All successful NHL teams are built through a general manager’s (GM) vision. A blueprint has to be made and executed through trades, signings, drafting, and elsewhere. There is no definitive way to build a Stanley Cup contender, and no blueprint can be completed twice. While GMs typically have longer leashes than head coaches, they still get fired when their team is not successful. So, which GMs are on the hot seat this season?
Rob Blake
Rob Blake may be on the hottest seat of any GM in the NHL. He was hired during the 2017 offseason and began a rebuild that initially looked very promising. He brought in a plethora of young talent through the draft, shed the aging core for other young assets, and made 12 top-50 picks within five drafts. However, since attempting to end the rebuild, he has led the Los Angeles Kings nowhere.
Blake’s first major acquisition was trading Brock Faber and a first-round pick for Kevin Fiala. While Fiala has been great, losing Faber stings. While nobody predicted he would develop into the elite, two-way defenseman he has become, moving him over prospects like Helge Grans and Tobias Bjornfot is a clear mistake. As well, losing the first-round pick took away the chance the land a premier prospect in the middle of the 2022 first round.
Blake’s two biggest mistakes came in a three-day span when he traded Sean Durzi to the Arizona Coyotes for just a second-round pick. Three days later, he traded for Pierre-Luc Dubois. Not only did Durzi develop into a great top-four defenseman but that second-round pick was used in one of the worst trades in recent NHL history.
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The Kings essentially acquired Dubois for Durzi, Alex Iafallo, Gabriel Vilardi, and Rasmus Kupari. Not only did Vilardi breakout last season, scoring 22 goals and 36 points in 47 games for the Winnipeg Jets, but Dubois had the worst season of his career, scoring 16 goals and 40 points in 82 games. Dubois was then traded for Darcy Kuemper, a goaltender who went 13-14-3 with a 3.31 goals against average, .890 save percentage, and -4.8 goals saved above expected last season, all while making $5.25 million annually for the next three seasons.
Then in the 2024 offseason, Blake addressed the Kings’ biggest need, a lack of top-six scoring, by bringing in Warren Foegele and Tanner Jeannot, who combined for 27 goals in 137 games last season. He also signed 31-year-old defenseman Joel Edmundson to a four-year contract. None of…
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