Axl Rhoadz
3rd Line Winger
It doesn't matter, it was a good trade at the time. the problem is, 8 seasons later you are still wondering when these moves are going to result in success. Blake is 0-7.
How Long Can Management Go Without Being Held Accountable?
- Thread starter Dorian20
- Start date
Dr. Tran
Super Star
This is it. It was a hockey trade. We needed a scorer in his prime & they needed a young right shot defenseman. And we had 5 of them. Maybe we could’ve given up one of the others. Or maybe it took Faber to make the deal. We don’t know. Just like we don’t know if he would’ve signed or not. Anyway, why are we still going on about the Faber-Fiala trade? Get over it.
I think the worst thing about a Kings losing streak isn’t the actual losing. It’s the bitching & whining and how everyone needs to be fired or traded. It’s not just here but on other platforms as well. We’ve had a bad stretch. A lot of guys haven’t played well this season. And we have holes in our lineup that need to be filled. But there’s no reason to jump out of a window.
Axl Rhoadz
3rd Line Winger
I'm with you...kinda.
I think the point is today, at this point in Blake's tenure, this team shouldn't be going through stretches like this. Of course anything can happen, but at this point it doesn't look like this team will get very far into the postseason...just like the previous 3. When/if that happens....there must be change.
Clif
Super Star
My point is I don’t think this team is better now with Faber over Fiala. But that trade is still be litigated endlessly.
Pevsfreedom
somehow in south carolina
Problem with Fiala I think is maybe system - the guy has loads of talent but I think it gets way too into his head that he's doing things wrong with this system and it messes up his game quite a bit. Maybe the team's better for it in the long run, IDK. Sometimes it seems it'd be useful to have a, you know, tight defensive team or whatever they want, but also have a run n gun line that can shake things up their way and play maybe more irresponsibly but score more goals. We've also had problems maintaining offensive players capabilities without turning them into responsible 2 way players, no matter the cost (like Clarke I suppose).
Axl Rhoadz
3rd Line Winger
It's not really about being better - it's about giving up premiere prospects to achieve success. The success has not been achieved.
Not to mention the team has played the entire season on the road, or so it seems. A 7 game road trip to start the year, and then two 5-gamers in January. Ridiculous. You can tell the whole team is mentally and physically exhausted. The impact of the recent fires cannot be discounted either.
Rog or Reg?
Super Star
This here in a nutshell is why bitching about a teams leadership is like betting on the house in Vegas. You can't lose. Not when the odds are 31/32 that you will be right year after year after year.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't mind watching Kings hockey when they are playing above 0.500 hockey. The reason is simple, historically there aren't that many seasons where they are. That's how low the bar has been for this fandom. The black hole matters on draft day sure, but when I get a team I can turn on and watch without killing my blood pressure 15-20 tues and thursday nights out of the season. Well thats what I'm paying for.
Some history for you:
Yes thats the kings sitting there with a lifetime % of .499
Sure they made the playoffs 33 times, 11 of those 33 times they made the playoffs with a 0.500 record or worse, by virtue of 16 of 21 teams making the playoffs.
Series wins? Before Gretzky shows up the club had 2 series wins in their history. With Gretzky they tally a remarkable 6 over 5 seasons! We're up to 8! Stunner at Staples leads us to 9! 2011-2014 nets us another 11 for 20 series wins in all of club history.
This club has not even remotely had any period of sustained excellence other than it's recent past under the Anschutz ownership or milking Gretzky for every bit of juice he could put on the ice. So for anyone out there that finds it unthinkable, or a travesty that this organization isn't competing for cups year after year, you go ahead and keep blowing that smoke.
The fact is that even if every move is optimized, it's no guarantee of success. So I'll take what I want from the club, which is icing a group that is competitive on paper, has been in the standings (last month aside) and enjoy seeing how they're doing. Do I think Blake and Luc deserve to be where they are? I like what Anschutz has done with the place and I trust his judgement on when it's time to move on.
Rog or Reg?
Super Star
Nice! A voice of reason!
Here's another perspective:
I have a few friends from St. Louis, all huge Blues fans. Their 'unofficial' official message board is located on the Post-Dispatch forums, BluesTalk. It's also known as The Asylum. It's still a bonkers place to post, but before the Blues finally won a Cup in 2019, calling for the heads of management was a daily occurrence. Posters were constantly at each others throats, disagreeing on everything and anything due to years of pure frustration. Then they won the Cup and it was all sunshine, rainbows and Unicorns.
It's what fans do. Things go bad, and out come the fingers, pointing at everybody except the Ice Girls. That's why we are called fans. The origin of fans is fanatics, which comes from the Latin word fanaticus, which means "mad and enthusiastic" et al. Fans are emotionally invested and when times are tough, this type of reaction is to be expected.
For me personally, right or wrong, I'd like to see a change. Blake pissed me off twice now trading my favorite players and I consider both trades to be highly dubious.
Whatever. I'm just a fan and I do what I do. I'm not the coach or the GM and they have undoubtedly forgotten more than I'll ever know about ice hockey.
But I mean what I wrote: I got a bottle of Champagne cooling in the fridge for the day Blake hits the bricks.
Oh I agree on the score for some of these moves. Even when I got the reasoning at the time and lets face it sometimes there's no move but a bad move because a move must be made. Willie D, Kovalchuk, PLD/Vilardi are Blakes Mt Rushmore of asstastic calls.
The part of Blake on the way out that's more worriesome for me is who comes in. I'll put it out flatly, I'll take another 10 years of Blake before I'd probably be happy with one year of Bergevin. Blake has burned some bridges, but there's some people that you just know you don't like them and it's better the less you see of each other. That guy is one of those guys for me. Ditto for any of the player agent buddies of Luc.
If there is someone brought in I don't need a Lombardi outside the box, I don't even need Luc gone, just so long as the GM is allowed to do their job. I don't even worry about Kopi or Drews legacy's because just like Quick they're always going to be loved and they'll never have to buy a beer in this town.
JC6388LAKings
Super Star
Well, Bostonians might have to disagree with you. Their constant inferiority/insecurity complex despite the success of their teams other than the NHL this century is a major reason why people dislike Boston. They're the most spoiled fanbase this century as they expect constant success every year no matter if things don't go the way they want and nobody outside of Boston/New England area is going to shed tears when any of their teams, especially the Patriots, go on a down spell.
For that matter, the same can be somewhat said of New Yorkers, despite the Knicks, Nets, and Jets being the least successful of the NYC-area teams. Though most of the hate is generally directed towards Yankees fans, who are endlessly spoiled rotten since their team's historical success in the 20th century.
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DryKing
Power Forward
I 10000% agree with this. I thought Blake did a good job until he got hand-tied by bringing in Bergevin, since then it's been a bit of a train wreck. Still, I respect that he has not desperately traded young players and prospects for rentals and I think his free agent signings have been strong, along with draft picks when he actually doesn't trade the pick away in advance.
As much as I was a fan of Luc as a player, I am not a fan of him as the Kings President. That said, I can only judge based off the 5% of his role that is visible so who really knows. At the end of the day, I just want him to allow the GM to be the GM and not muddy the water with providing strict direction or bringing in a "mentor" which was never needed. I'd also like Luc to run better promo nights and giveaways, as well as work out a full time local network broadcasting deal but that is just wishful thinking at the end of the day.
There really is only 1 secret to winning cups and it is really simple--get lucky. Best place to get that luck is just draft a couple of elite players. Other sources would be lack of injuries, favorable contract timings and swindling other GM's in trades. Your garden variety team is expected to win 3 cups in 100 years. Some will have a few more others less or even none. So, forget about GM's/owners risking arena revenue by dumping every player over 30 to chase a cup for future draft picks. That's not how most businesses operate.
Dr. Tran
Super Star
This is something the Kings & AEG need to think about. I know the league makes the schedule. But the teams give the building availability. So maybe don’t schedule renovations during the regular season. Especially when the schedule is compacted due to the 4 Nations. Along with the usual Grammy trip. My hope is they get good & rested this break. And then they get rolling down the stretch.
Rog or Reg?
Super Star
Absolutely no question that schedule has been just brutal. And it wouldn't surprise me if they were under-the-weather on the last trip.
And our home record is still best in the NHL.
Now if we can just figure out how to score goals and fix that freakin power play, we may still go deep in the playoffs. With 22 out of 32 games at home for the remainder of the season, we won't have to wait long to see what kind of team we really have.
But we gotta give our goalies a break and put the damn puck in the back of the net far more often than we do if we want to make the playoffs and advance farther than the first round.
And our home record is still best in the NHL.
Now if we can just figure out how to score goals and fix that freakin power play, we may still go deep in the playoffs. With 22 out of 32 games at home for the remainder of the season, we won't have to wait long to see what kind of team we really have.
But we gotta give our goalies a break and put the damn puck in the back of the net far more often than we do if we want to make the playoffs and advance farther than the first round.
Bollocks
Top Forward
But would it be achieved had the Kings kept Faber?
Regarding the Kings recent struggles on the road - could it be due to 12-6 since DD's return and thus Hiller having less options to adapt when playing on the road?
Axl Rhoadz
3rd Line Winger
Who knows, but you would of had better foundation for the future, right? Acquiring Fiala was in the intent to win in the very near future - that hasn't happened.
They were losing games and not scoring long before Doughty came back and that was with the 11-7.
Now Chirping
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