Rob Blake Should Win GM Of The Year

[Dr. Tran]

I don't know if anyone would've thought this in October. There are probably some people who still think he's a horrible GM & should be fired. And he's made a lot of bad trades & signings over the years. But this is a year by year award. And this season he's hit several home runs. Starting from the PLD for Kuemper trade. Getting rid of that contract was a huge win in itself. And Kuemper came off a subpar year. But he's been spectacular. He should be a Vezina finalist & is probably the team MVP. Then you have the free agent signings. Foegele was a home run. Edmiundson was a home run. Even Jeannot was a solid single. Although I think if he gets in the playoffs that would be where his true impact will come out. And then Burroughs & Jones are solid depth players. Finally, there's the Kuzmenko trade. And that was a grand slam. He's gone 5-12-17 in 21 games. But more importantly, our power play went from something like 28th to 15, I don't remember exactly. But we won 17 of 21 games. We went from 13 overall in the standings to 6th overall. And our goal differential went from +7 to +48. I don't know if any player traded at the deadline has had this impact on their team. And getting him for a 3rd rounder doesn't really matter unless he ended up being a bust. In which case, it's no loss. But he wasn't. So that just makes it a bonus. I don't know who's going to be nominated for this award, or if anyone is right now. I think they vote on it after the 1st or 2nd round. So we have to beat Edmonton, which I think we will. But if that happens, he should win it.

 

[JETS GARAGE]

60-1

 

[Ice Rhino]

He's moved himself back to dead center neutral for me, after falling into the negative badly last year. That just shows what a great year he had overall, because I was PISSED.

 

[HiFi]

It’s 50/50 for me. The fact that he had to make some of the moves he did was based on past failures. However, with Kuemper and Kuzmenko working out, it tilts a little more his way. I’m content; I’m not excited or going to ask for an award, but he’s not on the chopping block (depending on the first round outcome).

 

[orpheus]

I am not ready to go fully into the Dark Side.

 

[JC6388LAKings]

I still have my doubts of Blake so I'm not onboard the "Praise Blake" train. Burroughs isn't that solid of a depth D-man that you think as he's arguably the Kings' worst player of the roster and Blake keeping him over Englund was the one mistake that could potentially come back to haunt him when the playoffs come. Englund was better defensively and Burroughs seems to struggle positionally in the D-zone and is prone to untimely penalties while at the same time, he provides just about non-existent contributions on O. He's the weakest link for the Kings' blue line corps. I don't see Burroughs coming back to the roster for another year as he should be let go after this season.

 

[Birdman]

Ahahahahaha.

They beat the Oilers, he saves his job. If not, it’s 50/50 on whether he stays or goes.

 

[Rog or Reg?]

I don't know if anyone would've thought this in October. There are probably some people who still think he's a horrible GM & should be fired. And he's made a lot of bad trades & signings over the years. But this is a year by year award. And this season he's hit several home runs. Starting from the PLD for Kuemper trade. Getting rid of that contract was a huge win in itself. And Kuemper came off a subpar year. But he's been spectacular. He should be a Vezina finalist & is probably the team MVP. Then you have the free agent signings. Foegele was a home run. Edmiundson was a home run. Even Jeannot was a solid single. Although I think if he gets in the playoffs that would be where his true impact will come out. And then Burroughs & Jones are solid depth players. Finally, there's the Kuzmenko trade. And that was a grand slam. He's gone 5-12-17 in 21 games. But more importantly, our power play went from something like 28th to 15, I don't remember exactly. But we won 17 of 21 games. We went from 13 overall in the standings to 6th overall. And our goal differential went from +7 to +48. I don't know if any player traded at the deadline has had this impact on their team. And getting him for a 3rd rounder doesn't really matter unless he ended up being a bust. In which case, it's no loss. But he wasn't. So that just makes it a bonus. I don't know who's going to be nominated for this award, or if anyone is right now. I think they vote on it after the 1st or 2nd round. So we have to beat Edmonton, which I think we will. But if that happens, he should win it.

After the PLD fiasco, I was done with Blake and his antics...but then he goes and makes all these moves...against all odds...

 

[Pevsfreedom]

Ahahahahaha.

They beat the Oilers, he saves his job. If not, it’s 50/50 on whether he stays or goes.

Mostly this.

 

[McSorleyFan]

Ahahahahaha.

They beat the Oilers, he saves his job. If not, it’s 50/50 on whether he stays or goes.

Agreed. I think getting out of the 1st round saves his job. He did good getting Kuz and the fact he was a good fit with AK2. He also did good getting rid of the cancer for a Vezina conversation goalie.
Overall, the org needs to do way better grooming their draft picks for the NHL.
Is that Blake? While he makes the picks the coaching staff is ultimately responsible IMO.

 

[Pickle_Pucks]

The playoffs are not on Blake this year. He has put together a team that has to produce. Blake can't go on the ice himself.

The players will have to step up. He keeps his job no matter what happens IMO, for better or for worse.

 

[Clif]

GMs don’t lose their jobs after making the playoffs four years in a row, unless it’s Toronto.

Blake hasn’t made a lot of bad trades. The PLD trade is one of the worst in franchise history, but it’s arguably the only bad trade he’s made.

Cal was a bad signing, but I didn’t see him falling off a cliff and destabilizing the most important position for years. Did you? At least it was only three years and not five like Campbell got.

All this said, Blake made two major blunders but his recoveries were A and A+. Thought experiment ONLY: if the Kings win the Cup with Darcy as the number one, is the trade for PLD still among the worst in history, or just part of a trade tree?

This year feels like Blake is the Prodigal Son. He wanted to distance himself from Dean’s vision and implant his own speed and skill “plan,” but it was never cohesive. He downplayed size for years. He still filled the team with defensive players, 200 ft players, and even “character guys,” but still kept a toe dipped in this idea of being something else. It was so disjointed Todd just ran a choking system to optimize success and shield b or c tier goalies.

The moves he made this year signaled a re-dedication to a successful Kings culture and play style. He made the right call in Hiller who probably doesn’t get talked about enough. The more pure skill players have been absorbed into this system. Kuzmenko entered a well-oiled machine.

My biggest Blake criticism is that he held on to too many prospects for too long. Problem with waiting to see what you have is everyone else sees what you have also, and then it’s too late.

So, not GM of the year. Hiller is among the coaches of the year. Blake learned some valuable lessons and I believe he can now keep it up.

 

[hokiecat]

Ahahahahaha.

They beat the Oilers, he saves his job. If not, it’s 50/50 on whether he stays or goes.

^^^^This.

Last year was the push all the chips in year where we got past Edmonton. Instead we lost in 5 instead of 6 or 7. Great moves this past offseason but we're really back to where we should have been a year ago. Blake has done a great job of fixing his complete f***ups the prior 12 months to get us back to where we would have been if he didn't make bad move after bad move.

Patrick and Carbery in Washington have done a complete rebuild on the fly.

 

[DryKing]

After the PLD fiasco, I was done with Blake and his antics...but then he goes and makes all these moves...against all odds...

Blake is actually a good GM when he is allowed to do his job (which includes steering decisions instead of them being handed down to him).

I still question his choice of coach though. Last year Hiller got out-coached in round 1 due to the inability to make adjustments fast enough. He started out hot, but while his opposing coach made adjustments to overcome the Kings strategies, Hiller stood stagnant (losing the series). Hopefully this year we see a new level to Hiller, now that he has more experience and a more complete team.

If the Kings do not advance past the 1st round, I'm not too sure Blake should stick around. He's had his blunders but overall I think he has done a good job. That said, he did promise a deep playoff run by now and his time (as well as Luc's) to make good on that promise is this post season.

Personally I hope he stays as the Kings GM as he hasn't destroyed the team/future by overspending on rentals (despite the pressure on him). I really do think he puts the team/organization before himself, which is truly admirable.

 

[DarkLeftHand]

In the immortal words of Winston Wolfe..

 

[Helvetica]

He's put this team in the best position it's been in for playoff success in the past... 5 years? He's had some blunders along the way, but who doesn't? As far as regular season goes, there's simply no arguing it's been a massive success, but we're at a point now where regular season success is expected, and winning rounds in the playoffs is all that matters.

I think his decisions last offseason have all been excellent. His deadline trade has been excellent. His decision making for this season has been excellent. There is no arguing that point. If you're judging him on his decision making, i think he's got a shot at the award this season. If you're judging him solely on the team's success, then we're going to have to wait a bit longer to decide on that.

 

[Dr. Tran]

The playoffs are not on Blake this year. He has put together a team that has to produce. Blake can't go on the ice himself.

The players will have to step up. He keeps his job no matter what happens IMO, for better or for worse.

The only reason I said playoffs is because I believe they vote after the playoffs start. But I don't know exactly. If it was regular season I'd say for sure he wins. Although the Caps & Avs GMs will probably be considered. I also knew there would be a few heads exploding when I made my post. But if ew looked at just this season starting July 1, and ignored our biases, we'd see he had a season worth praising.

I also wonder about how we give praise to GMs with this award. Or coaches with the Jack Adams. But they wouldn't be successful without the players having great years. IN suppose he knew Foegele would be good from what he saw of him. But did he know he'd be this good? And I don't know if he thought Kuemper would be anything close to what he's been. At the least he was a way to get rid of PLD. And did he know that Kuzmenko's buy in & fit would work so well? The point is that if bot for players having great seasons, GMs & coaches wouldn't be getting praise.

 

[JayWells24]

Here is my take on our GM.

It's no secret I am a big Flake hater. Although a lot of years have elapsed, I recall vividly him holding DT hostage in 2001 and wouldn't resign therefore leading to him being dealt to Colorado. Then signing for LESS money in the offseason.

In a game the next season we were losing 4-2 to Colorado at home late in the game. (It was the only game Andy Murray was ever thrown out of so you know the officiating was bad). Leads to a Colorado 2-man advantage. Instead of just passing the puck along the perimeter waiting for the clock to expire, Flake takes this long slap shot by Felix Potvin. Totally unnecessary.

And as everyone has alluded to, the PLD trade (perhaps one of the worst in club history), the Cal Pedersen extension, and how some of the young players have been handled.

All of that, but what really pissed me off is the end of season presser with him and silver hair. Basically insulting the fans and calling us one big happy family and getting together for holidays or whatever ridiculousness he spewed out. We had just been eliminated by our long time hated rivals for the 3rd year in a row. Us fans were pissed. They should have been too. He should have said we are angry and we are doing X, Y, and Z to try and get better. He didn't say any of that. That is what really made me angry and put me over the edge.

In his defense, I thought in the offseason and this year he has been EXCELLENT. The Foegele signing is arguably the best offseason signing by any team. Edmonson as well. The Kuzmenko trade looks genius right now, but let's see how he does in the playoffs and going forward. Getting Kuemper was spectacular also. He righted a lot of his wrongs.

IMO if the Kings beat the Oilers he will be extended. If not, he will be and should be shown the door. 7 years under his watch with no playoff series wins and 11 seasons overall is unacceptable.

 

[DryKing]

Here is my take on our GM.

It's no secret I am a big Flake hater. Although a lot of years have elapsed, I recall vividly him holding DT hostage in 2001 and wouldn't resign therefore leading to him being dealt to Colorado. Then signing for LESS money in the offseason.

In a game the next season we were losing 4-2 to Colorado at home late in the game. (It was the only game Andy Murray was ever thrown out of so you know the officiating was bad). Leads to a Colorado 2-man advantage. Instead of just passing the puck along the perimeter waiting for the clock to expire, Flake takes this long slap shot by Felix Potvin. Totally unnecessary.

And as everyone has alluded to, the PLD trade (perhaps one of the worst in club history), the Cal Pedersen extension, and how some of the young players have been handled.

All of that, but what really pissed me off is the end of season presser with him and silver hair. Basically insulting the fans and calling us one big happy family and getting together for holidays or whatever ridiculousness he spewed out. We had just been eliminated by our long time hated rivals for the 3rd year in a row. Us fans were pissed. They should have been too. He should have said we are angry and we are doing X, Y, and Z to try and get better. He didn't say any of that. That is what really made me angry and put me over the edge.

In his defense, I thought in the offseason and this year he has been EXCELLENT. The Foegele signing is arguably the best offseason signing by any team. Edmonson as well. The Kuzmenko trade looks genius right now, but let's see how he does in the playoffs and going forward. Getting Kuemper was spectacular also. He righted a lot of his wrongs.

IMO if the Kings beat the Oilers he will be extended. If not, he will be and should be shown the door. 7 years under his watch with no playoff series wins and 11 seasons overall is unacceptable.

Totally understandable to not be a fan of his, but the name calling is not necessary. Let's not reduce ourselves to the level of the HF Boards.

 

[Bollocks]

If I knew very well what other teams were doing this season I could judge whether or not he's a GM of the year, but I don't. I'd wager he's in the top 5, though.

The key here is GM of the YEAR...not past 2 years, 3, 4, 5...but THIS season. And in THIS season he did very well IMO.


One more thing (this now won't have anything to do with GM of the year award discussion)...I was always saying that this is his "rookie job" and expecting miracles was foolish. There was seldomly a proven GM with a good track record available for the Kings to pick up. And even the proven GMs with good track records have then s*** the bed many times, because...the game changes, the players change, the competing GMs change...some tricks get outlawed...one successful era doesn't mean a GM will be successful forever. Would you hire DL now as some other team? Lou Lamoriello was also great back in the day...he's now...very sub-par, let's say. Is it because of the cap era? Has he become a bit senile?

Then there are the potential "puppet masters" that probably thought they can do well to "teach" Rob how to be a GM...a rookie GM most likely doesn't have much of an authority in the first few years. Maybe the past year was when they finally gave up trying to tell him how to do his job?

Is it a lot about luck? Also yes. But it's funny - maybe in some parallel universe PLD works well within the Kings and Petersen is good enough to justify his contract...but maybe that means there's no wake-up call for Rob and this team plateaus for even longer.

Anyways...what I think is the key here with Rob is he seems to be able to LEARN. He forgot about his ego and acted quickly on both of his biggest trade blunders.

Maybe it's all luck with the moves he made to fix the blunders and then some (i.e. what could have been one of the worst UFA signings in recent years - Edmundson). But maybe he figured things out?

I think the Kings' retool was successful. Not ideal, far from it, but it was successful if you consider other teams in our position. Players like QB would've maybe been traded already and Clarke thrown to the wolves on the 2nd pairing immediately with some more impatient GMs...hell, I've even played with the idea that maybe Rob should've traded Fiala when his value was low this season. Good thing he didn't act knee-jerky.

Bottom line is...IMO he's above average at drafting and very good contract negotiator when it comes to resigning his own guys he knows well. If he keeps up the upward trajectory he could very well become a long-term top 5 GM in the future...who knows. But what I do know is that A LOT of teams in this league are spinning wheels for oh-so-very-long and even if they land a near-generational talent (i.e. Bedard, Celebrini) or they pick in the top 10 for years and years (Phoenix...uhm, Arizona...uhm, Utah) they still s***.