Nashville,\u00a0Tenn. (June\u00a05, 2026) \u2013\u00a0Nashville Predators\u00a0President of Hockey Operations\/General Manager Chris MacFarland announced today that the\u00a0team\u00a0has hired Rob Blake as Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations.\u00a0Blake will work alongside MacFarland in all areas of the hockey operations department, including team and staff development, long- and short-term strategies, free agency, player recruitment, drafting and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are\u00a0ecstatic\u00a0to welcome Rob Blake to the Nashville Predators\u00a0as our executive vice president of hockey operations,\u201d MacFarland said. \u201cRob is a\u00a0two-time Stanley Cup winner, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and\u00a0a\u00a0legend of our game.\u00a0Additionally, he\u00a0brings\u00a0a wealth of knowledge\u00a0in\u00a0management and\u00a0I will rely on him to assist me in many areas across the department\u00a0as\u00a0we\u00a0look to build a winning team in Smashville. I couldn\u2019t think of a better person to join me and the organization on this journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blake, 56 (12\/10\/69),\u00a0most recently served as the vice president of hockey operations and general manager of the Los Angeles Kings from\u00a02017-18 through 2024-25\u00a0and\u00a0won the Stanley Cup with the\u00a0franchise\u00a0in 2014\u00a0as an assistant general manager.\u00a0During his\u00a0eight-season\u00a0tenure with the Kings as\u00a0general manager,\u00a0the team\u00a0had\u00a0a\u00a0regular season\u00a0record of\u00a0309-238-71 and\u00a0made the\u00a0Stanley Cup Playoffs\u00a0five times.\u00a0His work as\u00a0Los Angeles\u2019 GM\u00a0included\u00a0acquiring\u00a0All-Star\u00a0forward\u00a0Kevin Fiala\u00a0in a trade; drafting forward Quinton Byfield with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft and subsequently signing him to a long-term deal; selecting promising young defenseman Brandt Clark with the No. 8 overall choice in the 2021 NHL Draft;\u00a0signing\u00a0Kings\u00a0icon\u00a0Anze Kopitar to his final NHL contract; and locking in star forward Adrian Kempe to two separate multi-year agreements.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family and I are very excited to join the Predators\u00a0franchise and\u00a0would like to thank Chris MacFarland for his trust in me,\u201d Blake said. \u201cThis is an organization with a great history and a very bright future, and I am thrilled to be a part of it. I am grateful to work with Chris, who is one of the best general managers in today\u2019s game, and build something special here in Nashville.\u201d<\/p>\n
A native of Simcoe,\u00a0Ont.,\u00a0and one of the League\u2019s\u00a0greatest\u00a0defensemen,\u00a0Blake played 1,270 games\u00a0for Los Angeles, Colorado and San Jose\u00a0from 1989-10. He won the Norris Trophy\u00a0as the NHL\u2019s top defenseman\u00a0in\u00a01998 and\u00a0won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Avalanche in 2001.\u00a0Blake\u00a0was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014,\u00a0was\u00a0a\u00a0seven-time NHL\u00a0All-Star and\u00a0won\u00a0multiple gold medals representing Canada internationally, most notably\u00a0at\u00a0the 2002 Winter Olympics.\u00a0Known as one of the best leaders of his generation, Blake served as Los Angeles\u2019 captain for seven seasons (1995-01 and 2007-08) and wore the \u2018C\u2019 for San Jose in 2009-10, his final NHL campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Blake and his wife, Brandy, have three children \u2013 sons Jack and Max, and a daughter, Brooke.<\/p>\n
The Predators\u2019 hockey operations department remains focused on the upcoming key dates on the NHL\u2019s calendar, including the 2026 NHL Scouting Combine (June 1-6 in Buffalo); 2026 NHL Draft (June 26-27 in Buffalo); Nashville\u2019s annual development camp (June 28-July 3); and the start of free agency (July 1).<\/p>\n
Become Smashville Loyal today! Full, Half and Quarter Season Ticket plans are available for the 2026-27 Nashville Predators season presented by Regions Bank. For more information, please call 615-770-7800, visit\u00a0NashvillePredators.com<\/a>\u00a0or text PREDS to 833-453-2488 to begin receiving ticket offers directly to your phone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nashville,\u00a0Tenn. (June\u00a05, 2026) \u2013\u00a0Nashville Predators\u00a0President of Hockey Operations\/General Manager Chris MacFarland announced today that the\u00a0team\u00a0has hired Rob Blake…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-717605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=717605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}