LA Kings President Luc Robitaille announced today that the Kings and Rob Blake have “mutually agreed” to part ways. The team’s search for a replacement will begin immediately, per a team statement.
Robitaille on Blake
On behalf of the entire organization, I would like to thank Rob for his dedication to the LA Kings and the passion he brought to his role. Reaching this understanding wasn’t easy and I appreciate Rob’s partnership in always working toward what is best for the Kings. Rob deserves a great deal of credit and respect for elevating us to where we are today. He has been an important part of the Kings and will always be appreciated for what he has meant to this franchise.
As the Vice President & General Manager of the Kings, Blake oversaw the hockey operations department of the organization for eight seasons, qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in five of those eight seasons, including the most recent four. During his time as the team’s General Manager, Blake guided the Kings to a 309-238-71 regular-season record (.557 PTS%), including a franchise record for points (105) during the 2024-25 season.
On the 2024-25 Kings roster, Blake was responsible for overseeing the drafting of nine players who played games for the team this season. The remainder of the group Blake either signed, re-signed or acquired via trade. The entire team this season was the team that Blake built. He hit on a lot more moves than he was given credit for, alongside some high-profile misses. It’s the latter, combined with playoff results, that is certainly what resonated most with fans. And that’s understandable, because it is ultimately playoff wins and losses that determines the fate of an organization. I think we’re going to need more than this paragraph to truly dive into Blake’s eight seasons overseeing the team.
One thing I’d like to share about Rob Blake, though, and it’s something that several people who worked for him on the hockey operations side have shared in one form or another – it truly meant something to him to be the General Manager of the LA Kings. Not just to be an NHL General Manager but specifically to be the GM of the LA Kings. He deeply cares for the Kings organization. While, ultimately, things fell short of expectations, this was someone who truly cared about the organization.
On a personal note, he was good to me. I was called up onto a trip at the very last second back in the 2019-20 season, when I was in the AHL with the Reign. When we got off the plane, Rob called me over and just thanked me for coming, welcomed me to the group personally and we talked for a bit. I always appreciated that, as well as regular interactions since. And while I understand why today’s news is coming, on a personal note I urge you to at least consider that this was another person who cared about the team as much as you all do. That is something that I always really respected.
I won’t speculate as to the ultimate reasoning here behind why this decision comes down today or what this decision potentially means for others within the Kings organization. Robitaille is expected to meet with local media tomorrow afternoon, Tuesday, May 6, at 2 PM at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo, where he will address the direction of the franchise going forward. I am expecting him to share the reasoning behind the decision, the timing of it and how the Kings plan to proceed in the coming days, weeks, months as it comes to filling that role and what it means for the future of others on staff here. That will come, again, tomorrow afternoon.
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