AFTER ALL, BLAKE IS FIT TO BE A KING.Byline: RICH HAMMOND Rich Hammond Los Angeles Daily News sports writer. Instrumental in bringing the Los Angeles Kings hockey organization closer to the fans. He is the atypical "what a guy" to Kings fans everywhere. Rich Hammond on himself. Staff Writer EL SEGUNDO El Segundo (ĕl sēgŭn`dō), industrial city (1990 pop. 15,223), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1917. Its products include navigation and computer systems, aircraft parts, office machines, telephone apparatus, and -- As of early Friday morning, Rob Blake For other persons of the same name, see Robert Blake. Robert Bowlby "Rob" Blake (born December 10 1969, in Simcoe, Ontario) is a professional ice hockey defenceman in the NHL, playing for the Los Angeles Kings where he is the captain. had no team and no agent. Blake dismissed his previous agent, Ron Salcer, after the season, with the belief that contract negotiations with the Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver, Colorado, United States. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Avalanche have won the Stanley Cup twice, in 1996 and 2001. would go smoothly enough on his own. It didn't work out as planned. Blake couldn't reach a deal with the Avalanche avalanche, rapidly descending large mass of snow, ice, soil, rock, or mixtures of these materials, sliding or falling in response to the force of gravity. Avalanches, which are natural forms of erosion and often seasonal, are usually classified by their content such so Friday, less than 24 hours before the opening of the NHL's free- agent signing period, Blake hired Pat Brisson. The next day, Brisson put the finishing touches finishing touches finish npl the finishing touches → der letzte Schliff finishing touches npl → ultimi ritocchi mpl on Blake's two-year, $12-million contract with the Kings. ``It was something that was actually fairly easy to put together,'' Brisson said Wednesday, as he attended an introductory news conference for Blake, his freshly minted client. Blake fired Salcer, the longtime agent who had guided Blake's contentious contract negotiations with the Kings during the 2000-01 season, because he felt a two-year deal with the Avalanche practically was a given. ``I believed I needed a change, and my relationship with the Avalanche was great,'' Blake said. ``I felt very comfortable going in, sitting down and talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to them. There wasn't going to be much bargaining. I knew what I wanted. Unfortunately it just didn't work out, but there were no hard feelings.'' At issue, primarily, was a $2.3-million deferred bonus. That figure counts against Colorado's payroll for the upcoming season, a major factor since the NHL NHL Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, see there now has a $44-million salary cap. Because Colorado already owed him the bonus, the team offered less money than he expected, so Blake rejected the team's final offer. He then realized he might need a little help. ``When I understood that I was going into free agency, I turned to Pat,'' Blake said. ``... I wanted to have someone on my side I could trust.'' On Saturday morning, Blake met with Kings president and general manager Dean Lombardi This article or section has multiple issues: * It needs to be expanded. Please help [ improve the article] or discuss these issues on the talk page. Dean Lombardi (born 1958 in Holyoke, Massachusetts) is president and general manager of the NHL's Los Angeles Kings. and worked out the framework of a deal. Then, less than 48 hours after his hiring, Brisson completed the deal. ``Sometimes it might take me two or three months to really get to know (a client) but to me this was a no-brainer,'' Brisson said. ``I've known Rob for 18years, so it was very easy.'' Both sides got what they wanted. In Blake, the Kings get a top-level defenseman, albeit one who turns 37 in December, and a player so respected that team captain Mattias Norstrom offered to turn over the role to Blake in a phone call. Blake declined, but his role on the Kings will be major. ``It was a pretty crazy day,'' Lombardi said, ``but you don't just find guys like this every day.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Rob Blake, right, had planned on staying in Colorado, but when a deal fell through, Dean Lombardi, left, stepped in. Nick Ut/Associated Press |
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