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So apparently, the Kings fired Rob Blake 3 weeks ago, when we got eliminated. Huh.
I think it's arguable Blakey deserved it for the P-L Dubois trade, but that was last year. This past season he made surprisingly-good FA signings with Foegele and Edmondson, got Kuemper in return for dumping P-LD, and brought in Kuzmenko at the deadline, resulting in record amounts of home wins and points. I don't see cause now.
Of course, this may have more to do with the part where Ken Holland's contract had run out in Edmon****, so Robitaille is thinking, "If you can't beat them, steal their GM". But has Holland really had such success up north? I mean, McDirty and Draisaitl and RNH were all there when he got there. His big addition was signing Zach "Buster" Hyman in FA…in 2021.
This past season, Holland got hosed on the Foegele-Arvidsson "swap", and his signing of Jeff Skinner was a bust that got the Oilers into cap hell and enabled St. Louis to play offer-sheet games and pinch Holloway and Broberg. He's done well enough by picking up "bad boys" on waivers (Evander Kane, Corey Perry), but is that a sustainable model going forward?
Also, Holland is 69 years old. Is this a long-term plan?
(BTW, if…Satan forbid…the Unspeakable happens, would Holland get a ring? His name on the Cup? I mean, he is working for another team at this point.)
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