Sportsnet 590 The FAN: Jeff Marek on Sportsnet on Los Angeles Kings GM Rob Blake being on the hot seat to do something.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Ailish Forfar: “Kings hired DJ Smith before we brought you on, assistant coach? What’s the level of heat on them right now? We know obviously, head coaching change on the weekend. DJ Smith coming in . It seems like a lot on the line for that team.
Marek: “I wonder, and the heat is probably the hottest under Rob Blake’s chair right now to. You know, we wonder about, like Jim Hiller is going to be there for the remainder of the season. Like that, that’s going to be it. You know, that tells me you know, one thing specifically now this is over to the General Manager. This is the general manager’s job to fix. I don’t think Rob Blake wanted to make this coaching change.
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I think this is quite like Ottawa where Steve Staios did not want to make the coaching change and fire DJ Smith but kind of got backed into a corner. And the atmosphere in Ottawa was so negative, and every time they would lose, you know, don’t go to Twitter because you know, what’s trending about DJ? It was just awful, right?
And I think the Los Angeles Kings found themselves in almost the identical situation. Albeit, stakes are higher in LA than Ottawa. I mean, Ottawa has never threatened a playoff position. You know, there were times this year, we thought the Los Angeles Kings could be good enough to win the Stanley Cup.
And since then, it looks as if, like right now they’re a slower team. And we’ve had Drew Doughty call out players on the squad. We all played the guessing game, ‘Oh, who’s he talking about?’ He’s just looking for cookies and looking for point. Is he talking about (Adrian) Kempe? Is he talking about (Kevin) Fiala? Is he’s talking about (Pierre-Luc) Dubois? Like Who is it? And then after he blasts the team, they come out and lay an egg against the Colorado Avalanche.
That was by the way, I think that was the moment where they may have made the coaching decision. Because I don’t think Doughty goes and does that, you know, just sort of randomly without that being talked about before significantly. And once you do that, if there’s no response after Doughty calls out teammates, then you know you have a real problem.
And as it turns out that Nashville win right before the break, the 4-2 game meant nothing. The die already been cast and the, the decision has had been made.
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But make no mistake about it, the seat is hot under Rob Blake right now to do something. Is it another forward? Is it something with the blue line? Is it a goaltender? Join the conga line of teams wanting goaltenders right now, Rob Blake, but I think that’s where that, that’s where the seat is hottest in LA.”