Russell Morgan 
For a fanbase searching for answers after its team’s third straight exit in the first round of the playoffs, LA Kings’ General Manager Rob Blake and Team President Luc Robitaille took the microphone on Monday afternoon to provide very few if any at all.
How do you assess a season that starts 16-4-3 only to finish the rest of the year 28-23-8? How do you assess a season in which you fire your head coach, the highest-paid coach in the league, with three wins in a 17-game span? How do you assess a season where you lose in the first round of the playoffs to the same team for the third year in a row, but this time in fewer games? Well, according to Rob Blake…progress.
“I think we’re making progress. The progress is not showing in the playoffs. That’s up to us to keep driving it home with this group right now. And we’ve got to take that next step,” Rob Blake stated responding to The Fourth Period’s Dennis Bernstein’s question on why they should continue in their roles. Face meet palm.
Sure, you could sell individual progress. Second overall pick from the 2020 draft Quinton Byfield had a breakout season with 55 points, young defenseman Jordan Spence looked great in the playoffs following up a solid first full season, and hometown favorite Trevor Moore put up his first 30+ goal season. But to spew overall progression only comes across as tone-deaf as Jojo Siwa’s singing career.
The hold Kings’ management has on their job status with little to no growth to show for it would make a U.S. Senator jealous. Any other organization across the NHL wouldn’t allow this to continue. They’d want more. The fans certainly do.
Pierre-Luc ‘Dubacle’
As the Kings delve further into what feels like mediocrity, they’ve become a laughing stock across the league with fingers pointing directly at Rob Blake’s big acquisition Pierre-Luc Dubois. Just one year removed from an eight-year $68 million contract, Blake was forced to make clear there were no intentions to buy out the centerman.
“We need to make him better. He’s had a consistent performance over his career so far and deviated from that this year. So it’s up to us as staff, coaches, and management here to help him become more productive for us.”
Later in the availability, Blake mentioned the need for the coaches to better incorporate him into the game. Something that should’ve been realized or planned before the season, not after.
System Change?
As much as it feels doom and gloom at the moment, there’s still a chance for improvement. Blake talked about the need to inject youth into the lineup, propping up players like Brandt Clarke, Alex Turcotte, and Akil Thomas. All of whom are expected to take on more important roles for the Kings next season. Even though they should’ve had more prominent roles this past year.
And then there’s the topic of a system change. Among the mostly non-answers given during the 30-minute-long press conference, the need for a system change is at the top of the list of things Kings management will look to evaluate in the summer.
“Systematic changes will be discussed in different ways. If you look we gave up the third least amount of goals against. So that pattern is good. We don’t want to deviate too far away from that. On the offensive side, we’ve gotten better but we’re still league average.”
Of course, there was also talk of getting away from the maligned 1-3-1, “We have to have a deep discussion about that,” stated Blake. Listening to the fans and even the players who were quite open with their criticism of that style, the removal of the 1-3-1 would be welcomed.
Kevin Fiala’s thoughts on LA’s 1-3-1 system was the highlight of today’s exit interviews.
“It would be fun to try something else.”
(s/t @LAKings YouTube) pic.twitter.com/273rZek759
— Russell Morgan (@NHLRussell) May 3, 2024
Much like the LA Kings season, I sit here after this media availability unfulfilled. What’s next? How much worse can this possibly get? Management is backed into a corner. But we wait and hope things can be turned around. That’s all we’ve got. Hope.
Always slow to react. They should have known how to play Dubois (and Kaliyev) better. They should have played Clarke, Turcotte and Thomas more. They should have executed the 1-3-1 better, with players along the boards pressuring at the redline faster. They should have abandoned the 1-3-1 when they changed coaches, and had several days to implement it. They should have given players days off who weren’t performing. Robitaille, Blake, McLellan and Hiller are all slow to react. It’s time to clean house,
Well we’re in for another barely making the playoffs and another 1st round exit. Kopitar and Doughty another year older, no goalies, PLD goes from a 1/3 salary cap hit to a 2/3 hit if he is not bought out in a month. Kempe and Fiala shackled in an awful system, undersized 4th line, lack of grit, lack of heart. Other than that it looks just peachy under Blake and Luc. Send the owners a message, do not buy the season tickets.
i am willing to let the next coach (it can’t be hiller) have a shot at figuring out dubois. which is a high priority. we don’t need him to score 50 goals or anything like that, or be in the MVP race. but dubois has to become harder to play against. more physical. go to the net more. i’m sure there are stats on thus, but for someone who is supposed to be a top-6 forward, he seems to have the puck very little. in goal, i’m ready for portillo and a vet to be the duo. the kings are a defensive team at their core, so a rookie getting big minutes could work. it’s great that he’s done well in the minors. but it’s time to see if he can do well with the kings. i want matt roy back, although some people don’t. we should have atleast one rough, tough d-man who’ll punch you in the face. he’s it. i think arvidsson’s gone, but dubois being such a spazz has made him more valuable to us if (when?) dubois struggles again. gotta’ keep byfield. and we have to get the coach right THIS time. stevens never git a fair chance, as he was the guy to manage the decline. mc clelllan did what he did in SJ, nice regular season–> out early in playoffs. i liked him, but that’s meaningless. a big name would assuage fans a little, but not a lot. they can hire scooby doo for all i care if he can get 20-25 goals, 70 points and more effort and grit from dubois
Where are the owners? They shun the source of their income from this franchise, the fans, by allowing this “good old boy” syndrome to damage the team.
Rob Blake and his “guys” have got to go. His performance as GM is unacceptable and embarrassing.
Blake has to go. More of the same with little answer for improvement gets nowhere.
The answer to Dubois is laughable.
We need a goalie, PK coach, PP coach as well as a Hiller replacement.
The answers given at this press conference are a recipe for disaster.
Bring on Bergevin !!
The problem is our special teams, which is where playoff goals are scored. We failed to score a single PP goal in 5 playoff games. The Oilers scored at around a 50 percent pace in their PPs. We overpass. We’re predictable. We don’t take advantage of our individual talents. Regular season success does not equate to playoff success. The intensity and physicality in playoffs jump way beyond their regular season levels. We cannot win with a good goaltender. He must be a great goalie or a very good one playing great.
Ex Kings running the show isn’t cutting it. We need a new President, GM and a Stanley Cup winning coach to take this team to the next level. Blake has gotten rid of more talent than what he’s signed on. Luc just stands around smiling. Need a Coach, Coaches that have proven track records of winning seasons and Stanley Cup finals experience. Play the young ones, you see the other teams doing it with they’re young kids and seems to work for them. We need players to play sixty minutes each night, not twenty minutes. Too many players look great one game and disappear for two or three games. Hustle wins games and this team lacks that mentality. Chasing leads to penalties. Beat em to the puck. It’s very disappointing to watch them beat several awesome teams in a row then get smoked by a last place team and you know it’s gonna happen because that’s how they play. We have some great players, we just need the management and leadership that knows how to get that out of them all the time.
Do you remember when Luc and Rob used to talk about the players they wanted on the team and intangibles draft picks needed to have ??? “Character”, “Compete” and “Accountability” ? Why are these attributes not required for the General Manager and President ? In the recent HR podcast it was said by one of the host that he heard no humility and zero admission of any bad decisions on Blake’s part. That couldn’t be more true and that more than anything makes me want both Blake and Luc gone period !!!! Let’s be honest, if PLD was simply signed as a free agent for 8.5 M a year for 8 years it would have been a dreadful signing. But never forget we gave up Vilardi, Iafallo, Kupari and Durzi to also make that debacle of a trade. There is absolutely no way to spin it because it’s all just a terrible justification for the worst trade the Kings have made in the past decade ! PLD says all the right things and backs up none of it on the ice. He will always underachieve and never be a difference maker game in and game out. I can’t remember a single game in the season or playoffs in which he put the team on his back and got us a win,
can you ???? ,
Last, I was sick of this last issue 3-4 years ago, but the Kings keep doing it over and over again. Letting young talented players over marinate in the AHL for far too long in favor of aging vets and players that have the slightest bit of NHL experience !
I am sick of it. Let our youth play now ! I would much rather see us do a full rebuild and let our prospects gain valuable NHL experience even if that meant losing for several seasons. Watching the talents of up and coming young players is far more exciting than this 1-3-1 boring unsuccessful hockey we play now. I don’t care about making the playoffs only to get there and then losing in the 1st round. Ask yourselves Kings fans ? How important is it to you to watch your team play an extra 5 games at the end of the season ? Very last, Kopitar and Doughty (God love them) should not be making any more demands about winning now at the expense of sacrificing our youth to get those players another cup. It’s not fair for us to watch them age and be under a wild unrealistic idea that we are just a few players short to surround Kopitar and Doughty with and we will win another cup. That’s a pipe dream ! They are hero’s and champions, but i would much rather they be happy with their 2 cups and feel good about becoming teachers and mentors to our prospects and younger players. If that’s not what hey want to do I can respect that, but they should be required to win elsewhere. Its painful, but I’m ok saying goodbye to both of them and getting draft picks in return. I am grateful for them, ALWAYS !!! They are my heroes !!! But we can’t let them hold us hostage anymore demanding we fill the team with players around them to win now. We are not just a few players away. We are in fact a long way away. The salary cap won’t allow it either with the contracts we have, will have, etc. We can’t build a cup winner around Kopitar and Doughty, let’s face it. We have to start over. And we have to start, starting over with new management !
Actually, things will be worse next season. Despite the salary cap increase by 4.2 mil, the Kings will have trouble building a full team. We have 14 current players ending the season as RFA/UFA status. These players include many players who were on their entry level sub-1 million dollar contracts. This includes Byfield, Spence, Thomas, etc. All of these players are guaranteed pay increases. Arvidsson and Roy are UFAs we cannot afford to re-sign unless they take a reduced amount. Both goalies are UFAs. All 14 players only total 18 mil of our salary cap hit. How can Blake sign them to higher contracts with no money? Byfield is looking at a 3 mil increase. As was proven this season, spending only 2.5 mil on both goaltenders wasn’t successful, so we need to sign a true top tier goalie (at least 4.5 mil) and then call up Portillo on his entry level deal. Basically, there is a way to do it, but it runs 22 mil (placing the Kings right up against the salary cap) but leaves us 3 players short. Thankfully we can replace Roy with Clark who is on an entry-level contract, but next year’s team is going to be very young and inexperienced.
On ice Kings and PLD results were AWFUL considering expectations, compensation, and cap hit. Is anyone concerned that the locker room is divided and NOT “all-in” for each other?
What I see is NOT good and teams that make legit Cup runs don’t have this type of team makeup…
Do you know any 60 points/season forwards that are awarded the keys to the castle and crush a team’s cap for 8 seasons? Doesn’t play on PK, doesn’t grind in tough areas, offense dies on his stick, plays D with one arm always reaching, never buries anything, plays slower than opponents, plays smaller than his 6’4″ 230 frame, never likes his organization, his team never likes him, etc. A bizarre contract. What was really going on there?
Previous posts were so SPOT ON!
I wish more HR fans would comment here and I hope to see more articles from HR, perhaps about fans taking their arguments to ownership instead of just being totally unheard by Blake and Luc. It’s literally time to go over their head. HR is the most honest of all the Kings media outlets. They also have the balls to tell the truth. I hope they stir things up and take all our concerns directly to ownership.
I keep thinking lately about Kaliyev who is soon to be exiled ! I really wish we were keeping this 22 year old and getting rid of Luc and Blake instead !!!!!! I think we are all missing something regarding Kaliyev. Something must have happened behind the scenes. There really isn’t enough in his stats and even defensive play to warrant wanting to get rid of a young player with one of the best shots in the league ? The hockey reasons and his play just fall insufficient as explanations. I really wish Hockey Royalty (HR) could do some investigative reporting and get behind the scenes and get someone in the Kings organization to spill the truth. I’d settle from an unconfirmed source at this point. I will always wonder and be pissed if he goes without having a truthful reason. What is the real reason Kaliyev fell out of favor so terribly? It just doesn’t make sense and I’m starting to think it has nothing to do with hockey. Management had so much praise not all that long ago in this player. Just imagine him being allowed to be the kind of player he is on a line with Turcotte and Thomas for a guaranteed 40 games minimum ? For our youth, I’m willing to try things like that. Few skilled prospects will ever have great success playing limited minutes on a 4th line grinder type role. We should be giving our youth more patience and allowing them to figure it out in the NHL. Can you imagine the excitement a Thomas-Turcotte-Kaliyev line would create ? You don’t think Kaliyev would be thrilled and try his very, very best if Kings committed to those 3 being put together without the fear of being broken up 3 games later ???? Last, that press conference with Luc and Blake was so incredibly offensive to me and like you guys said, ZERO humility for the poor choices they have made. These guys remind me of corrupt politicians now. They rarely say anything of interest. They either flat out lie or give carefully worded nonsense. They don’t like to answer direct questions and their words just don’t ever give you a clear understanding. They sound like politicians. I’m sooooooo sick of these two !!! Ownership is totally spineless and I think we should all start making our opinions heard to them directly. I sent them a harsh email today demanding they comment or speak to fans and media about numerous topics.
I hope more of you do the same as well as HR media.
The HR boys are tops as far as independent coverage of the team. I appreciate all their content across this website and their podcast.
For fans who cheer for success, it’s a revenue result for ownership. AEG is a corporation, so they expect revenues to be in line for projections. It’s when you radically miss for 3 years in a row that they consider change.