Love him or hate him, boo him or cheer him, the Kings will officially retire Rob Blake's No. 4 jersey on January 17th of this coming season.
The club's all-time leader in goals, assists, and points by a defenseman will have his jersey hung up in Staples Center alongside that of Marcel Dionne, Rogie Vachon, and former teammates Dave Taylor, Wayne Gretzky, and Luc Robitaille.
Hopefully when he steps up to the mic to speak there isn't too many boo birds in the building. After all, Blake did ruffle a few feathers in 2001 when he was used as the linchpin by the NHLPA in their upcoming CBA negotiation with the league.
Unfortunately, in the outcome of all that the Kings came out on a difficult side of things and many fans viewed Blake as a player who bailed on his team for money. Then there was his return to the Kings in 2006-07 towards the end of his career, where he clearly was not the same player of years past. His decision to allegedly not waive his no trade clause in 2007-08 and then subsequently pursue free agency the following year (where he signed with the Sharks) also ruffled some feathers. That turned out to be untrue though
Despite all that, the Kings have been awfully loyal to Rob Blake and many fans have questioned why. Just over a year ago the Kings brought Rob Blake on board to the vacated assistant general manager position, something many felt Blake would excel at. I wrote a little back then about how we should perhaps forgive and forget when it came to the past of Blake. As always, business is business, and Blake rightfully deserves to have his jersey retired as a King. After all, he played the better part of 14 of his 19 total seasons in the NHL in Los Angeles. And as mentioned earlier, he is the all-time leader in points, goals, assists by a defenseman for the team, not to mention games played. He is also the only King defenseman to ever win a Norris trophy. He is also a six-time all star (three with the Kings), a Cup winner, and a Gold medalist from the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics with Team Canada.
I'd say that's a pretty decent resume to have your sweater hung from the ceiling of any building.
Despite the hurt feelings that may have ensued from some of his decisions as a player, Blake has always been an iconic King player. The team that drafted him and brought him into the NHL are going to rightfully honor big No. 4 come January 17th before they take the ice against the Anaheim Ducks. I pray that people put away the booing mentality and stand and salute a cornerstone to the Kings franchise from back in the 90's. Heck, put them away regardless of his playing stature, this guy is our assistant general manger and holds the future of our prospects in his hands!
I'm already seeing a little bit of backlash from the announcement, so I'll edit to add this
Here's the thing,
Not every single organization has a ridiculously long list of candidates for this sort of stuff. Montreal, New York, Toronto, Philly, Boston, Detroit etc. etc. However, there are countless players who mean a ton to their respective organizations. Adam Graves, Adam Foote, and Trevor Linden are just a few players to note who have their numbers retired with their respective clubs because they meant something dear to them. Rob Blake meant a lot to the LA Kings of the 90's. He also meant a lot to the NHL and the NHLPA. That, along with his stellar on-ice career should be enough to warrant the respect of having his number retired as a member of the Kings.
I know I will personally be looking forward to the evening. Blake is one of the all-time King greats and was one of my favorite players growing up. Who could forget the master of the hipcheck?
Mine has to be the end to end goal in Game 2 of the 1992 Division Semifinals against the Oilers.
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