[Bring Back Scuderi]

D Rob Blake
6'4" 220, shoots Right

777 points in 1270 GP
73 points in 146 playoff GP

x1 Norris Trophy winner
x1 1st NHL AST
x3 2nd NHL AST
x7 NHL ASG
x1 SC winner

x1 OG Gold ('02)
x2 World Championship Gold ('94, '97)
x1 World Championship Silver ('91)
x1 World Cup Silver ('96)
x1 World Championship Best Defender and All-Star Team ('97)

Defenseman Scoring finishes: 3 ('00), 3 ('01), 3 ('02), 8 ('98), 9 ('94), 9 ('04), 11 ('03), 11 ('06)
Norris Trophy voting: 1('98), 3 ('00), 3 ('02), 4 ('01), 5 ('03), 8 ('04), 12 ('06),
All-Star Team voting: 2 ('98), 3 ('00), 3 ('01), 3 ('02), 5 ('03), 8 ('04), T11 ('94), 21 ('09)
Hart Trophy voting: 10 ('98), T23 ('01)

Originally Posted by Larry Robinson

"He can get from the front of the net into the corners as quickly as anyone I've ever seen. He's jumping up into the play without any hesitation and that's really encouraging. Our whole team seems to build off of him."

http://articles.latimes.com/1997/dec/02/sports/sp-59881

Originally Posted by LA Times - April 14, 1990

Asked about the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Blake, Cap Raeder, who coaches the defensemen and goalies, shakes his head in wonder.

"He has just played outstanding," Raeder said. "He's got a great head on his shoulders. He's got size and he's just what we needed, a right-handed shooter with good mobility."

So suddenly, Blake has been thrust into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

From no pressure to high drama.

"It's one step to go from college to the NHL," he said. "It's another to go from the NHL to the playoffs. The speed, the strength and the intensity are all greater."

If Blake is intimidated, fellow defenseman Robinson hasn't noticed.

"He has accounted for himself really well," Robinson said. "He's done everything. He's big, strong, moves the puck well and seems like he has a great attitude."

"I don't even know what to say about the guy," Gretzky said. "This kid has great skills and is tough. I don't know if he even knows how good he's going to be."

http://articles.latimes.com/1990-04-...95_1_rob-blake

Originally Posted by LA Times - December 12, 2007

"Blakey's played that way his whole career," Kings forward Michael Cammalleri said Monday. "He's been a great teammate and a passionate guy and never afraid to stand up for his teammates or to set a statement when it needs to be done.

"So I know when I played against him when he was in Colorado, it was no fun. If you did something, you were going to get a good stiff left hand, a straight arm right to the chin. So he's just continuing to do what he's always done."

Originally Posted by LA Times - April 23, 2009

"Once Blake gets it in his hands, we've got to close him out more and not give him as much time as he had [Tuesday]," Pronger said. "He was able to kind of walk down and take his pick of shooting or trying to make a pass across the crease or, like you saw on the winning goal, he threw it in the slot."

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/apr...lliott-ducks23

Originally Posted by LoH

Blake stayed on for a third year, making the M division's First All-Star team, being named a Hobey Baker Award finalist, and getting called up to the Kings for the last four games of the regular season to experience a taste of NHL life. The following season, he made the team with an outstanding performance in training camp and became the team's number one defenseman.

Blake was thrilled to be joining an L.A. team that featured Wayne Gretzky. An offensive defenseman who was equally adept in his own end, Blake cherished the opportunity to join the rush when Gretzky had the puck, and in his first year he had 12 goals and 46 points from the blue line. Gretzky took to Blake immediately, and likened him to a young Paul Coffey due to his offensive talent and his superb shot, which became an integral part of the Los Angeles powerplay that Gretzky orchestrated.

In each full season Blake played, his numbers increased, but at the same time injuries were forever taking up a large part of his season. In 1994-95, he missed 24 games with a pulled groin and the next year he tore an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) just six games into the season and missed the remainder of the year. He has also broken his hand and foot, resulting in further long stretches away from the ice.

An early highlight of Blake's career came during the 1993 playoffs when the team, led by Gretzky, made it to the Stanley Cup finals. Along the way they beat Calgary and Vancouver and then eliminated Toronto in game seven at Maple Leaf Gardens. But in the finals Blake and the Kings faced a Montreal team that had won 10 overtime games in these playoffs, and the Kings lost in six games. Blake had 10 points that spring and anchored a defense that was virtually impenetrable until that Habs series.

The Kings performed well on a regular basis during most of the 1990s, but never fared well in the playoffs beyond 1993. The result was that Blake had a chance to successfully represent Canada internationally on many occasions, each time happily taking advantage of the honor and experience. He played at the World Championships in 1991, 1994, 1997, 1998 and 1999, winning a gold medal on the 1994 and 1997 teams and a silver in 1991. He also played in the World Cup in 1996, and was key to Canada's defense at the Nagano Olympics in 1998, where he was named the best defenseman in the tournament. Following Nagano, Blake returned to the Kings lineup and continued his strong play, enabling him to capture the 1998 James Norris Trophy as the league's Top Defenseman. After parts of 12 seasons with the Kings, Blake was acquired by the Colorado Avalanche in the latter stages of the 2000-01 season. Upon his arrival with the Avs, Blake was instrumental in leading the Avs to the 2001 Stanley Cup title. On the international stage, Blake has represented Canada in the Winter Olympics on three occasions (1998, 2002, 2006), earning a Gold-Medal in 2002.