Muzzin is a puzzling player. At times, he can look great, then at times, you question what he is thinking (if he is even thinking at all). He can make good passes, but he can also make some stupid passes that puts himself or his teammates at risk, like the number of times he's passed the puck through the middle of the ice only to have it intercepted.
Sometimes he reminds me of guys like Darryl Sydor, Jaroslav Modry and Joe Corvo. Guys who can skate, log 20+ minutes, and make plays, but were also prone to making mistakes quite often. He runs around and tries to do way too much at times.
I also wonder if we have already seen the best out of him. Given his age, how much better is he going to get? Is he showing any signs of improvement in any areas of his game? I can't say that he has. When he was selected on Canada's World Cup team, he stood out, but not in a good way. Seemed like he was in over his head at that stage, like a deer caught in the headlights. That's kind of like how he's been playing this season as well.
I could see both sides of the argument though. Guys who can log 20+ minutes on the blueline are a valuable commodity, but I also get that protecting someone younger who may have more potential might be more pivotal, especially if moving a guy like Muzzin can garner a good haul.
I'm only in favor of moving him if the Kings can upgrade the team and still add a #4-5 dman with a right shot. Similar to what they got when they moved Rob Blake. Now Muzzin is not at that level nor will he ever be, but that type of return, which netted the team a physical top six forward and a physical, right handed dman could greatly benefit this team. It's in line with what Lombardi did when he moved Visnovsky for guys like Stoll and Greene.
I like the chemistry being displayed by Doughty and Forbort and see Forbort playing with more and more confidence. He also has a knack of getting his shots through from the point, unlike most of the other Kings dmen.
Martinez is still productive but he's struggled in his own zone, and part of the reason is that oftentimes him and his partner are not on the same page. Muzzin usually makes some errant pass that locks the team inside their own zone and they both get caught chasing guys behind the net, leaving somebody wide open in the slot. This happens often when those two are on the ice together.
I've also been disappointed by the lack of physical play in Muzzin's game. His offensive game and his defensive play is both getting away from him. He needs to step it up and show that he's worth that contract. Otherwise, I think it would make a lot of sense for the team to sell high on him before he loses more value, ala Kyle Quincey.
