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Is the Brock Faber Trade the Worst in Rob Blake’s Time as GM?

  • August 1, 2024


So, the question arises: Was this Faber trade one of the worst decisions made by Rob Blake as the Kings' general manager?

The answer is, yes. Rob Blake took over as the Kings' GM in 2017 and has made 42 trades in that time. So, let's look at a few of his best and worst

Some notable ones are:

  • Feb. 5th, 2020:

Kings: Trevor Moore 2020 & 3rd round pick (Alex Laferriere)

Maple Leafs: Jack Campbell & Kyle Clifford

  • Jan. 28, 2018

Kings: 2019 1st-round pick (Tobias Björnfot), Carl Grundstrom & Sean Durzi

Maple Leafs: Jake Muzzin

  • July 1, 2021

Kings: Viktor Arvidsson

Predators: 2021 2nd round pick & 2022 3rd round pick

Aside from the Faber trade, another trade that has been criticized as one of the worst during his tenure with the Kings is the Pierre-Luc Dubois deal.

June 27, 2023

Kings: Pierre-Luc Dubois

Jets: Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari and a 2024 second-round pick.

Less than a year later he traded Dubois to the Washington Capitals for Darcy Kuemper, which will still be an asset to the team.

Unfortunately, the Faber extension has fueled speculation among Kings' fans that the management group is in a rush to rebuild the team, aiming to compete for the Cup again with Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty.

All in all, trading Faber to the Wild for Fiala, despite his significant offensive contributions to the team, may be considered one of the worst trades during his time as the Kings' GM.

5 comments

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  2. This is a crazy take. First off, the PLD trade is the worst, no contest. Second, Fiala is one of our most important players. Third, Faber wouldn’t have the same opportunity here that he had in Minnesota because of our traffic jam at RD. Fourth, he only has had one good season. No guarantee he keeps producing at this level.

    It’s not even a bad trade. It’s a good trade. We sold off something we had an excess of (RD prospects) for something we lacked (high end offensive production)

  3. There’s no guarantee that the Kings would have been able to sign Faber. He decided to return to Michigan for his junior year. If he had decided to stay for his senior year the Kings could have lost his reserve status and signing rights.

  4. He was going to leave first opportunity he had.
    Fíala is 3rd line material ok pick up. Shame we lost vilardi. I wonder if vilardi is staying with Winnipeg after his contract.

  5. Fiala has some defensive issues, but the Kings made that trade to get offense and that’s exactly what they got. It’s a fair trade for both teams as they each got something out of it. In the Kings case they got what they needed and were looking for so it’s a good trade. It’s not a bad trade at all and absolutely not the worst trade. Rob has made mostly good trades and one terrible trade. It’s obvious the trade for PLD is the worst, and it’s not even close.

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