Well again, I'm more of a hockey fan than anything and I watch both socal teams. I'm no longer emotionally invested in the Kings so I can view what's going on with some detachment and hopefully objectivity.
As to Blake (and I've said this many times), I can't think of a comparable situation in my almost 50 years of watching hockey. A team starts a rebuild but keeps it's 5 highest paid veterans? A team trades all of it's supporting cast for picks and prospects and replaces them with no one? A team then expects to be a playoff contender less than 3 years later? These are all facts including Blake's pronouncement about being playoff competitive in 21-22. None of it made sense from the start for me. It's never been done before and the likelihood of a rookie GM pulling it off is/was next to zero.
So now you've got huge gaping holes in the lineup, your star player calls out management to make significant changes now, and your vaunted prospect pool is nowhere near ready to assume big roles next year or possibly even the year after that. And now we are to believe that miraculous changes will happen this summer? It just seems like a bridge too far. I honestly don't believe Blake knows what he is doing. I really believe that. He has an incredibly tall mountain to climb this summer to fill several holes with nothing but picks and prospects to offer in return. The UFA pool is poor and unrealistic to expect to catch any big fish. The whole thing just seems impossible to me. And that's why I continue to post on this board...this team's precarious situation is far more interesting at the present time than the Ducks are (I'm happy to give you my thoughts on the Ducks if you're interested).
My question regarding being a Ducks fan wasn't meant as a dig but I seem to remember you jumping ship and being anti-Kings. Maybe you were anti-Lombardi for some reason? That seems like it rings a bell but, regardless, it is hard to say that there still isn't some emotional investment based on how many posts you've made on the topic. Again, that isn't a dig but just how I see it.
As for keeping the five highest paid veterans, I assume this is 11/8/23/77/32, correct? I think the answer is pretty easy (look at this from January 2019 when Muzzin trade is made):
11/8 - Still looked at as long-term solutions
23 - Three more seasons at $5.875MM. Only a contender would want to add him but can a contender add $5.875M and would they want to for Brown? Toss in cap floor, Kings tenure etc.
77 - Three more seasons at $5.2MM and he looked worse than Brown. Finally able to trade him with only one year left and also retaining. Kings also weren't paying a lot for him in actual dollars.
32 - Four more seasons at $5.8MM. Pretty much labeled as cooked in 2019. So many years left on an aging goalie that relies on athleticism. Who is signing up for that?
Even with retention, the Kings weren't going to get much for 23/77/32 and Blake never wanted to trade 11/8. I'm sure Blake would have moved them--I bet he tried--but the return and likely retention wasn't worth it in the grand scheme of things. They'd have to replace them with someone and still hit the cap floor. If they can finish next to dead last, 5th worst and now 8th worst with these guys while simply not paying anyone else, then who cares? Fans love these dudes so go ahead and suck with them then suck without them.
Brown is in the last year of the deal now and he will probably be approached by Blake about going to a contender at the tread deadline in the event the Kings are out of the race. Quick's cap hit is so rough but the actual dollars are low. Still, I think he just assumes the back-up role but more like a 1C v. the back up goalie that only plays 10 games a season. He could also be approached for a trade at some point if there is a playoff type team that sees a goalie injury during the season and needs something. Kings could retain like they did on Carter.
So it isn't wild at all, really. Blake wants to keep two of the veterans and there wasn't really a market for the other three due to their cap hits. He finally moved another one of them the moment he could do so. One of them is now in the last year of his deal. He didn't *have* to dump them to still be able to suck: he just emptied the rest of the roster since he could get assets for them.
There are several holes that need to be filled for the team to be a contender; however, there aren't necessarily as many holes to fill to simply be a playoff team. The glut of space and cheap assets can go a long way.
