Quite frankly, he's right. In fact, I'd say that nothing I've written since the beginning of the 2020-21 season has been my best work. In fact, I've been quite discouraged from writing since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The reason? It's because a lot of teams, including the Kings, have taken the opportunity (not necessarily intentionally) during the pandemic to control the message by choosing who the media gets to talk to after games and after practices. Yes, we can request players and others, but unlike when we're at practice or at games, it's a pain, and you end up feeling like you're intruding on their time when they're trying to avoid getting the virus and also trying to keep their families and others in the organization safe.
So some of us feel like our hands are tied, or that we're between the proverbial rock and a hard place. When you have little to no control over who you choose to interview, and have to settle for whomever they decide to make available, it's almost impossible to come up with your own story ideas or just ones that are of quality. You're forced to write the story or stories they choose (not directly, but through their choice of who is made available), and that is really very, very discouraging and disheartening.
In this particular case, Kupari isn't all that confident in his English language proficiency. He understands everything, but his ability to speak English isn't all that natural for him yet, and it shows when we (the local media) interview him. Mattias Norstrom he is not! His answers tend to be fairly brief, and he doesn't say all that much, in terms of specifics. Doesn't make for a great story. If I had a choice, he would not be one of the prospects I would have requested, at least not for development camp. But since the pandemic began, as I mentioned earlier, I've been writing based on whomever the Kings make available to us. Obviously, our coverage of the Kings has suffered during the pandemic. But I'm not really complaining. That' just the way things are because of this damned virus.