The Kings remained without a general manager on Monday morning as the playoffs hurled toward their midpoint with the draft and free agency drawing nearer on the horizon.
Kings team president Luc Robitaille said that talks with free agents were ongoing just the same and that the club would cast a wide net in terms of its next GM’s age, experience level and origin, including considering internal candidates.
Here are the three most likely possibilities for the Kings as they seek new leadership to preside over their thus-far futile quest to return to the glory days of the 2010s or at least advance past Round 1 of the playoffs.
Michael Futa
Speaking of the glory days, Futa was there for all of them, working with the Kings from 2007 to 2020 as a scouting director, vice president of hockey operations and assistant general manager. He said he “would come back in a heartbeat” on social media and has expressed that same sentiment elsewhere.
Futa would not arrive alone, as he remains tight with the architect of the Kings’ two Stanley Cup winners, Dean Lombardi, and the whip-cracking force behind the bench in 2012 and 2014, Darryl Sutter.
Futa’s own role in creating those champions was pivotal, as Lombardi tasked him not only with finding talent but with building an organizational culture that was clearly lacking in a franchise that had not hoisted the Cup in nearly five decades. So popular was Futa that he survived the 2017 purge of both Lombardi and Sutter, and when he was ultimately let go three years later, he enjoyed robust support from Kings players, coaches and management.
Ken Holland
Holland was reported by The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun to have met with Robitaille already, emerging as the favorite for the position. He’s 69 years old, but that seems on-brand for this team: on opening night, its top-line center, No. 1 defenseman and starting goaltender will have a combined age of 108.
Holland was in Detroit for the Red Wings’ transformation from “Dead Things” to dynasty. His leadership, as well as that of then-captain Steve Yzerman, and massive gains from being on the cutting edge of international scouting led Holland’s Wings to win four Stanley Cups (1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008) as part of a quarter century straight in the postseason.
More recently, Yzerman took over in Detroit –– Stevie Y’s Wings have yet to qualify for the playoffs –– while Holland helped the Edmonton Oilers go from one playoff series victory in the Connor McDavid era to six. That included coming within one game of winning the Cup last year with Holland in the GM and hockey ops president roles.
Marc Bergevin
Bergevin was brought in as a special advisor to Blake after the former was let go by the Montreal Canadiens, where he was GM during most of the Carey Price era. His close personal connections to Robitaille and also prominent agent Pat Brisson, as well as his presence inside the Kings’ front office, appeared to give him the inside track to succeed Blake as recently as last season.
Robitaille valued Bergevin’s input at his recent news conference and said that he had not received calls from the New York Islanders, as rumored, requesting permission to speak with Bergevin for their GM vacancy. In-house candidates, not only Bergevin but also Mark Yannetti and Nelson Emerson among others, would be part of the search, Robitaille confirmed at its outset.
However, Bergevin has already had significant input into a build whose stalling and stagnating coincided with his arrival. Robitaille emphasized the importance of a “new voice,” which would, ostensibly, point toward an external hire.