On Wednesday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio Morning Skate with Gord Stellick and Scott Laughlin. Friedman was asked about the Los Angeles Kings’ General Manager position and where they will look for their next GM.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
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Gord Stellick: “Elliotte Friedman joining us on NHL Morning Skate. Well, let’s talk about the team Connor McDavid eliminated and his team did in the first round. Bot, there’s eight new post-mortems and probably the bitterest pill to swallow, the Los Angeles Kings.
So Rob Blake, and apparently it was his decision. Apparently they really wanted him to stay there. Do you think at this point, do you think they find somebody internally? Because it’s a pretty tight group there, look elsewhere, and you think they kind of say, okay, we can go back at it one more time, even though, at least we got home ice advantage. There’s so many pauses about that team. They made some big moves. Where do you think when they sort it all out?”
Elliotte Friedman: “Well, I think, and I watched Luc Robitaille‘s event , where he met with the media. And I have to say to you, one thing you’re right about Gordy is, I think a lot of people believe, in a very linear way, that if it wasn’t Rob Blake, it was going to be Marc Bergevin. I’ll reach out to speak to him soon, just to get a bit more clarity. But listening to that , I’m less certain of it. He didn’t draw a straight line.
Now, they have some other in-house candidates there too. One is Nelson Emerson. Another is Mark Yannetti, but he at least opened it up the possibility that they will look externally. Now, Bergevin is also a candidate in New York with the Islanders. So there were some people who thought that one of the reasons LA may have made the change, was that to make sure that Bergevin didn’t go to Long Island. I don’t think he’s their top choice, but I do think he’s a legit candidate there.
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So, but I’m not as certain of that after listening to Robitaille . It seems to me, at least, and we’ll see if I’m right about this, that the Kings are going to consider some external candidates. So I’m not as certain about the path for them forward after listening to Robitaille speak .
I think Gordy, that was a really, as you said, that was a really painful, bitter loss for the Kings. They had the Oilers down in that series, and they let the others off the mat. And once the Oilers won Game 4, they really dominated the Kings. Like someone said to me, actually night, that they really felt the Kings were beaten in that series after Game 4, it was just such a shock to them.
And so we’ll see how that kind of a defeat changes, or doesn’t change their future.”
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