Add Team Canada executive to Rob Blake’s list of post-“retirement” duties.
On Thursday, the former Kings captain was named an assistant to general manager Dave Nonis for the Canadian entry in the IIHF World Championships, which will take place April 29-May 15 in Bratislava and Kosice, Slovakia.
Blake joined the NHL in January as an assistant to Colin Campbell, the league’s vice president of hockey operations. On Tuesday, Blake was one of four former players named to a committee tasked with studying “all the possible ways of creating a safer environment for the players and ultimately bringing their findings to the Board of Governors for approval,” according to NHL.com.
This will be the first management position for Blake, who captured an Olympic gold medal with Canada in 2002 and a World Championship gold medal in 1997. He was also named top defenseman at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games, where Canada finished fourth.
Blake, a King from 1990-2001 and from 2006-08, retired as a player in June of last year.