EL SEGUNDO, CA — After former Los Angeles Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi built a team that won two Stanley Cup Championships in the span of three seasons, his successor, current Vice President/General Manager Rob Blake inherited a franchise that had no first-round draft picks from 2013 to 2016.
But that is often a price teams that win championships have to pay. Unlike the building/re-building process when teams hold onto their first-round picks, those who are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders or recent Cup winners often trade away those picks in order to acquire the final pieces they believe would put then over the top.