They offer mostly hazy responses after a disappointing season that included a coaching change and another first-round playoff loss to Edmonton. Blake says they will not buy out the contract of high…
Kings general manager Rob Blake, left, and Kings president of business operations Luc Robitaille answer questions from reporters on Monday in El Segundo, meeting with the media for the first time since the team lost its first-round playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers last week.
Yet these Kings have not won even one series and have failed to beat one team, the Edmonton Oilers, three years in a row. That left them light-years from the Stanley Cup and their position has become further distanced from that prize across three playoff cameos that got shorter and shorter. Their only prior playoff appearance under Blake was in his first season as GM, a sweep by the Vegas Golden Knights in that franchise’s inaugural season.
Blake also said the he thought the team made “progress” during the regular season, insisting it simply did not carry over to the playoffs. Not only did their game snowball into an avalanche in January, but their goaltending struggled, with 36-year-old Cam Talbot’s game falling off a cliff despite having been named an All-Star. He recovered, but struggled again in the postseason.
Dubois is the latest unwieldy roadblock placed in the Kings’ path by Blake, carrying on the ignominious tradition of Ilya Kovalchuk and Cal Petersen. The former was paid to go away, the latter was paid to be taken away and Dubois, now, it appears, will continue to be paid handsomely to be in the way.
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