Kings News: Holland officially GM

[BigBrown]

I mean with Jeannot, we never really saw what kind of impact he could of had in the playoffs which is exactly what he was acquired for.

Yup, that's was a shame. He could have given them some much needed swagger. If it would have made a difference we will never know, I'm not gonna complain about Jeannot being out when the Oilers were without Ekholm...

I do think some more leaders and warriors are needed to get this team to the next level. And I don't mean guys like Ryan Reaves.

 

[MonkeysUncle]

I mean with Jeannot, we never really saw what kind of impact he could of had in the playoffs which is exactly what he was acquired for.

what about Sam Bennett? How much do people think he'll be getting? Not sure if he really would leave Florida, but he would solve multiple issues. He'd perfect 3c and younger than Danault. We could then move for other needs in either a package or even swap. I believe he has 10 team no trade list.

 

[King'sPawn]

i said in the other thread I don't mind the idea of mitch

buuut if that's the only move we're f***ed because the problem isn't solely 'more offense'

Oh yeah, sorry for not making that clear. Marner isn't the answer alone. But he would upgrade the team. But there needs to be more nutswingers and grit on the team.

Gritty players who can skate in the right direction should be low cost, low-hanging fruit though.

 

[johnjm22]

Nice to see a GM that might actually be looking to address the biggest need on the roster.

The Kings only realistic path to contending is to bring in a guy like Marner as an UFA and hope that being freed from the toxic environment of Toronto lets him reach another level. Maybe in LA where he's not recognized on the streets and he's being called "Mitchy" or "Marns" in the only interviews he will give will open a new level for him.

I am not saying it's going to happen, but upgrading the top of the roster should be Holland's first priority, and nobody better than Marner is going to be available on the market.

I'll just be happy if he "upgrades" the roster without losing young players/picks/prospects.

Thus I support signing Marner instead of trading for a player like him.

My fear is he's going to liquidate the farm in an effort to prop up a team that has no chance of contending.

 

[Bandit]

Upgrayedd!!!!!
Let's go!


Gavrikov for 2 years?

A pimp’s love is different from that of a square…

 

[AbsentMojo]

The three ways to upgrade your team for immediate on ice results is winning a trade, signing free agents, or selling draft capital (picks / prospects) for currently productive players. If you are at or near the cap, and have little draft capital the only way to improve the team is to win a trade (with similar salaries going back and forth) or let some players go to FA that are less important to sign FAs that fill a need.. that is very lateral maneuvering, hardly any way to significantly improve your team... this is the what the deepest black hole is... its not just being a 1st round exit every year and not getting in the game for high draft picks, its being at the cap and with little draft capital as well. And in LAK case, what makes it even worse is 2 of your highest salaried players are declining in effectiveness. So how much can Holland actually do assuming he doesnt touch 8 or 11?

 

[Herby]

Not that all the pending UFAs for 2026 will actually hit the market, but it is very Kings that next year could be insane while this year's prize is a guy that is the current poster child for playoff choking, player version of course.

Hiller is the coaching version.

The 2026 list is very impressive, but you just can't wait if you are the Kings. But one thing I did kind of kick around is the possibility of Holland trading for one of those guys this summer, the names that I believe are most likely to not re-sign and thus hit the trade-market would be Kaprizov and Connor. But that is obv just based on the history of Russian players wanting to be in large markets, and Americans in Winnipeg.

I'll just be happy if he "upgrades" the roster without losing young players/picks/prospects.

Thus I support signing Marner instead of trading for a player like him.

My fear is he's going to liquidate the farm in an effort to prop up a team that has no chance of contending.

I think your fear could be a reality if any of the players on the 2026 UFA list tell their teams on July 1st that they aren’t interested in re-signing.

If Kaprizov for example, became available this summer and was willing to sign an extension with the Kings you would see Holland be super aggressive, and Clarke+Greentree wouldn’t cut it.

This is the 2001 Avs mindset. Except it’s Kopi instead of Bourque.

 

[Chazz Reinhold]

Speaking of the 2026 free agent class: Should NHL teams spend their cap space now or save for 2026? How the UFA classes compare

The 2025 free agent class was star-studded at one point … and then players started signing extensions early, pictured in red below.

And this isn’t a trend exclusive to this past year.

The 2024 free-agent class was set to be headlined by Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Sebastian Aho, Jake Guentzel, Sam Reinhart, Gus Forsling, Devon Toews, Noah Hanifin, Connor Hellebuyck and Ilya Sorokin, among others. Not one of those players made it to July 1 unsigned. The closest was Guentzel, whose signing rights were traded from Carolina to Tampa Bay, where he signed an eight-year deal on June 30.

Instead, a very different caliber group headlined free agency in 2024: Elias Lindholm, Chandler Stephenson and Steven Stamkos were among the top centers on the board, which inflated their signing values. Jonathan Marchessault, Teuvo Teravainen, Sean Monahan, Alexander Wennberg, Tyler Toffoli, Jake DeBrusk and Tyler Bertuzzi were among the other available forwards. On the back end, Brady Skjei, Brandon Montour, Matt Roy, Brett Pesce, Chris Tanev and Sean Walker were some of the available defensemen.

Rewind to 2023. Nathan MacKinnon, David Pastrnak, Dylan Larkin, Bo Horvat, J.T. Miller and Mackenzie Weegar were all off the board by the time free agency opened. That left names like Alex Killorn, Ryan O’Reilly, J.T. Compher, Ryan Graves, Dmitry Orlov, Niko Mikkola and Joonas Korpisalo available on July 1.

Aleksander Barkov, Mika Zibanejad, Tomas Hertl, Sean Couturier, Valeri Nichushkin, Ryan Pulock, Morgan Rielly and Darnell Nurse all extended early ahead of 2022 free agency. Filip Forsberg re-signed in Nashville the day before his contract expired. So the top players available when the market opened included Nazem Kadri, Vincent Trocheck, Andrew Copp, Claude Giroux, Mason Marchment, Ben Chiarot, Darcy Kuemper and Jack Campbell.

Takeaway is that the Kings in their declared win-now mode shouldn't just wait for the 2026 in hopes that one of the big names will still be there; might as well go after Marner since it's clear Luc thinks they're one or two players away.

 

[FrozenKing18]

In terms of upgrades, I’ve mentioned before that I believe we have enough skill and firepower though i’m not opposed for Marner. As @King’sPawn said, we need to get grittier. Bennett and Marchand would be great adds, but I doubt they hit FA or they’ll command a lot. If I was to put my GM hat on here and those 2 guys aren't available, I would look to swap players with similar production but with an upgrade on the grit part. Something like,

Moore for Tolvanen
Turcotte for Brazeau
Spence for Lindgren

Trades probably wont work 1 for 1 but you get the idea.

If the Russians sign, it could look like this

Kempe-Kopitar-Kuzmenko
Fiala-Byfield-Laferriere
Foegle-Danault-Tolvanen
Jeannot-Helenius-Brazeau

Anderson-Doughty
Gavrikov-Clarke
Edmundson-Lindgren

If by some miracle we land Marner, and Russians don't sign(not ideal) D suffers.

Kempe-Kopitar-Marner
Fiala-Byfield-Laferriere
Foegle-Danault-Tolvanen
Jeannot-Helenius-Brazeau

Anderson-Doughty
Lindgren-Clarke
Edmundson-FA/Sparkes

GM hat off. Go ahead and make fun of my EA NHL lineup lol

 

[FSL KINGS]

Bennett & Marchand concern me.

Bennett because physical guys can trend down hard around 30. We've seen how fast that can happen.

Marchand has noticably lost a step. He's busting his butt & going all out in the playoffs. This isn't going to be a level of play he can maintain throughout next season.

 

[kinghock]

My thought is if he’s going to bring back Jay Woodcroft.

From “Missin Curfew” on X:

“Get Rob Blake a Labatt Blue for making sure all his staff members got 2 year extensions before he left the #Kings organization”.

 

[All The Kings Men]

From “Missin Curfew” on X:

“Get Rob Blake a Labatt Blue for making sure all his staff members got 2 year extensions before he left the #Kings organization”.

I think Rob Blake actually deserves the compliment that Luc Robitaille gave him at the press conference. I suspect that if you belong to the players fraternity there are probably very few people out there as loyal and as respectful as Rob Blake.

I do wish there was a little more concern for the fans however... reading the Brendan Shanahan statement after being let go by the Leafs really highlighted the difference.

But oh well.

 

[Lt Dan]

But oh well.

I love it when you talk dirty to us

 

[King'sPawn]

I love it when you talk dirty to us

That would be butt o ring.

 

[BigKing]

I think Rob Blake actually deserves the compliment that Luc Robitaille gave him at the press conference. I suspect that if you belong to the players fraternity there are probably very few people out there as loyal and as respectful as Rob Blake.

I do wish there was a little more concern for the fans however... reading the Brendan Shanahan statement after being let go by the Leafs really highlighted the difference.

But oh well.

I know it isn't what you mean RE: the fans, but this is actually Blake's last (hopefully, anyways) f*** you to the fans of the LA Kings.

I'm leaving but all the other 1999-00 Kings get to stick around. Amazing.

 

[AbsentMojo]

I know it isn't what you mean RE: the fans, but this is actually Blake's last (hopefully, anyways) f*** you to the fans of the LA Kings.

I'm leaving but all the other 1999-00 Kings get to stick around. Amazing.

It sort of indicates to me that AEG is really hands off and didnt know Blake might leave. Why else would they allow it knowing a new GM was coming in? They really trust this Robitaille fellow.

 

[BigKing]

It sort of indicates to me that AEG is really hands off and didnt know Blake might leave. Why else would they allow it knowing a new GM was coming in? They really trust this Robitaille fellow.

Even if Holland wanted to clean house, AEG would have to pay them to leave.

Let's not pretend that Kings fans' dislike of Blake doesn't go both ways. Unless he is an android created to ruin the lives of Kings fans, which is up for debate, he is a human being who knows that a solid majority of longtime fans dislike him before his black hole of a management career.

At the end of the day, we got the classic Rob Blake: selfish until the end and always at the expense of fans of this franchise.

 

[AbsentMojo]

Even if Holland wanted to clean house, AEG would have to pay them to leave.

Let's not pretend that Kings fans' dislike of Blake doesn't go both ways. Unless he is an android created to ruin the lives of Kings fans, which is up for debate, he is a human being who knows that a solid majority of longtime fans dislike him before his black hole of a management career.

At the end of the day, we got the classic Rob Blake: selfish until the end and always at the expense of fans of this franchise.

The old saying re dont mistake incompetence for malice applies here, probably a little of both. After the JQ trade, i went to take a leak and looked in the mirror and my face was red. Blake was always good at delivering those gut punches when least expected.

 

[MonkeysUncle]

Even if Holland wanted to clean house, AEG would have to pay them to leave.

Let's not pretend that Kings fans' dislike of Blake doesn't go both ways. Unless he is an android created to ruin the lives of Kings fans, which is up for debate, he is a human being who knows that a solid majority of longtime fans dislike him before his black hole of a management career.

At the end of the day, we got the classic Rob Blake: selfish until the end and always at the expense of fans of this franchise.

All Holland has to do, if he wanted to clean house with certain people is move in differ6parts of the hockey organization and they could even keep titles. Emerson could be assistant Gm and his duties would be Ontario

 

[KingsFan7824]

Even if Holland wanted to clean house, AEG would have to pay them to leave.

Let's not pretend that Kings fans' dislike of Blake doesn't go both ways. Unless he is an android created to ruin the lives of Kings fans, which is up for debate, he is a human being who knows that a solid majority of longtime fans dislike him before his black hole of a management career.

At the end of the day, we got the classic Rob Blake: selfish until the end and always at the expense of fans of this franchise.

Are you saying there's any GM alive that doesn't only care about himself? We're talking about a job. Other than Poile for some reason, they're all fired when they don't perform. This isn't a family. Do you think any players care about fans too? After they win, when they say oh we did it for all these great fans here, do you think they're serious?

 

[All The Kings Men]

After they win, when they say oh we did it for all these great fans here, do you think they're serious?

Wether they mean it or not is irrelevant. They all SAY IT for the same reason.

 

[Herby]

I think Rob Blake actually deserves the compliment that Luc Robitaille gave him at the press conference. I suspect that if you belong to the players fraternity there are probably very few people out there as loyal and as respectful as Rob Blake.

I do wish there was a little more concern for the fans however... reading the Brendan Shanahan statement after being let go by the Leafs really highlighted the difference.

But oh well.

Giving unqualified people jobs, and then extending their contracts despite poor performance, might seem like loyalty and respect to you, but to many others, it looks like cronyism.

I know it isn't what you mean RE: the fans, but this is actually Blake's last (hopefully, anyways) f*** you to the fans of the LA Kings.

I'm leaving but all the other 1999-00 Kings get to stick around. Amazing.

Nothing surprises me anymore after what we've seen from the Kings under Luc.

Chevy-era players given coaching roles they weren’t qualified for.

Chevy-era players given front-office roles they weren’t qualified for.

Chevy-era players who don’t even scout for the team given input on a top-5 pick.

Dan Beckerman and those in charge at AEG have allowed the Kings to be turned into a Mickey Mouse organization over the past eight years. It's truly sad, especially because it seemed like the Kings had finally realized, for the first time ever, that having former players run the show was a disaster.

 

[Lt Dan]

At this point, I am now worrying that the front office will overestimate this year's team based on Edmonton's success. AKA: "We were right there"

I am hoping that the one thing that Holland has really said that wasn't good old boy fluff; we need more guys who go to the paint holds true. My koala loving friend @AbsentMojo made a REALLY great point in another thread about how different the 2012 team played. That team has multiple warriors and we really only have Kempe

 

[AbsentMojo]

At this point, I am now worrying that the front office will overestimate this year's team based on Edmonton's success. AKA: "We were right there"

I am hoping that the one thing that Holland has really said that wasn't good old boy fluff; we need more guys who go to the paint holds true. My koala loving friend @AbsentMojo made a REALLY great point in another thread about how different the 2012 team played. That team has multiple warriors and we really only have Kempe

And i had a subpoint about it.. that Florida has Barkov as a captain who is about as docile as Kopi, but the rest of the team makes up for it. DL set the tone by trading skill for grit (Lubo -> Stoll and Greene). As others have pointed out, adding a Marner would not move the needle at all without the other stuff.

 

[Lt Dan]

And i had a subpoint about it.. that Florida has Barkov as a captain who is about as docile as Kopi, but the rest of the team makes up for it. DL set the tone by trading skill for grit (Lubo -> Stoll and Greene). As others have pointed out, adding a Marner would not move the needle at all without the other stuff.

As my annoying British neighbor would say "We need a few proper psychos"