Borrow upon any cliche you’d like, it’s almost certainly been a rough week for Kings GM Rob Blake and those in LA management circles. Hell, it’s been an unsettling year.
The pitchforks have been out among even the team’s most faithful fans for weeks, if not months. ‘Fire Rob Blake’ was even trending on twitter at one point.
For whatever it’s worth, we don’t believe there will be a change in the days or weeks to come.
We’re expecting Blake to return as LA Kings GM for the 2024-25 NHL season.
Nothing has been announced by the team, this is an opinion. Early next week, there could be clarity that will officially cement this notion.
The question really shouldn’t be why. If that’s the organization’s decision, the most important question becomes, ‘What’s next?’
People can certainly ask why. Some can even lay out their case against it, arguing vehemently it’s the wrong decision. In the end, it won’t change a thing, if that’s the decision that’s been reached.
Determining what’s next is the best hope the Kings (and their fans) have in turning things around.
For those who absolutely feel the need to argue the point, we’ll engage — although only briefly. There’s something to be said for consistency. Hockey is a sport, and it’s also a business. Consistency and continuity often lead to greater results than constantly changing with the wind. NHL success is not a linear equation either. With only one Stanley Cup winner each year, there are at least 15 other teams who are disappointed, perhaps even as many as 31.
Dean Lombardi had an extended run as GM. He came away with two Cups for his efforts. He also joined a team that had never experienced that type of success before, so he had more forgiveness when he made grave errors. Many fans have argued he should have had an even longer tenure with the club, in spite of some rather horrific blunders. That’s not a slight directed at Lombardi in any way. He will forever be a legend in LA and he more than earned all the praise he’s given. It’s simply pointing out there is a flip side to every coin.
Blake hasn’t been GM nearly as long as Lombardi, it just feels like it. And he inherited the chair after the organization’s most successful run ever. So, there’s less patience and a greater desire to get back to the Stanley Cup Final.
What many fans are likely sick of is that the Kings haven’t won a playoff series in a decade and the big moves they’ve made don’t appear to have gotten them any closer to ending that streak.
Speaking as objectively as possible, Blake has his list of wins as GM, and plenty of losses to stack right alongside of them. If running an NHL team is like high stakes gambling, Blake has yet to win the big pot of chips. Few GMs can say they have, though. And the ones who have guided their teams to a Cup, rarely get to do it a second or third time in their career.
Fortunately for them, though, it only takes that one win to forever brand them a winner.
Will Blake ever get to that point as GM of the Kings? We can’t predict the future.
Which brings us back to reality and the present.
Are the Kings players and management mad? Absolutely.
Can every single person be better and give more next season? They damn well better if they expect different results.
For three consecutive seasons, LA has been eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers. The team and the number of games is rather irrelevant. A loss is a loss. While a seven-game series might be a moral victory in some circles, it doesn’t help a team become better the following year.
The fact the recent trio of postseason exits came against Edmonton may make for great stories and continue to stoke the flames of a rivalry that’s been burning for more than four decades, yet it’s actually inconsequential when looking at things objectively.
Sports are about winning.
The Kings need to win, not regular season games, but playoff games.
So, again, how…
This article was originally published by a mayorsmanor.com . Read the Original article here. .