EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Kings and vice president/general manager Rob Blake mutually agreed to part ways, team president Luc Robitaille announced Monday.
The search for a replacement will begin immediately.
"We don’t have a timeline, but obviously we understand the urgency. We know what’s coming up," Robitaille said. "There’s free agency coming up, the draft’s coming up, so, like I said, we started working on it Monday. You’re putting a list together. You suddenly have a lot of friends, you get a lot of texts when that happens. So, we understand that there’s an urgency, but at the same time, it’s very important for this franchise, so hopefully it will be as soon as possible, but we want to make sure.”
During his eight seasons as GM, Blake guided the Kings to a 309-238-71 regular-season record and clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs five times, but they never won a postseason series.
“I think at one point we both realized and agreed that it was time to probably bring a new voice just to get us to that next level, realizing when you study other franchise and so forth," Robitaille said on Tuesday. "So, it’s important for us to look at it this way. The one thing I would say is, make no mistake, when we talk about this franchise and we talk about getting to the next level, the mission of this franchise is to bring back a Stanley Cup in Los Angeles.
“[Blake] left us with a [darn] good team, and he left this franchise in great shape.”
Los Angeles (48-25-9) finished second in the Pacific Division this season before losing to the Edmonton Oilers in six games in the Western Conference First Round.
It was the fourth straight year the Kings lost to the Oilers in the first round.
"It's a hard day," Kings captain Anze Kopitar said Monday. "I mean, I've known 'Blakey' for 20 years now. He was my teammate before he was our GM, and more importantly I think he's my friend, or our friend. I think he did a good job of building this team. I think we showed it this year. And it sucks to see that we didn't deliver. Obviously didn't move on, and he paid the price for it really.
"He's a very, very exceptional human, and looking back now, he's done a lot for me as a player, as a GM, as a mentor. It [stinks] to see him leave, for sure, and it's going to be, at least for a little bit next year, it's going to be weird not having him around."
With Blake out, coach Jim Hiller admitted he is uncertain about his future in Los Angeles but currently is operating under the "status quo" until he hears otherwise.
"I haven't had any of those conversations yet," Hiller said. "I'll be talking with Luc at some point, sure. But I do understand whenever there's change like that, significant change, you know, there's usually more in order."
Hiller is 69-37-10 in two seasons since replacing Todd McLellan on Feb. 2, 2024.
“I think Jimmy answered that question yesterday," Robitaille said when asked whether Hiller would remain coach. "You never know, it’s sports. I don’t see that happening, but your general manager will still -- you want to give him the freedom. You don’t want to lock up a new person that’s coming in, but the record of what Jimmy’s done this year is really, really good. That would be really hard for any GM to say, ‘Well, this guy shouldn’t come back.’ He’s been really good. I think Jimmy’s a great coach, and I fully think, like, this guy’s coming back, for sure.”
Blake, who played 14 of his 20 NHL seasons as a defenseman for the Kings, joined the front office in 2013 as assistant GM, and replaced Dean Lombardi as GM in 2017. Initially tasked with trying to get another sustained playoff run out of the core group that won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014, Blake instead pivoted into a rebuild during the 2018-19 season.
That was the first of three straight seasons where the Kings missed the postseason, but Los Angeles selected center Quinton Byfield with the No. 2 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft and defenseman Brandt Clarke with the No. 8 pick of the 2021 NHL Draft.
Byfield was fourth on the Kings in goals (23), assists (31) and points (54) in 81 games this season, and had four points (three goals, one assist) in six games against the Oilers during the playoffs.
Clarke led Kings defensemen in assists (28) and points (33) in 78 games this season. He had two goals in six games in his postseason debut.
However, even with success through the draft and in team building, Blake never could find the right mix to get the Kings past the Oilers and their star centers, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
The Kings traded for center Pierre-Luc Dubois on June 27, 2023, acquiring him in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets for forwards Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari, and a second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, and then signed Dubois to an eight-year, $68 million contract ($8.5 million average annual value).
Blake hoped Dubois would give the Kings three centers capable of matching up against McDavid and Draisaitl while eventually becoming the successor to Kopitar as the Kings' first-line center. But Dubois never meshed with McLellan or Hiller, and had 40 points (16 goals, 24 assists) in 82 games in his lone season in Los Angeles, mostly playing in a bottom-six role.
Dubois was traded to the Washington Capitals for goaltender Darcy Kuemper on June 19, with the admission of failure increasing the pressure on Blake entering this season, the last year of his contract.
Blake pivoted in an attempt to build a team that could beat the Oilers with depth and physicality, signing forward Warren Foegele and defenseman Joel Edmundson during free agency and acquiring forward Tanner Jeannot in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning on June 29.
Those additions helped the Kings tie franchise records for points (105) and wins (48) in a season. Los Angeles had the best home record in the NHL at 31-6-4 and set a Kings record for home victories in a season.
But it still wasn't enough to help the Kings win a playoff series for the first time since the 2014 Stanley Cup Final against the New York Rangers.
"I think we definitely made progress," Kopitar said. "I guess the record itself showed itself, regular season. But in the end of the day, that's not what you’re playing for. You're playing, obviously, to win a championship, and we failed to do so. So it's disappointing. We felt like this year would be different, and got off to a good start, but we couldn't close. And that's on us to figure out how to do it."
