L.A. Kings asking fans to be in their seats by 6:30 p.m. on Saturday

The Kings’ celebration of Rob Blake’s playing career is set to begin at 6:30 p.m., Saturday and the team would like everyone seated at Staples Center when the show begins. Blake’s jersey will be retired in a ceremony scheduled to last for about an hour. Some 35 to 40 former players are expected to attend, although it wasn’t immediately certain whether Wayne Gretzky would be on hand. The Kings were efforting to get the Great One in the building. The opening faceoff for the Kings-Ducks game is set for 8:08 p.m., but we’ll believe it when it happens.

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Kings will add Rob Blake’s No. 4 to list of retired jerseys

The rafters at Staples Center will become a little more crowded this coming season with the addition of Rob Blake’s No. 4 jersey Jan. 17. The Kings announced Monday they would retire the former defenseman’s sweater in recognition of his Hall of Fame career.

Blake’s jersey will be the sixth retired by the club, joining Wayne Gretzky’s No. 99, Luc Robitaille’s 20, Dave Taylor’s 18, Marcel Dionne’s 16 and Rogie Vachon’s 30. Blake’s jersey banner will be from the silver-and-black era, the team announced.

Blake spent 14 of his 20 seasons in the NHL with the Kings and is the franchise’s all-team leader in goals, assists and games played by a defenseman. He helped the club reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 1993 and won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman in 1998.

Blake recorded 161 goals and 333 assists in 805 games with the Kings.

“It’s an honor to be included with the former great L.A. Kings players who have their jersey retired,” he said in a statement. “I have always felt L.A. was a special place to play and it was and is a tremendous privilege to put on an L.A. Kings jersey.”

The Kings traded Blake to the Colorado Avalanche in 2001 and he went on to win the Stanley Cup with his new team, drawing the ire of many of his former club’s fans. He currently serves as an assistant general manager for the Kings and often receives only tepid applause from fans.

Blake will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Nov. 17 in Toronto. He will join former players Peter Forsberg, Dominik Hasek and Mike Modano plus the late coach Pat Burns and referee Bill McCreary in the class of 2014.

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Kings assistant GM Rob Blake named Team Canada GM for World Champs

Kings assistant general manager Rob Blake was named Wednesday as Team Canada’s general manager for the World Championships  to be held May 9-25 in Minsk, Belarus. Ron Hextall, the man Blake replaced when Hextall left the Kings for the Philadelphia Flyers last year, also will be part of the management team. Blake, 44, played with the Kings and more recently served in the NHL’s player safety department. In addition to assisting Kings GM Dean Lombardi, Blake also is the general manager for the Manchester (N.H.) Monarchs of the AHL.

Here’s the link to the Hockey Canada story: http://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/Rob-Blake-named-general-manager-of-Canadas-National-Mens-Team-for-2014-IIHF-Ice-Hockey-World-Championship

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Kings name former player Rob Blake as their new assistant general manager

Rob Blake, who excelled as a Kings defenseman during his playing days, was named the club’s new assistant general manager Thursday morning. He replaces Ron Hextall, who left earlier in the week to become the assistant GM with the Philadelphia Flyers, his old club. Blake spent the last three seasons in the NHL’s player safety department.

“First off, it’s very difficult to lose a person like ‘Hexy,’ who was an integral part of this whole process,” Kings general manager Dean Lombardi said of losing Hextall to the Flyers during a video interview with radio analyst Daryl Evans. “You can’t say enough about how much he helped this franchise.

“That said, I think we’re very fortunate to have a person like Rob Blake available to us. I’m so impressed the way he dived into his job with the league, not only in the perspective in staying current with the game but the amount of work and diligence he was willing to put into this endeavor, which was very impressive.

“That’s the bottom line in the job he’s stepping into with us. There’s an incredible amount to learn. Certainly, being a player of his stature is a huge asset. But it’s still going to come down to how much work you put into it. What he did with the league, I’m really looking forward to seeing that kind of energy.”

Blake, 43, played 14 of his 20 NHL seasons with the Kings and recorded 777 points (240 goals, 537 assists) in 1,270 career games. He also played with the Colorado Avalanche and the San Jose Sharks. He was the Kings’ team captain for six seasons. He helped the Kings reach the Stanley Cup Final in 1993 and was a member of the Avalanche’s Cup championship team in 2001. He retired after the 2009-10 season.

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Ex-Kings defenseman Rob Blake misses Hall of Fame cut … this time

Rob Blake, whose shot from the point was every bit as hard as his hip checks, did not make the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Class of 2013. But it would seem to be only a matter of time before the former Kings defenseman’s name is added. Blake certainly has the credentials, with a Stanley Cup victory with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001 and a Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenseman while with the Kings in 1998. Scott Niedermayer, Chris Chelios and Brandan Shanahan were elected to the Hall as the only players this year, and Fred Shero and Geraldine Heaney were picked in the builders category.

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Ex-King Rob Blake among candidates for Hall of Fame induction

Defensemen Rob Blake, who played most of his career with the Kings, and Scott Niedermayer, who led the Ducks to their only Stanley Cup championship, are among the former players who might hear their names called when the Hockey Hall of Fame announces its class of 2013 on Tuesday.

The announcement is scheduled for noon (PDT).

Continue reading “Ex-King Rob Blake among candidates for Hall of Fame induction” »

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Best picks in third and fourth rounds in the Kings’ NHL draft history

Drafting 18-year-old prospects is an inexact science, particularly as the rounds go by and the names aren’t as familiar. But the Kings have had some success in drafting beyond the first and second rounds in their history. The Kings don’t have a first-round pick in Sunday’s draft, but they have one in the second round, one in the third and three in the fourth. The Kings’ top second-round picks were detailed in an earlier post. Here are some of the best selections they made in the third and fourth rounds over the years:

Continue reading “Best picks in third and fourth rounds in the Kings’ NHL draft history” »

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Rob Blake is a busier man.

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.

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Player evaluation: Blake

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ROB BLAKE

This season: 71 games, 9 goals, 22 assists, minus-19 rating

Positives: At times this season, Blake was the Kings’ best defenseman. A slow start, mostly caused by his recovery from offseason hip surgery, gave way to a period of strong hockey, which Blake was unable to maintain, in part, because of other nagging injuries. When healthy, Blake remains a strong physical presence on a team that lacks physical defensemen.

Negatives: Not uncommon for 38-year-old players, Blake is injury-prone and slowing down. He didn’t come close to giving the Kings $6-million worth, but that contract was the Kings’ fault, not his. Still plays well in spurts, but might no longer have the energy to maintain it for an entire season.

Looking ahead: Despite some uncertain moments during the season, on both sides, it seems as though Blake would like to return to the Kings and that the Kings would like to sign him to a short-term contract, far below the $6 million he made in each of the last two seasons. Blake still has some value, particularly as the Kings attempt to work in a new, young crop of defensemen.

Contract situation: Unrestricted free agent.

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