LAK BIG MOVE: GOING DUTCH WITH HOLLAND

LOS ANGELES, CA — It wasn't supposed to end that way.

No third Stanley Cup.

No Stanley Cup Final Berth.

No Conference Final Spot.

No second-round playoff ticket revenue.

No slaying of their first-round playoff Dragon.

Three weeks ago, the Los Angeles Kings entered the post-season with the confidence of a team superior to the ones that suffered three consecutive first-round playoffs elimination.

The 2024-25 regular-season was a fruitful one. They tied the franchise record for standings points and ended the season on a roll, winning 17 of their final 22 regular-season games with a roster that was better equipped to defeat their playoff tormentors, the Edmonton Oilers.

They were deeper along the forward wall, remained loyal to their defensive DNA (second best regular-season goals against average) and coaxed a Vezina Trophy nomination performance from a recycled goalie, Darcy Kuemper.

They had built such momentum that most pundits and the betting markets gave them a slight edge to play in unfamiliar region called the second-round. When they scored at will and drove starting goalie Stuart Skinner to a seat on the bench in Game 2, the vision of a playoff round victory not seen since the 2014 Stanley Cup Final was clearly in its sights.

Eight days later, they arrived back in Los Angeles with a four-game losing streak that still has then wondering where it all went wrong.

They fumbled away two chances to take command of the series in Edmonton and when failing at that, they were non-competitive in a game that was significant as any over the past decade. Instead of taking refuge in a setting where no other team was more successful this season, home ice, they were dominated in Game 5 from the opening faceoff. Only a heroic effort from Kuemper kept the Oilers at bay through 40 minutes and when they succumbed to their return to Edmonton was a coronation for a fourth time for the home team.

The handshakes exchanged at the end of 60 minutes was a familiar conclusion and was the launching point for the most significant change in the Kings organization in the past decade.

Rob Blake’s tenure as General Manager never achieved the level of success he experienced as a player. The Hall of Famer and Stanley Cup winner decided to step away from his role after eight seasons that saw solid regular season success but five first round failures in the postseason. His legacy in Los Angeles will mirror many failed NHL General Managers – a partial build, a modicum of success and the inability to find the right combination of personnel to make the team a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

Reflecting on the final decision to mutually part ways, Blake wasn’t technically fired because his contract expired at the end of this season and the wording of his departure may have been done in a manner more out of respect to a man whose jerseys hangs from the rafters in downtown Los Angeles.

The uncertainty of Blake continuing wasn’t a new thing, there had been chatter this time last year that he may have had enough of going to war and failing, so it didn’t come as a shock when the final word came down. Given how competitive the NHL is, how difficult it is to climb to the top and then staying there when you do, if there is hesitancy from any decision maker about going forward, they shouldn’t. Blake wasn’t prepared to come back next season and be even more motivated to put his team over and lacking that fire, the organization correctly moved on.

Fans may be fatigued by the first-round matchup with the Oilers, but they are more fatigued with seasons that end during the first week of May.

Where did it go wrong for Blake and how can the organization find success on the only stage that really matters – the Stanley Cup Playoffs?

To start, not everything went wrong. As Ken Holland settles in as the tenth GM in franchise history (the fourth in 28 years – that’s job security, kids) he has the tools to take Los Angeles to legitimate contender status – a level never achieved by this management team.

The cupboard is not bare but also not fully stocked, it’s also not the situation that Blake inherited. He took the reins from Dean Lombardi after Luc Robitaille convinced ownership that it was time for a new voice and direction. Blake had to transform the aging roster with a style of play that was more nostalgic than effective. He had to sell off beloved championship players and did not always do it in the proper way (in particular, the deadline trade of Jonathan Quick).

But he did find a coach who bought structure, stability and a return to the playoffs in Todd McLellan.

Despite a spotty draft pick record (check the level of failed second round picks from 2017 to 2022), there is a core of under-30 players (Quinton Byfield, Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala) and despite not being on the level of the championship core four (Anze Kopitar, Dusin Brown, Drew Doughty and Quick), it’s a core that can be elevated to the next level.

So, why couldn’t Blake move his team off the plateau where teams like the Minnesota Wild sit? It’s an easy narrative to point at the P-L Dubois trade as the reason they are stuck in first gear when it comes to the post season.

I’ll go back further as to why.

THE PURSUIT OF ‘THE ONE’

When the Buffalo Sabres made Jack Eichel available in 2021, Los Angeles was one of the favorites as a landing spot. There were multiple points of risk in a deal – the player’s medical history, the lack of team success, the AAV price tag and the price to pay to secure his services.

At the time. Kopitar was still an elite 1C coming off an almost point-per-game 56-game shortened season, but with Gabriel Vilardi more suited to the wing and Phillip Danault just a cut below the level of a second-line center for a championship team, Eichel was the right target at the right time despite the risks attached.

History will show that aggressiveness won the moment as the Vegas Golden Knights stepped up and though some thought it was an overpayment, Eichel’s presence helped the Vegas management team of George McPhee and Kelly McCrimmon lift the Stanley Cup in 2022.

Still looking for ‘The One,’ there was a second run at Dubois (there were conversations with Columbus before the Dubois-Patrik Laine deal) and this one was successful (?). The organization handed Dubois everything a player could want on his third stop in four seasons (eight-year front loaded deal with trade protection starting Year 2) and he failed spectacularly, being shuttled to the fourth line of Game 5 in the 2024 playoffs, his final game as a King.

If an equivalent payment surrendered for Dubois was offered for Eichel, who knows where it would have led. In fairness, Blake partially recovered with a Hail Mary, sending Dubois to Washington for goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who wound up being team MVP and a conduit to the deep prospect goalie pool Los Angeles possesses.

While his biggest trade proved to be his worst, he did have a fair level of success on the trade front – Fiala, Vladislav Gavrikov, Trevor Moore and Viktor Arvidsson all improved the team – but Blake’s inability to connect on one big swing, either in the trade market or by free agency, is the most significant factor in the transition from a first-time GM to one with a long track record.

As for Holland’s record, he is one of a select group of GMs who own more Stanley Cup rings than the best GM in Kings history, Lombardi. There’s no question Holland can execute the job, the question is if he can build a championship roster in today’s game.

The quantity of rings is indisputable, the timing of when they were won (the last one 17 years ago in 2008) raises questions as to if his decision-making process works in today’s game. Critics will point out that if he failed to find the right combination of players to win it all in five seasons in Edmonton with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in their prime, how can he do so without that level of elite talent? He pulled solid deals in acquiring Mattias Ekholm and Adam Henrique to deepen and strengthen the roster. His free agency/contract extension record is like most GMs: hit and miss. The Darnell Nurse overpayment is most glaring but temper that with the signing of Zach Hyman and re-signing Ryan Nugent-Hopkins under $6 million annual average value. Regardless of their off-ice actions, Evander Kane and Corey Perry were brought in during his tenure and are major cogs in Edmonton’s last two postseason runs.

It’s clear that with Holland turning 70 years old in November, he won’t last as long as Blake or Lombardi did in the GM chair (his contract with L.A. is believed to be three years). This move must be the last bullet in the chamber for Robitaille because failure now with an accomplished General Manager after failure with a first-time GM will make him a failure as a leader of a hockey organization.

One immediate change will be the level of communication from the GM’s seat. Blake rarely spoke to the media outside of the required times (season opening, trade deadline, free agency, etc.); Holland’s first press conference went 40 minutes formally and he spent time with the media individually afterwards. We will hear more frequently from this regime, and I’d expect more transparency, too.

Robitaille cited Holland’s resume as to what put him over as the incumbent, but I questioned him about his inability to build a championship roster. His response was that although the ultimate goal hasn’t been achieved recently, he managed multiple teams that had deep playoff runs including falling one game short last June in Florida.

“We’re trying to make a few tweaks to the roster,” he said. “A part of this has got to be internal growth. Some of the players that are here (in their early 20’s)... we need them to take a step. It can’t all be about free agency or big mega trade. It’s a little bit here, it’s a little bit there. I watched it in Detroit, and I watched it in Edmonton and certainly that’s what we hope to accomplish here.”

And about adding another big piece, Holland was clear that if the right big ticket unrestricted free agent was available, he has the authority to write the big check.

“Yes. The L.A. Kings want to be in the big boy league,” he stated. “(Ownership is) prepared to go to the cap. You’re not going to spend just to spend it. If we think there’s a player out there that’s going to cost a lot of money and a lot of term, the answer is yes. I’ll work with Luc, I’ll work with Dan (Beckerman – CEO of AEG), and obviously ownership, but this is an organization that is committed. Certainly, that’s why I’m here (going through the recruitment and interview process), to win, you got to have some things, and that’s why I’m here. Ownership is committed; Luc and Dan are committed.”

From the players’ perspective, a good number of them were in attendance and as Holland spoke about another first-round elimination – you could feel the sting of losing in the manner that they did is still sitting with them. One player we spoke to admitted that it felt more like a series they lost than a series Edmonton won and agreed they are one impact player short.

As for that impact player, with Holland conveying he could chase a player at the level of the Toronto Maple Leafs star Mitch Marner, I would expect that Holland would make a call to his camp if he does hit unrestricted free agency.

The hiring of Holland is a “Win Now” move that had to be made given the lack of postseason success in Los Angeles. There is no luxury of time to reimagine the franchise and the roster doesn’t need to be blown up, but the need for decisive, winning moves is.

Holland is being handed a team that equaled the franchise record for standings points in a season and with better strategy behind the bench, they would have vanquished their playoff dragon this season.

There is internal work for Holland to do, specifically getting an extension done with Gavrikov and convincing Kempe to sign a long-term deal before the season starts. But unlike any GM in franchise history, Holland’s first off-season will be his most crucial as adding the right parts can elevate this franchise while failing to do so will either continue the plateauing or start regression.