They're still leaning on Toews and Kane at the moment, both of which are in the same age range as Kopitar and Doughty, and they also have the notoriety of looking the other way while a teammate was sexually assaulted and harassed.
They traded away two good young players, and are in year 1 of Jones' absurd contract, and Keith retiring also gives them a recapture penalty.
If tying $31 million on three players who failed to take you to the playoffs, shown questionable leadership, and getting caught in a recapture deal is "fantastic" then the rest of the teams have done well enough to compete for the Stanley Cup.
This is a surgical fix as opposed to a series of bandaids, and the franchise will be better for it in the longterm. They have CLEARLY decided that the decisions of the past, including the recent past, were mistakes and they are moving on accordingly. You can only do so much at a time, and this is an outstanding start. Suffering is part of a rebuild, something the Kings management has avoided at all costs.
And its goddam hilarious that you are the one, of everybody on this board, that would be pointing out the veteran contracts as detriments seeing as you have steadfastly refused to acknowledge the Kopitar extension as the poisonous sandbag it was correctly warned of and has definitively proven to be for six years. And now not only did that extension delay 6 years of potential progress, its killing off the rebuild it forced to occur as well. Extending Kopitar instead of trading him might be the worst decision in the history of the franchise, yet you blame Chicago - a more successful franchise - for doing the same without batting an eye? Come on, KP.
The only difference here is that Chicago will move on from Toews and Kane shortly. The Kings decided that their moldy oldies still have it in them and are sacrificing the future to give them another last chance. Chicago learned its lesson with the Jones mistake, and unlike the Kings, isn't going to throw its arms up into the air and say "oh well, might as well keep going for it seeing as we signed Jones".
Trading DeBrincat was necessary. No rebuilding franchise needs multiple contracts like the extension he was going to require. DeBrincat is a limited player, an excellent weapon enhanced by brilliant talent around him. But you don't make players like that cornerstones of your franchise, and that's what you need out of players getting paid what he will get. You don't need full value out of that deal, escaping the weight of the extension is just as valuable, if not more, than the quality of the return.
Entering a draft with no first rounders despite needing to rebuild, and leaving with two very good prospects and an intriguing project, is absolutely worth celebrating.
Deciding not to get tied down to the qualifying numbers of two meh players in Strome and Kubalik is smart planning.
Telling two elder statesmen that your winning days here are done and encouraging them to move instead of continually bending over your entire franchise to patronize them and playing out the string to the detriment of progress is genius planning and exactly what the Kings should have done.
