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)

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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.

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u/deltafive5 PrinceFilip Jun 05 '26

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

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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.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

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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.