It's Time for Change

Maloney27

4th Line Grinder
I believe this free agent embarrassment is the last stray for both Blake and Luc. They both must go; this organization is heading into a downhill spiral fast.

After the debacle of PLD last year and another embarrassing loss to Edmonton in the first round, this team needed to make a splash this off season. I don't think that has happened and I don't see us getting close to the playoffs with this roster. I am asking myself the following questions

  • Was the PLD trade a success? Do we praise Blake for going BIG?
    • Absolutely not, we can praise the move for being BIG, but the follow-up was absolutely crap. Blake admits they did not do the right thing with him and takes blame. How did he allow it to get to the level it did? Is he not the GM? does the coach not work for him? This does not take any blame away from PLD himself at all, He was horrible, but Blake should have had a vision and been lined up with McLellan from the very start. No excuse is acceptable. Vilardi (1st Round Pick), Kumpari (1st Round Pick), Iafallo (Undrafted, but solid contributing veteran) and a 2nd round pick is a horrible cost for a 34-year-old Darcy Kuemper
  • Was Jim Hiller the right pick for head coach?
    • First off, I believe this move was forced on Luc and Rob because Phil and the boy's way upstairs were not going to pay for a top coach while still paying McLellan to sit at home and collect a huge check. That said, were they also forced to fire him? or did Rob jump the gun to save his hide? Bringing in a 1st year coach does not sit well with me given the nature of this roster and the push needed to get past the 1st round of the playoffs. Hiller did a nice job finishing out the season, but horrible in the playoff, yet that gets him a 3-year deal, it should have never been more than 2 years. Blake gave McLelland way too many years as well. So if he doesn't work out, guess he will sit a home collecting a check as well. WTG Rob and Luc.
  • Was the PLD trade to Washington a good deal?
    • Yes and No....We got rid of an extremely bad contract for a very bad contract, yes, we saved a few million in the trade, but we never should have been put in the position. This was just getting rid of his mistake and still leaves us in cap HELL. Another HUGE blunder by Blake and Luc.
  • Did we have a successful draft?
    • Yes, all considering that we only had limited picks due to bad moves in previous years, giving away, 2nd and 3rd round picks. Was the trade down a good move, yes absolutely picking up that 57 was huge and having Greentree still there at 26 worked out great. George at 57 appears to be a good move, he does not have ideal size for today's goaltenders, but has lots of skill. I like the move to get Woolley, he has good size for a stay at home guy and I think they got good value with Reeder for being in the 7th. To me yes the draft was good, but Blake put us in a bad position with his giveaway of picks in previous bad trades. Another Mark on Blake and Luc......But an Atta Boy for Yannetti and his group for finding good value with what they are stuck with.
  • How about the Tanner Jeannot trade?
    • What was this all about? Trying to get tougher on the bottom 6? this is a player who had 1 good year with 24 goals and 41 points, since then 6 goals and 18 points, 5 goals and 14 points, 1 goal and 4 points in 20 games and last year at 7 goals and 14 points. Are you telling me this constitutes giving up a 4th this year and a 2nd next year? Are you kidding me? This is another Blake trade we will live to regret? absolutely and with Luc's approval At least we didn't get heisted like Tampa did for this guy, I guess.
  • Were we successful in Free Agency?
    • NO.....With additional cap space, we waste almost 8 million dollars on Warren Foegele and Joel Edmundson giving Foegele 3 years and Edmundson 4 years. Please what the hell are you thinking Rob? You just traded Gundstrom to San Jose for Burroughs, why did you bother? What is your vision for Englund, Edmundson and Burroughs? Now for Trevor Lewis, REALLY, REALLY? Look he will always be a King, but it's time to give that roster spot to a younger player. The resigning of Madden and the other guys for the Reign, is what it is. Although there appears to be some higher talented no qualified player that were available. Thus, another HUGE blunder by Rob and Luc. Looking at this roster, it appears to me as a non-playoff team, but hey we may get into next years draft lottery.
I hate to bash a team I love, but this is just a sample of the blunders over the last 4-5 weeks, there isn't enough time to break down all the bad moves made by this management group. Unfortunately, Lombardi was let go for a lot less, and that's not a plug for a Lombardi return, he helped get us in the cap hell. This we are a family thing has got to stop and we need to get some people in who know how to navigate within the cap, not giving out excessive years and excessive money to non-deserving players. And we have to be smart with deserving players as well. Doughty making $11 Mil is tied for 7th in the league, only 1.5 less than McDavid the best player on the planet. Not saying he didn't earn it, but without being able to rework contracts, the GM needs to have a vision of how a contract like that hurts you 4-7 years down the road. Right now, this is a very poorly run business, and in the business world both Rob and Luc would be in the unemployment line right now.

Sorry for the long-winded post
 
I can tell you this, in regards to the coaching situation. You’re dead wrong about penny pinching. We spend to the cap every year, and our ownership also allows management to spend quite a chunk of change on guys who are destined for the minors, but still making 1 mill(Burroughs, Englund, Tynan, Copley, etc etc). So while Hiller might not be the right guy, it has zero to do with ownership not allowing them to make a solid hire.
 
It is just Blake. That is the problem. Dude is just a cancer in this organization as a player and a GM.

Hiring friends
Hiring Bergevin
Kovy deal
Peterson deal
PLD deal
PLD deal part 2
Letting Matt Roy go for nothing allowing the team not to upgrade at all during the season
Signing a player who we do not need, who has never played a full season in the NHL to a 4 million per year contract, for 4 years.
Resigining Trevor Lewis to teach the kids. Wanna teach the kids? Make him a coach.

Feel free to add to the list. Seriously screw this guy.
 
One major change should be to remove the C from Kopitar. Love the guy, he’s a legend, but the lack of response against Edmonton in the playoffs was just gutless. We can only speculate what goes on behind the scenes, in the locker room, but whatever was said or not said, it certainly did NOT translate onto the ice.
 
It is just Blake. That is the problem. Dude is just a cancer in this organization as a player and a GM.

Hiring friends
Hiring Bergevin
Kovy deal
Peterson deal
PLD deal
PLD deal part 2
Letting Matt Roy go for nothing allowing the team not to upgrade at all during the season
Signing a player who we do not need, who has never played a full season in the NHL to a 4 million per year contract, for 4 years.
Resigining Trevor Lewis to teach the kids. Wanna teach the kids? Make him a coach.

Feel free to add to the list. Seriously screw this guy.

I am not sure who hired Bergevin. Also, Luc is VERY close to PLD's agent. Bergevin always wanted PLD in Montreal. Not sure how much of the PLD trade could be put on Blake. I mean go back to interviews after the PLD trade. Luc was more excited about it than Blake was.
 
It is just Blake. That is the problem. Dude is just a cancer in this organization as a player and a GM.

Hiring friends
Hiring Bergevin
Kovy deal
Peterson deal
PLD deal
PLD deal part 2
Letting Matt Roy go for nothing allowing the team not to upgrade at all during the season
Signing a player who we do not need, who has never played a full season in the NHL to a 4 million per year contract, for 4 years.
Resigining Trevor Lewis to teach the kids. Wanna teach the kids? Make him a coach.

Feel free to add to the list. Seriously screw this guy.
Luc hired Bergevin, not Blake. Bergevin was actually forced on Blake and Bergevin deals have followed since.

Sure Blake has had misses when on deals such as Kovy (the bigger miss was buying him out and letting him go elsewhere and play well) and Peterson. That said, it's time to put the onus of the blame where it chiefly belongs - on Luc's shoulders.
 
It is just Blake. That is the problem. Dude is just a cancer in this organization as a player and a GM.

Hiring friends
Hiring Bergevin
Kovy deal
Peterson deal
PLD deal
PLD deal part 2
Letting Matt Roy go for nothing allowing the team not to upgrade at all during the season
Signing a player who we do not need, who has never played a full season in the NHL to a 4 million per year contract, for 4 years.
Resigining Trevor Lewis to teach the kids. Wanna teach the kids? Make him a coach.

Feel free to add to the list. Seriously screw this guy.

I mean...it's been discussed over and over - how much of all this is on Blake is a huge question mark. I doubt Rob decides the most important things and the general direction of this team, which is probably why they hired him, an unproven GM, instead of someone else with more reputation to lose and less friends within, who would refuse to be the "yes man".

You can blame Rob all you want, but the fact remains is that if it wouldn't be him, it would be someone else doing the dance as per the upper management wishes. Which are clearly not in the realm of "trade our aging overpaid stars" or "do a complete rebuild like DL did".

This team got its Cup, two actually, and they got their stars to draw the casual fan base until they're here. They also have Byfield and Clarke in line for the throne and if they succeed in reaching stardom, you'll wait for a looong time for a proper rebuild...

So...yeah, Rob is not the problem here. He's part of the problem, but he's as much part of this problem as an unfinished/unpolished part installed into an engineered contraption to do whatever it's supposed to do semi-successfully and just about good enough to not fall apart. The main problem is the engineer, not the part itself.
 
Well said Maloney27. I have not been a fan of Flake since he gave the Kings the middle finger holding them hostage in 2001, then DT had enough of his nonsense and traded him. Then signed in the offseason with Colorado for LESS money than the Kings offered. I was one of the fans BOOing him every time he touched the puck after that.

What really got to me about him was the lack of accountability at the end of season press conference with him and Robitaille. At that point, I decided I am not spending another nickel on this team until he is gone. As someone else mentioned, if this was the business world he would have been shown the door a long time ago.

I had a Robitaille poster on my wall when I was a kid. He was one of my favorite Kings ever. However, absolutely despise him as President. Has done an awful job and deserves as much blame as Flake himself. Sorry to sound harsh but we are 10+years and counting since our last playoff series win and this team sits worse today than at seasons end.
 
I can tell you this, in regards to the coaching situation. You’re dead wrong about penny pinching. We spend to the cap every year, and our ownership also allows management to spend quite a chunk of change on guys who are destined for the minors, but still making 1 mill(Burroughs, Englund, Tynan, Copley, etc etc). So while Hiller might not be the right guy, it has zero to do with ownership not allowing them to make a solid hire.
Correct about AEG not being penny pinchers on spending.

Ownership does not care about winning. They even don't care how much money is spent, so long as fans keep dumping their money into the team. If the fans keep coming to the games and watching the mediocre product while buying new shiny gear, AEG is VERY happy. It's all about the bottom line.

AEG does not care about winning; they only care about profit.

The Kings spend huge money making horrible roster decisions. AEG does not care.

This is the EXACT same thing that happened at the Galaxy for a decade.
Galaxy president Chris Klein and his nepotism front office had the highest payroll in MLS almost all the time.
Yet, they made horrific coaching, player/roster decisions over and over again.
The Galaxy went from the most dominating club in the league to a laughing stock.
AEG did not care at all. AEG was cool with the massive spending, couch roulette, and player buyouts.
WHY? Because the fans kept paying for tickets, buying beers, spending money on new shiny merch.

However, the decade of mediocrity is over at Galaxy. The Galaxy are now tied for first in their conference. How did it end? The fans boycotted the club in 2023, and stopped showing up to matches. It took about 4 months of the boycott, and then AEG fired Chris Klein, and cleaned out the front office. They hired new top tier personnel from outside the organization, and it's a dramatic change. Once the fan money dried up, AEG pulled the plug on the front office.

Kings fans can vent on message boards all day long. AEG does not care.
So long as Kings fans keep dumping their hard earned cash into a mediocre club for a decade and counting, AEG is very, very happy.

NHL fans have power. The bulk of the league's revenue comes from game day operations. (just like MLS)
The TV/media deals are chump change. AEG relies on die-hard fans, who keep dumping their money into the team like robots. Loyalty is stupid when you get nothing for it.

Remember, kids: AEG does not care about winning; they only care about profit.

When Timmy left AEG, he took "caring about winning" with him.
Danny B cares only about $$$.

If you are unhappy about the last decade of Kings hockey, stop giving them your money.
 
Last edited:
Correct about AEG not being penny pinchers on spending.

Ownership does not care about winning. They even don't care how much money is spent, so long as fans keep dumping their money into the team. If the fans keep coming to the games and watching the mediocre product while buying new shiny gear, AEG is VERY happy. It's all about the bottom line.

AEG does not care about winning; they only care about profit.

The Kings spend huge money making horrible roster decisions. AEG does not care.

This is the EXACT same thing that happened at the Galaxy for a decade.
Galaxy president Chris Klein and his nepotism front office had the highest payroll in MLS almost all the time.
Yet, they made horrific coaching, player/roster decisions over and over again.
The Galaxy went from the most dominating club in the league to a laughing stock.
AEG did not care at all. AEG was cool with the massive spending, couch roulette, and player buyouts.
WHY? Because the fans kept paying for tickets, buying beers, spending money on new shiny merch.

However, the decade of mediocrity is over at Galaxy. The Galaxy are now tied for first in their conference. How did it end? The fans boycotted the club in 2023, and stopped showing up to matches. It took about 4 months of the boycott, and then AEG fired Chris Klein, and cleaned out the front office. They hired new top tier personnel from outside the organization, and it's a dramatic change. Once the fan money dried up, AEG pulled the plug on the front office.

Kings fans can vent on message boards all day long. AEG does not care.
So long as Kings fans keep dumping their hard earned cash into a mediocre club for a decade and counting, AEG is very, very happy.

NHL fans have power. The bulk of the league's revenue comes from game day operations. (just like MLS)
The TV/media deals are chump change. AEG relies on die-hard fans, who keep dumping their money into the team like robots. Loyalty is stupid when you get nothing for it.

Remember, kids: AEG does not care about winning; they only care about profit.

When Timmy left AEG, he took "caring about winning" with him.
Danny be cares only about $$$.

If you are unhappy about the last decade of Kings hockey, stop giving them your money.
As Jim Rome used to say back in the Mighty 690 days (maybe he still does), "Rack him!"
 
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If you are unhappy about the last decade of Kings hockey, stop giving them your money.

The most rational statement of this entire thread.
The least rational? (paraphrasing) "If I were GM, I would only sign the best players for the cheapest contracts. And if you wait until the end of next season, I can tell you exactly who they are."

Uncle Phil doesn't care about any of that. Uncle Phil cares about seeing the enterprise value for LAK going from $750 million (according to Forbes) at the beginning of Rob/Luc tenure in 2017 to $2 billion at the end of 2023 - from #6 on the list to #4 leapfrogging BOS and CHI. 17.7% CAGR over 6 years. THAT is what Uncle Phil cares about.
 
One major change should be to remove the C from Kopitar. Love the guy, he’s a legend, but the lack of response against Edmonton in the playoffs was just gutless. We can only speculate what goes on behind the scenes, in the locker room, but whatever was said or not said, it certainly did NOT translate onto the ice.

I never felt Kopi was the guy for captain. He's too relaxed and professional. Need a guy to get angry sometimes, or deliver a bone crushing hit to a Sedin, that kinda thing.
 
The most rational statement of this entire thread.
The least rational? (paraphrasing) "If I were GM, I would only sign the best players for the cheapest contracts. And if you wait until the end of next season, I can tell you exactly who they are."

Uncle Phil doesn't care about any of that. Uncle Phil cares about seeing the enterprise value for LAK going from $750 million (according to Forbes) at the beginning of Rob/Luc tenure in 2017 to $2 billion at the end of 2023 - from #6 on the list to #4 leapfrogging BOS and CHI. 17.7% CAGR over 6 years. THAT is what Uncle Phil cares about.

I can proudly say I haven't spent a penny on the team in 10 years! Well I bought my wife a Fiala jersey this year so I'm a liar but besides that, nothin! We should be winning any day now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RoS
Correct about AEG not being penny pinchers on spending.

Ownership does not care about winning. They even don't care how much money is spent, so long as fans keep dumping their money into the team. If the fans keep coming to the games and watching the mediocre product while buying new shiny gear, AEG is VERY happy. It's all about the bottom line.

AEG does not care about winning; they only care about profit.

The Kings spend huge money making horrible roster decisions. AEG does not care.

This is the EXACT same thing that happened at the Galaxy for a decade.
Galaxy president Chris Klein and his nepotism front office had the highest payroll in MLS almost all the time.
Yet, they made horrific coaching, player/roster decisions over and over again.
The Galaxy went from the most dominating club in the league to a laughing stock.
AEG did not care at all. AEG was cool with the massive spending, couch roulette, and player buyouts.
WHY? Because the fans kept paying for tickets, buying beers, spending money on new shiny merch.

However, the decade of mediocrity is over at Galaxy. The Galaxy are now tied for first in their conference. How did it end? The fans boycotted the club in 2023, and stopped showing up to matches. It took about 4 months of the boycott, and then AEG fired Chris Klein, and cleaned out the front office. They hired new top tier personnel from outside the organization, and it's a dramatic change. Once the fan money dried up, AEG pulled the plug on the front office.

Kings fans can vent on message boards all day long. AEG does not care.
So long as Kings fans keep dumping their hard earned cash into a mediocre club for a decade and counting, AEG is very, very happy.

NHL fans have power. The bulk of the league's revenue comes from game day operations. (just like MLS)
The TV/media deals are chump change. AEG relies on die-hard fans, who keep dumping their money into the team like robots. Loyalty is stupid when you get nothing for it.

Remember, kids: AEG does not care about winning; they only care about profit.

When Timmy left AEG, he took "caring about winning" with him.
Danny B cares only about $$$.

If you are unhappy about the last decade of Kings hockey, stop giving them your money.

Didnt we talk about this like many yrs ago... LOL
 
Correct about AEG not being penny pinchers on spending.

Ownership does not care about winning. They even don't care how much money is spent, so long as fans keep dumping their money into the team. If the fans keep coming to the games and watching the mediocre product while buying new shiny gear, AEG is VERY happy. It's all about the bottom line.

AEG does not care about winning; they only care about profit.

The Kings spend huge money making horrible roster decisions. AEG does not care.

This is the EXACT same thing that happened at the Galaxy for a decade.
Galaxy president Chris Klein and his nepotism front office had the highest payroll in MLS almost all the time.
Yet, they made horrific coaching, player/roster decisions over and over again.
The Galaxy went from the most dominating club in the league to a laughing stock.
AEG did not care at all. AEG was cool with the massive spending, couch roulette, and player buyouts.
WHY? Because the fans kept paying for tickets, buying beers, spending money on new shiny merch.

However, the decade of mediocrity is over at Galaxy. The Galaxy are now tied for first in their conference. How did it end? The fans boycotted the club in 2023, and stopped showing up to matches. It took about 4 months of the boycott, and then AEG fired Chris Klein, and cleaned out the front office. They hired new top tier personnel from outside the organization, and it's a dramatic change. Once the fan money dried up, AEG pulled the plug on the front office.

Kings fans can vent on message boards all day long. AEG does not care.
So long as Kings fans keep dumping their hard earned cash into a mediocre club for a decade and counting, AEG is very, very happy.

NHL fans have power. The bulk of the league's revenue comes from game day operations. (just like MLS)
The TV/media deals are chump change. AEG relies on die-hard fans, who keep dumping their money into the team like robots. Loyalty is stupid when you get nothing for it.

Remember, kids: AEG does not care about winning; they only care about profit.

When Timmy left AEG, he took "caring about winning" with him.
Danny B cares only about $$$.

If you are unhappy about the last decade of Kings hockey, stop giving them your money.

Bingo. The problem is that you will have a hard time convincing casuals to boycott if the team fights for the playoffs.

More action needs to be taken by the diehards. Protest in front of the arena before the games? Is that even legal in the Land of the free-est or is it considered too damaging to money flows to be allowed? Would police intervene with tear gas or would some private safety corporation step in? 🙃
 
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