“That’s the ultimate goal here, to win a Stanley Cup. Playoffs is everything.” Joel Edmundson’s admission wouldn’t be that different from what Rob Blake‘s thought process was. In fact, Edmundson was brought in along with a few others in the 2024 offseason so that they could change the Kings’ playoff fortunes. A season later, it was the same old story, yet another playoff 1st round exit. And someone had to answer for it.

When the news was out that the LA Kings had parted ways with General Manager (GM) Rob Blake, the reaction wasn’t exactly one of shock. Sure, he is the fastest GM in franchise history to reach 200 wins. But the list of his accolades as a GM is around that. In fact, the general perception persists that there have been more misses than hits. So, let’s see how his tenure has been and what may have led the Kings to take the final call to boot him out.

GM Rob Blake and his mishandling of LA Kings resources

When Rob Blake joined the Kings management as an assistant GM in 2013, the LA Kings had just become the Stanley Cup Champions in 2012. And they followed it up with 2 Stanley Cup triumphs in 3 seasons, winning it again in 2014. But since 2014, it has been stagnant mediocrity for the Pacific Division team. Since Blake became the GM in 2017, the Kings have made it to the playoffs 5 times in 8 seasons. Not exactly bad, right? Well, the point of a project is to make progress. And the Kings had made none.

On each of those 5 occasions, the Kings have had to bow out of the playoffs as early as the first round. And even more frustrating, they have lost the 1st round series for the last 4 consecutive seasons to the same team all the time. Nothing else could make this clear other than that they are stuck. And they needed a change. Especially because it’s not like they don’t have good talent.

They had experience in veterans like Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar. To follow them up were Phillip Danault, Adrian Kempe, and Mikey Anderson. And the squad has youngsters who would take up the reins when Doughty and Kopitar were ready to hang up their skates. But something was just not working right for the Kings.

It’s that though the Kings started the upward curve, they plateaued in the last 3 seasons for which Rob Blake has to take some onus. His tumultuous mismanagement of the roster led to questions being raised on his credibility as a GM. The biggest blunder has to be the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade, isn’t it? Brought in to be the answer to the Kings’ offensive problems, Dubois scored just 16 goals and 24 assists in 82 regular season games, while getting 1 goal in 5 playoff games.

That the 8-year, $68 million contract didn’t work out is a blemish for the now former Kings GM. Yes, he was lucky enough to quickly rectify it after 1 season of a failed experiment. And we say experiment because the forward had issues at Columbus and Winnipeg, too. So, committing 9 million dollars yearly salary on a gamble is just wasting away cap space.

Fortunately, he got out of that binder by finding the Capitals, who would take Dubois off the Kings’ plate and the entire remaining $59 million cap hit for 7 years. Moreover, Blake got goaltender Darcy Kuemper in exchange, who, surprisingly, has been so good that he has been nominated for the Vezina Trophy finalist for the 2024-25 season. But maybe that just shows Blake has been lucky, and things could have been worse.

Another thing that sealed his fate is his 2024 offseason dealings. After yet another playoff 1st round dumping out by the Oilers, it was expected that Rob Blake would strengthen the team and address the issues that were plaguing the team, especially the physical side. He tried to plug it. By bringing in left-wingers Tanner Jeannot and Warren Foegele, as well as defenseman Edmundson.

The problem was that they were not radical improvements on the players they were replacing – Pierre-Luc Dubois, Viktor Arvidsson, and Matt Roy. And what has been more agonizing for the fans is that the players who left went on to do well for their franchises. Dubois got 66 points in 82 games at the Capitals compared to 40 at the Kings. While the ones who came in didn’t exactly solve the playoff problems.

The final straw was probably not being able to bolster the roster before the trade deadline in March. Who did the Kings add? Andrei Kuzmenko from the Philadelphia Flyers, for whom the Kings traded a 3rd-round pick in the 2027 Draft. As far as ambitions go, that’s mediocre at best. Kuzmenko is riddled by his inconsistency, and the Kings contingent didn’t exactly solve all that.

And the result was 5 goals in 12 assists in 22 regular games, and 3 goals and 3 assists in the playoffs. Compare that with the Dallas Stars snatching Colorado superstar Mikko Rantanen in a $96 million deal. That’s the intent that shows you want to go deep in the playoffs, and bringing in someone like Kuzmenko ain’t that. Then again, Rob Blake was strapped for cash and had to make do with what he had.

While trying to make the LA Kings more playoff competitive, the holes that Blake has created are incriminating. And maybe it was obvious that he would be relieved of his duties. But what now?

Rob Blake is gone, but the Kings have to navigate through his mistakes

President Luc Robitaille announced on May 5 that the Kings and their GM have mutually agreed to part ways. And the search for the next GM has started. Whoever they choose, he has to be skilled enough to handle the problem that is the LA Kings roster restructuring.  And it won’t help that Blake had traded 2nd-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft to acquire Tanner Jeannot. There’s also the question of whether head coach Jim Hiller would retain his job. He was promoted to the position by Blake and has been the head coach for just one season. So, a lot is waiting to unravel.

Would Dean Lombardi become available for the LA Kings? It was under him that the Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2014. We will see. As of now, the Kings roster is going through a Rob Blake hangover. The captain, Anze Kopitar, shared his honest opinion after the news of Blake’s departure: “He’s a very, very exceptional human, and looking back now, he’s done a lot for me as a player as a GM, as a mentor.”

Continuing, he added, “It [stinks] to see him leave, for sure, and it’s going to be, at least for a little bit next year, it’s going to be weird not having him around.” Moreover, he did feel the now ex-GM paid an unfair price despite some good work done. “I think he did a good job of building this team. I think we showed it this year.” Yes, the Kings did well in the regular season, notching up a franchise record 105 points, matching the 1974-75 season. But it’s the end that matters. “And it sucks to see that we didn’t deliver. Obviously didn’t move on, and he paid the price for it really.”

So, what’s next for the former LA Kings defenseman and Hall of Famer? And most importantly, did he deserve more time with the LA Kings? Let us know in the comments.