GM Rob Blake 2017-18 Report Card

[BigKing]

Slice it any way you want, but one playoff game win in the last four seasons is going to cause negativity: especially when it is on the heels of 41 wins in the three seasons prior.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Slice it any way you want, but one playoff game win in the last four seasons is going to cause negativity: especially when it is on the heels of 41 wins in the three seasons prior.

Disagree, 42 wins in 7 seasons is going to cause negativity etc, you can say that instead, people who want to be negative, are going to be negative, no matter what stat you throw out there, people who want to be positive, are going to be positive, no matter what stat you throw out there...

 

[kilowatt]

Kind of a rosy introspective look at the season. Before the season began we had Luc and Blake telling us, the fans, that the goal is to contend for the cup and that this team can win more cups. Now it’s, “we made the playoffs even though we got swept!”

Bottom line is, this core can’t win without real leadership. They can have fun all they want, but it should not come at the expense of winning. I don’t know if the offseason workouts/program are as closely watched as they were under DL. This team looked gassed against Las Vegas and out of it.

We can’t afford the Stoll’s, Richards, Mitchell’s, Greene, Williams anymore. The core got their massive contracts and it’s their turn to do the heavy lifting, they just don’t want to or they can’t.

One playoff win in 4 seasons, and we just got swept. Players/Organization and some fans are in denial about the state of the organization.

What leadership are you looking for? Players or management? Our leadership group is Kopitar, Brown, Doughty, Carter, and Quick statistically and Lewis and Martinez emotionally. Literally all of them had career years.

Kings went up against a team that just plain outplayed them for four games in a row. The Kings had a few solid chances and couldn’t bury them. Does this mean they can’t win next year?

Who isn’t good enough? What moves should be made, then? All I hear is no, no, no without much in the way of what can be done to improve the team.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Blake did fine.

Best "real" GM move was the Gaborik trade which looks very good at the moment. Could be singing a different tune as soon as next season but hopefully Dion can keep up his level of play.

Credit him for closing on the UDFA signings. More credit on Rempal/Brickley than Iafallo/Petersen as the latter were already underway with Lombardi but he still gets credit for closing it. Always good to get "free" prospects. While the success in signing these guys is owed a lot to the lack of depth on the team, Blake has proven to be a closer on this stuff so kudos.

People don't blame Dean for the Bernier/Lewis draft as that was "Al Murray's" draft. Well, this wasn't Blake's draft as much as it was the same scouting staff etc...in place with Lombardi. Dean takes Vilardi at that spot. No brainer for this team to take Vilardi there.

As it has been said most of the season, Blake is going to start earning real praise/criticism starting with the upcoming draft and off-season. This draft is all his now, he's got Doughty to deal with and he needs to improve the on-ice product and not by just promoting prospects. Blake has done very little in the way of tangible results. It is awesome that the prospect pool looks much better but, still, nothing there is proven yet as having any actual impact on W/Ls.

As for giving him credit for the season the Kings just had, that is a Sutter thing and holdovers playing better because they were happy. Blake did not make the team better, save for the Iafallo signing and Gaborik trade. They were carried by the usual suspects that were inherited.

I hope I can give him an "A" after this off-season and then the 2019 season but I'm still really holding to an "incomplete" until we see his first, full-ownership off-season.

EDIT-

Just read the new article on LAKI. Really just hammers the point home that the players were done with Sutter. They basically say they were better this year because he was gone and Stevens was in. Kind of funny that the players attribute the biggest reason for the team's "success" being the major issue people on here have with Blake: hiring Stevens.

Was it, though? I mean, in theory, it should have been a no brainer for a few teams before us as well, just like it was when Brian Lee was drafted instead of Kopitar.

I give him credit for that one. Maybe it was the move he was 'supposed' to make but he still made it when others didn't. I agree that DL would have taken him there too, big, strong, good ol' Canadian boy with massive vision and puck protection? Vilardi is the perfect draft pick to cross the two eras Guy would have been DL's fever dream.

Rest of the draft was good-to-great as well, whoever you want to attribute that to.

 

[BigKing]

Disagree, 42 wins in 7 seasons is going to cause negativity etc, you can say that instead, people who want to be negative, are going to be negative, no matter what stat you throw out there, people who want to be positive, are going to be positive, no matter what stat you throw out there...

As you can clearly tell, you are a rarity that will look at a sports team and judge it on a seven year basis when the last four have been trash and determine that everything is good based on the average.

When it comes to sports, most anyone who follows a team as passionately as those on a message board are not going to be positive when there are zero results four seasons in a row.

Results oriented business and the results are poor unless you want to focus on silver linings. More power to you.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

There are realists out there who are happy to see the team perform well and point out the flaws and actually provide critical analysis to point out what is wrong with them.

Some of us choose not to bury our heads in the sand and think this organization can do no wrong. We know historically how often this team has been wrong. Hell, I was optimistic as ever when Lombardi came over and was on board with where this team was headed, until the 2014-15 season happened, and that's when we saw the downward spiral this team was headed in.

I went over this after '93 as well, hoping they would get to that level again back then, and seeing how far they declined, and wouldn't see another playoff victory until 2001.

With that said, I think Blake is on the right path. I didn't expect to see a scorched earth approach his first year here, and I think we'll start to see more and more of his fingerprints on this team gradually. We're seeing it take place in the restocking of the pipeline. He hasn't made any massive moves in terms of trades or signings, and I'm not sure if we'll see any such moves quite yet. The most critical need was addressing the organizational depth, and he's working on it and it is obvious he is trying to fix that. It isn't expected to happen overnight and that's going to take some time, but it's going to come to fruition as the years move by.

And I don't think they're wrong in sticking with the core, that is if the core is made up of Kopitar, Doughty, and Quick. I'm indifferent about the rest. Hopeful Brown keeps up his production, but we don't if he will. I'm hopeful Carter stays healthy and productive, but it's hard to say. I'd say it's a safe assumption that many of us expected big years from both Toffoli and Pearson this past season, and they both were big disappointments. Now the expectations for them to produce will be higher.

Watching the second round playoff games, I honestly can't say the Kings have any business playing against any of those teams given how they've performed over the past four seasons. They don't play at the pace or intensity of these teams. We haven't seen the Kings play to that level since 2014.

 

[johnjm22]

And I don't think they're wrong in sticking with the core, that is if the core is made up of Kopitar, Doughty, and Quick.

I'm okay with it just as long as they're not squandering away picks/prospects tyring to supplement it. Hold on to your picks/prospects and eventually good things will start to happen.

That's why I'm generally favorable towards Blake so far. Because of what he didn't do.

 

[Kingspiracy]

I think Blake has done quite well.

I would be a little wary of touting the Phaneuf / Gabby trade as a big success just yet though. It is too early to tell. This year so far, great. Next year if Gabby heads for the hills and Phaneuf shits the bed it wouldnt be so flash with Pdog on the books for another couple of years.

I love the Iafallo pick up and getting those other two kids for free.

 

[Sausages]

There are realists out there who are happy to see the team perform well and point out the flaws and actually provide critical analysis to point out what is wrong with them.

Some of us choose not to bury our heads in the sand and think this organization can do no wrong. We know historically how often this team has been wrong. Hell, I was optimistic as ever when Lombardi came over and was on board with where this team was headed, until the 2014-15 season happened, and that's when we saw the downward spiral this team was headed in.

I went over this after '93 as well, hoping they would get to that level again back then, and seeing how far they declined, and wouldn't see another playoff victory until 2001.

With that said, I think Blake is on the right path. I didn't expect to see a scorched earth approach his first year here, and I think we'll start to see more and more of his fingerprints on this team gradually. We're seeing it take place in the restocking of the pipeline. He hasn't made any massive moves in terms of trades or signings, and I'm not sure if we'll see any such moves quite yet. The most critical need was addressing the organizational depth, and he's working on it and it is obvious he is trying to fix that. It isn't expected to happen overnight and that's going to take some time, but it's going to come to fruition as the years move by.

And I don't think they're wrong in sticking with the core, that is if the core is made up of Kopitar, Doughty, and Quick. I'm indifferent about the rest. Hopeful Brown keeps up his production, but we don't if he will. I'm hopeful Carter stays healthy and productive, but it's hard to say. I'd say it's a safe assumption that many of us expected big years from both Toffoli and Pearson this past season, and they both were big disappointments. Now the expectations for them to produce will be higher.

Watching the second round playoff games, I honestly can't say the Kings have any business playing against any of those teams given how they've performed over the past four seasons. They don't play at the pace or intensity of these teams. We haven't seen the Kings play to that level since 2014.

Couldn't have typed it better myself!

Toffoli and Pearson......did they actually miss the iron fist of Sutter? While others awoke, they faded back

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I think Blake has done quite well.

I would be a little wary of touting the Phaneuf / Gabby trade as a big success just yet though. It is too early to tell. This year so far, great. Next year if Gabby heads for the hills and Phaneuf ****s the bed it wouldnt be so flash with Pdog on the books for another couple of years.

I love the Iafallo pick up and getting those other two kids for free.

Nothing I saw this year leads me to believe Phaneuf could be so bad that he'd be out of the lineup. Imagine getting 10 minutes a game on the bottom pairing from him...that's still better value than gabby injured or as a healthy scratch.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Another potential domino falling today with Montgomery leaving DU for Dallas...if he kills it, I'll definitely be harder on blake for missing on gallant AND Montgomery (who was linked to asst here but only wanted to leave the university for a head coaching job).

 

[DryIslandBartender]

Again, wasn't targeting you, I just want to know why the go to comment is always,

1 playoff win in 4 seasons, why is it four seasons?

Are you saying in each of those 4 seasons, the Kings expectations were not to win the cup?

 

[DryIslandBartender]

Sure he did, here they are,

Would that have helped us beat Vegas? What other moves were made this year that Blake should have jumped on instead?

First, I don’t think Stevens was the right HC for the transition to a new era of Kings hockey. Gallant was sitting right there and a number of other candidates. McNabb to Vegas hurt our defense depth, I would have given McPhee an incentive to take Brown off our hands.

Would that have helped us beat Vegas, certainly. We got out coached, and outhustled. Our players were gassed and as I said before, I hope we have maintained the same offseason program that DL started in his tenure here but it doesn’t look like it.

It’s safe to say the Kings are a fringe playoff team with this core.

 

[Kingspiracy]

Nothing I saw this year leads me to believe Phaneuf could be so bad that he'd be out of the lineup. Imagine getting 10 minutes a game on the bottom pairing from him...that's still better value than gabby injured or as a healthy scratch.

True, but it depends if you'd prefer phaneuf or the cap space (assuming gabby retires)

 

[KINGS17]

Well we made the playoffs, for starters. We didn’t show anything in the playoffs, but there are a few reasons for that, not the least of which being our players just didn’t perform well enough. I don’t think that’s really on Blake.

People are upset at Stevens being the head coach, but look at the beginning of the season. Every quote was about how much fun the guys were havig playing hockey. I refuse to believe that at the very least, the team leaders weren’t consulted about Stevens.

But what’s more, every move the Kings made was a positive except maybe the Cammalleri signing and his subsequent trade. On that front, I’m inclined to believe that Cammy wasn’t happy that Iafallo took “his” spot. Jokinen didn’t pan out, but that wasn’t a big loss.

We added Reider, Folin, Fantenberg, Brickley, Peterson, and Iafallo for free. We traded Gaborik and Shore for Phaneuf and Thompson. Asset management was top notch this year. Boston traded a first plus for Rick Nash! Would that have helped us beat Vegas? What other moves were made this year that Blake should have jumped on instead?

Nothing Blake could have done at the deadline or prior to the season which would have put the current Kings roster in a position to beat Vegas in the first round. I said all season the Kings are a black hole team, and they were first round fodder.

In regards to what moves Blake should jump on instead: Blake can show me he can do a critical evaluation of this roster, understand where they are today and where they are likely to be next year at this time. Then he can become a seller at the draft, rather than a buyer or standing pat.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

What leadership are you looking for? Players or management? Our leadership group is Kopitar, Brown, Doughty, Carter, and Quick statistically and Lewis and Martinez emotionally. Literally all of them had career years.

Both.

There used to be articles that the kings had like 4-5 captains on the team. There was a lot of heart and compete.

That went away a long time ago, look at last year and nobody stood up for Doughty getting elbowed in the face by Tkachuk. There’s been a couple instances where our key players like Kopitar got some cheap shots in the VGK series’s. Those went unanswered. I don’t think guys like Williams, Stoll, Richards, Mitchell etc would put up with that garbage.

Some “leaders” didn’t want to play for Sutter last year and mailed it in. They got what they wanted and still got swept. At some point you got to rebuild the culture, because it’s gone by the wayside.

Kings went up against a team that just plain outplayed them for four games in a row. The Kings had a few solid chances and couldn’t bury them. Does this mean they can’t win next year?

Who isn’t good enough? What moves should be made, then? All I hear is no, no, no without much in the way of what can be done to improve the team.

Not only outplayed, but outcoached. Losing 4 games in a row is bad no matter how you slice it. The series wasn’t a couple chances away, we lost 4 games in a row. That’s just silly to think it was close.

First, the Kings need to know what their identity is. We used to be possession oriented/bullies/grinders, but obviously not anymore. The kings this year just looked confused at what kind of team they want to be.

Also the Kings should know what Doughty plans to do before doing anything else. Then you can go from there. The Kings will be severely limited if they cave and give Doughty the money he’s looking for. With Luc, I can see him caving.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

First, I don’t think Stevens was the right HC for the transition to a new era of Kings hockey. Gallant was sitting right there and a number of other candidates. McNabb to Vegas hurt our defense depth, I would have given McPhee an incentive to take Brown off our hands.

Would that have helped us beat Vegas, certainly. We got out coached, and outhustled. Our players were gassed and as I said before, I hope we have maintained the same offseason program that DL started in his tenure here but it doesn’t look like it.

It’s safe to say the Kings are a fringe playoff team with this core.

I've actually had complaints about this since we lost that one strength coach to Calgary...literally the season after the 2nd Cup when he left we started having issues with guys looking tired late in games and especially at the end of the season.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

I haven't read the entire thread, but I think the best thing he did so far was the signing of Cal Petersen...Getting Quick's replacement for free.