Takes and trash talk from both ALL sides of the NHL's most obscure PATHETIC* rivalry

* Thanks, Kevin Lowe!

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Trading Rob Blake


"Rob Blake: For some reason Blake's name popped up this week in the rumor mill, shipping him to the San Jose Sharks. Don't bet on that happening. Kings GM Dean Lombardi apparently wants to keep Blake around to tutor promising young defenseman Jack Johnson."

-Spector at FOXsports.com
Rob Blake, bad team or not, has had a horrendous season. He managed 3 points in his last 10 games. His plus/minus is an atrocious -25. Even if his numbers improve, it is obvious that his best days are behind him and that his skills will only decline from here.

I have to ask: is a $6 million "tutor" really worth it? Granted, Spector plainly stated that the Blake rumor mainly came out of nowhere, especially since his supposed destination would be San Jose. Blake in those awful uniforms certainly would be a terrifying sight on a couple levels (not to say he looks great in our duds, to be honest), but what would the Sharks hypothetically give up for Blake?

Either way, I'm not sweating it too much.

If Blake stays and the Kings can re-sign Lubomir Visnovsky and scuttle Jack Johnson out of Michigan, something nice might be developing in front of our woeful goaltenders. And better yet, he only has one year left on his contract.

If Blake is traded, the Kings might get a minor-to-quality addition(assuming it's a 1st round pick in the 20s or a prospect) and $6 million to throw at someone who can "tutor" by feeding the puck to Frolov, Kopitar and Co. (say, a Chris Drury, Scott Gomez or someone of that ilk).

Hey, when you're losing like the Kings are, it's nice to have a win-win situation every now and then, right?

3 comments:

PJ Swenson said...

There are lots of rumors that the Sharks, and several other Western Conference teams, made bids for the Islanders winger James Blake too.

Sean Zandberg said...

I think Jason Blake is going to Anahem...
Rob Blake is going nowhere!

Earl Sleek said...

Can I say for the record that I am not excited about the potential for either Blake to come to Anaheim?

J. Blake is having a monster year (admittedly in the east), but smallish, North American forwards? Ducks already got a bunch of 'em.

And while Rob Blake would be killer on the ice, that would mean the team has THREE SIX MILLION DOLLAR DEFENSEMEN going into next year. Sorry folks, that ain't happening in Anaheim--we're not even cap spenders.

Frankly, I'm pretty surprised Ducks are even getting involved in big-name defenseman rumors--our hole is on the wing (and his name is Parros, or sometimes Shannon). If that spot can be upgraded, I'm pretty pleased with the resulting roster.