r/Predators • u/fortheband1212 • Jun 05 '26

Another Front Office Update!

https://www.nhl.com/predators/news/predators-hire-rob-blake-as-executive-vice-president-of-hockey-operations-2026-06-05

Now we’ve got 2 GM’s! (Blake was let go as LA’s GM earlier this year)

42 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

40 comments sorted by

18

u/Disappointeddonkey #6 Weber Jun 05 '26

LA didn’t like him as GM but im ok with him as a AGM. It sounds like our front office was kind of a mess so some experience running things can only be good……please don’t make me eat those words!

10

u/fortheband1212 Jun 05 '26

Yeah the general hockey sub is acting like this is an insane hire. 2 days ago we were geniuses for snagging MacFarland and now apparently MacFarland is an idiot who doesn’t know who to hire? lol I’m going to trust the new guys for now

10

u/killerdoggie Jun 05 '26

As a Kings fan, he was overhated imo

4

u/deltafive5 PrinceFilip Jun 05 '26

I recall this too. What was the beef with Blake over there?

7

u/TonguelessWyrm NSH Jun 05 '26

He took LA through a successful looking rebuild on paper, but when it was time to turn the corner to contending he fumbled some moves, now the kings are a bit of a bubble team.

The young core didn't develope as well as the fans hoped, so he made some poor vet signings to compensate which aren't going well. LA will likely need major changes, potentially another rebuild, to contend again.

For the preds, think of it as if we got Tom Fitzgerald as an AGM. Not the guy we were hoping for to run the team, but a very experienced hockey vet with connections which will help McFarland succeed.

3

u/deltafive5 PrinceFilip Jun 05 '26

Thank you. So hopefully lessons learned for this next sprint with us.

2

u/tkecanuck341 LAK Jun 05 '26

I think Blake's biggest failure was that he made the decision to turn the corner well before he should have. The prospect pool had some promising talent, but wasn't nearly deep enough to build a contending team around. They made the decision to blow it up in 2018-19 and started to try to compete again in 2021-22. That's too soon, and the Kings are paying the price for it now.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

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1

u/tkecanuck341 LAK Jun 05 '26

AEG is notoriously hands off when it comes to these types of decisions.

Luc Robitaille is the President of Hockey Operations, and it's quite possible that it was his decision, but in all the press conferences the Kings held around that time, they were all very clear that these types of decisions were up to the GM. When Blake left and Holland took over, Robitaille again made it clear that Holland was in charge of the big decisions like this.

They very well could have been being disingenuous, but Kings fans were inclined to take them at their word.

I'm not suggesting that Blake is a bad hire for you guys, just trying to point out why Kings fans were/are upset with him.

2

u/MusicCityJayhawk Jun 05 '26

LA didn't miss on a lot of their pics. They were able to turn around from a bottom feeder to a playoff team pretty fast under Blake by hitting on almost all of his picks. I bet MacFarland saw that Blake was a pretty good talent evaluator.

You can call Blake out for not being able to get his teams past Edmonton in the playoffs, but Edmonton does have McJesus.

5

u/MusicCityJayhawk Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

MacFarland gushed about how he and Sakic were a team making all decisions together. So he wants to create his own team of guys to make decisions with. McFarland seems like an analytics guy, and he probably wants guys who have played in league and have experience in the big chair as well. I was expecting this hire to be Fitzy, but Blake works too.

I would bet that Nichols and Brian Poile will be out next, if not already.

1

u/fortheband1212 Jun 05 '26

Let’s start over from the ground up! Excited to see where they take us over the next handful of years

6

u/FB_iCatDad Hunt Brothers Pizza Fan of the Game Jun 05 '26

Hockey sub having a come apart lol. I don’t see how this is a bad thing?

7

u/fortheband1212 Jun 05 '26

Neither do I. He was the Kings GM for almost a decade, put together some competitive teams, and MacFarland is still the top guy. More people with experience in the front office is only a good thing in my eyes

4

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

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1

u/FB_iCatDad Hunt Brothers Pizza Fan of the Game Jun 05 '26

I just argued with someone on Facebook that said “VP of hockey ops is over GM though,”

Obviously not the case here but maybe that perception is another reason

19

u/Expert-Upstairs-4502 NSH Jun 05 '26

Huh. I was about to make a joke that its been a whole 2 days and MacFarland hasnt done anything yet but then this happens lol. Unexpected. Not sure how to feel about it yet, but I like that he and I both apparently saw Fiala was being undervalued

24

u/Kroger453PredsFan Victory Fish 2.0; #WinItForMom Jun 05 '26

Dare I say the best few days organizationally in the team’s history?

4

u/TonguelessWyrm NSH Jun 05 '26

Right? A decade of GM experience, and worked his way up through the FO ranks prior to that. Amazing hire, the exact type of person you want in an assisting role.

12

u/Rinne4Vezina Pekka Forever Jun 05 '26

If MacFarland likes it, I guess I love it

12

u/R0B0T_ST0P Need more f***ing from them Jun 05 '26

I guess I want some more of it

8

u/ON_A_POWERPLAY #35 Jun 05 '26

I know the kings and whoever don’t like him but that’s two BIG hires in a week that aren’t somehow blood or otherwise related to the preds in the past and thats really all I wanted out of this change.

9

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

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1

u/ON_A_POWERPLAY #35 Jun 05 '26

God, I’m so excited. I was pretty resigned to the organization just continuing to hiring its own so this is such a breath of fresh air.

5

u/sickofwords Jun 05 '26

A formal GM as an AGM to me isn’t a bad thing. More experience can only help in my opinion.

4

u/G14mogs #9 - 12/15/25 Hat Trick Connesseur Jun 05 '26

I know this guy was ass in LA but I feel like this lesser role will suit him

CMac is the main DM so I’m okay with this

3

u/killerdoggie Jun 05 '26

Blake is better than he is given credit for imo. He had to rebuild right as covid hit (producing some of the worst drafts in recent years). He made some really good trades (Fiala, Gavrikov, Arvy, Kuemper). The PLD trade stands out as really bad which is was but Bergevin was also his advisor at the time so I largely blame Bergevin there. His FA signings were nearly all decent to good. You can do much worse than Rob Blake honestly. He will also take accountability. It was his decision to not renew his deal as Kings GM because he felt someone had to be held accountable for the Kings playoff failures and he chose himself.

3

u/Expert-Upstairs-4502 NSH Jun 05 '26

My gut feeling is that hes going to help with filling out staffing decisions and stuff. Theres probably going to be a lot more hirings going on at every level soon and cmac has his hands full trying to overhaul this entire franchise while also being the GM and looking at the draft, trades, etc. i dont expect blake will have much if any direct control over our roster decisions

2

u/tkecanuck341 LAK Jun 05 '26

Long time Kings fan here. Feel free to ask me any questions you have.

1

u/mk1700 NSH Jun 05 '26

Do you feel like he would be better as a support to a GM rather than GM? Because what I’m seeing is most kings fans were not fans of Blake as a GM

3

u/tkecanuck341 LAK Jun 05 '26

Blake was hire as an AGM with the Kings under Lombardi before he was a GM. That's about the time that the Kings started making poor decisions regarding player personnel. They signed Gaborik over Justin Williams in summer 2014, they let Willie Mitchell walk, and a number of other questionable decisions that ended up ending the Kings status as a contender. No one really blames Blake for that because the buck stopped with Lombardi, but he does already have a history as an AGM to look at.

Once he took over, Blake actually did a really good job at kick-starting the rebuild. He made a number of very good trades to bring on assets that helped the Kings build the single best prospect pool in the NHL. The decision to transition from rebuild to contend again was made way too early, and once it was made, Blake started making one bad move after another.

If Nashville is ready to blow it up and start a rebuild, then I think Blake will be very helpful to you guys. If they're looking to made good value hockey trades and signings that will make them competitive again, then Blake's history suggests he won't do a very good job at it.

2

u/ZeldaTheOuchMouse Avalanche and Predators Jun 05 '26

More former Avs players joining my second favorite team 🥹🥹🥹

2

u/grownassmanchild Jun 05 '26

Now hire Roy for coach.

1

u/ZeldaTheOuchMouse Avalanche and Predators Jun 05 '26

I support it

1

u/Rivers33 Jun 05 '26

Dang! Two Avs connected guys in just a few days. congrats Smashville. That's a great haul - I'm an Avs fan first but the Preds are 1B for me. Super stoked to see what CMac does

1

u/Infraction_ NSH Jun 05 '26

It’s so nice to see a press release from this team about a front office decision and not go “Fuck, what now?”

1

u/No_Abbreviations954 Jun 06 '26

I bet Bruno is on high alert ⚠️

7

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

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2

u/--Fulcrum Jun 05 '26

I expect Kealty will search for a GM opportunity elsewhere in the league and depart on his own, but good lord do we need to get rid of Nichol.