I think his game has still left something to be desired over this span.
Hopefully he can harass McDrai in the playoffs. He's one of the few players in the league with the attributes to do it. Kings need to get that home ice advantage.
I think he may have another level/dimension with his physicality, and I know we'd all love the power play to go off, but otherwise, how?
Since the beginning of Feb at even strength:
-60.65 CF%--best on kings
-75 GF%--15 GF, 5GA, best on kings
-61.23 xgf%--best on kings
-71.43% High danger--best on kings by a significant amount
all of the above are hovering around 10% better relative to team
-13 even strength points, 3 more than 2nd place; 3 goals (5th) and 10 assists (1st) (and before we harp on the goals, his linemate is leading)...13 even strength points is 2nd in the entire NHL in that time span and 10 assists, no one has more in that timespan. And none of those other guys are playing the hard minutes and very few are playing C at all.
-PKing with Foegele has that pairing the best xGF% on the PK on the Kings in that time and one of the best xgas
Like, I love us having sky-high expectations of this kid, but this 22 year old is leading the team in most significant categories since the beginning of February. I think at some point saying "I need more" comes off as an insult rather than praise of raw ability. This is becoming Kopitar-ish levels of "we need more goals" despite bonkers production, more physicality (20 hits is 2nd on the Kings in that span, only to Jeannot) despite him laying the lumber lately...and he's taken significantly more hits than any other King at 28, showing how much he has the puck and what a target he is.
He does suck at faceoffs, I guess.
Edit: I'm not coming at you in particular; I'm just wondering what expectations folks have of Byfield at this point that he's not meeting outside of consistency.