When Los Angeles Kings general manager Rob Blake addressed the media on Thursday morning, he came prepared to answer questions about Todd McLellan's future and backed him all the way.
“No, no, not at all,” Blake said when asked if he was thinking about a coaching change.
"Our philosophy here for the past three, four years is on the structure and the system and the design and the buy-in of the players, and he’s gotten that from the players," Blake continued. "I’m going to rely on the players and the leadership to get us out of that."
Those are nice things for Blake to say, and somewhat expected, as he isn't going to throw McLellan under the bus publicly, but the internal conversations have to be different.
If the Kings aren't ready to move on from McLellan and want to give him a little more time to sort this out, fine. But the Kings need to be ready to make that change if things don't turn around quickly.
They've already fallen into the second wild card spot with two teams just a few points behind them.
I get the idea of trusting the process and showing faith in your coach, but at some point, a difficult decision has to be made.
The Kings are also short on options. They don't have the cap space to make any trades and don't have a ton of reinforcements waiting in Ontario.
Yes, the Kings have the option to play Samuel Fagemo more regularly, or Brandt Clarke, but those aren't game-changing players, not yet.
Even if it isn't a move that Blake truly wants to make, it's really the only move he has left.
If things don't turn around soon and McLellan is fired, I will have some sympathy for him.
As I've said a few times, a lot of this team's problems come from decisions above McLellan's head. Blake has made some bad moves, notably the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade, that have put McLellan into a tough spot.
But that's the life of an NHL head coach. You're often the first one overboard when a ship starts sinking.
Again, I'm not sure the Kings are at a point where they will be throwing people overboard, and I'm not sure how many people deserve to be thrown, but we're getting there.
At the very least, the Kings need to be ready to make that decision soon.
As I mentioned, I get Blake wanting to stick with his plan and his coach, but how long is he willing to wait?
The All-Star break? Things could be out of hand by then and if this team misses the playoffs, McLellan might not be the only one job-hunting this summer.
