Los Angeles Kings' President Luc Robitaille doesn't seem to be wasting any time, and they could have their next general manager a little over a week after it was announced Rob Blake would not be coming back. According to Elliotte Friedman, the Kings are close to naming Ken Holland as their next general manager.
Holland is a veteran general manager who has already earned a spot in the Hall of Fame from his time with the Detroit Red Wings. He was a long-time general manager there and spent 20 years in that role. Holland would build three teams that would win Stanley Cups, while earning a fourth Stanley Cup as an assistant general manager with the Red Wings.
More recently, the Kings are very familiar with the Ken Holland as he spent five seasons as general manager and president for the Edmonton Oilers. During that time, the Oilers would make the playoffs all five seasons, reach the Western Conference Finals twice (winning once) and reach the Stanley Cup Finals in last year's playoffs where they would go to Game 7 against the Florida Panthers.
Ken Holland will not have much time to get up to speed for the Los Angeles Kings
As soon as it is official that Ken Holland will be the next general manager, he will need to move quick as the NHL Draft is a little over a month away and then free agency starts up right after that. The good news for the Kings is that they don't have a bunch of free agents but the focus will be on probably four key players starting with Vladislav Gavrikov and followed by Andrei Kuzmenko, Tanner Jeannot and restricted free agent Alex Laferriere.