The game is so much different now from even 15 years ago. I think it was
@GoldenBearHockey who said that teams now run a top nine forwards rather than the traditional top and bottom six and that is 100% correct.
The days of having two skilled lines and two lines that grind it out are over for most teams, but apparently not the Kings. Blake better address the talent level throughout the lineup or it's going to be continued repeats of 2015-2018, no matter how good 11-8-32 play. Need a ton of speed and skill, and ideally from players on ELC's that is the recipe for success right now, not having guys like Thompson, Clifford, Reider, Mitchell who aren't young, aren't fast (Reider is) and aren't skilled but somehow combine to make over $6m a year.