what will be high picks (can't have any Storr, Turcotte, Berg top picks) but to do it in a timely enough manner where those players become stars before QB hits UFA. Although that should be easier if they do in-fact take the right players because there is basically a 0% chance that a new management team will have the same ridiculous development philosophy in regards to slow cooking players in the AHL.

It’s absolutely sickening to think what this group could be at right now had they just simply committed to rebuilding through the 2023 season instead of the 2021 season. It will be over a decades long mistake, that’s why I say the worst decision a Kings GM has made in my lifetime was the one made in the summer of 2021. Byfield and Clarke should have been playing huge minutes on terrible teams in 2021, 2022 and 2023 when they were kids, so they would have had other star players in their same age range helping them to hopefully win cups from 2026-2036. But thanks to BLuc they will be playing on terrible teams in 2026, 2027 and 2028 while in the primes of their career, hoping to bat 1.000 in the draft and find 2-3 players that can be impactful before Byfield’s UFA hits.

I know it's been discussed a lot here, but I still feel that the damage done by this Prez/GM is actually understated by our fanbase. I don't think people fully grasp just how much damage was done between the end of the 2021 season and now.

Edit: Just to continue on the Byfield point, it's absolutely criminal that Byfield will be entering UFA following his age 26 season. Just another example of every pathetic move made by this GM over the last three years strictly done to try and push the 11/8 square peg through the round hole at the expense of everything else, most importantly the teams ability to compete at all in this decade. Rob Blake traded 3 years of team control of QB for a $2-3m cap savings to try and win with guys closer to 40 than 30, that is an abysmal trade-off, how anyone here cheered on the term of that signing is beyond me, it defies any kind of logic whatsoever, it was like taking out a cash advance to go to the casino. There is a reason players like this are almost always signed to the 8 year extension, but just another example of everyone else doing it one way and Rob Blake doing it his way. Now the Kings will have what will likely be their best or 2nd best player hitting UFA at 26 f'n years old, basically a players stone prime, because in 2021 the GM couldn't move on from players drafted in 2005 and 2008.

 

[Surf Nutz]

Um ya , Top Management will tell Blake to make the playoffs and Blake will tell Hiller.

It will influence things and may lead to player decisions again favoring vets over youth often.

 

[Herby]

Um ya , Top Management will tell Blake to make the playoffs and Blake will tell Hiller.

It will influence things and may lead to player decisions again favoring vets over youth often.

So we are scapegoating AEG again for the failures of Blake?

If AEG is so anti-rebuild why were the Kings allowed to rebuild 18 years ago?

 

[Schrute farms]

I think Blake & crew duped AEG into thinking the rebuild was done and they could contend....and AEG fell for it with the added benefit (promise/hopes) of additional playoff revenue (especially with the Covid event $$$ downturn).
I'm hoping they are now wise to the fact that this team isn't truly contending as currently constructed and Bluc is on thin ice for their final act.

 

[Lt Dan]

I agree with many of everyone's thoughts here, but Robitaille deserves exponentially more blame in this thread