The thing with KK is the stickhandling. We know the skating is slow and awkward, that’s fine. But the puck just doesn’t stick to his stick. Pass receptions, picking the puck up along the boards (a very important skill in this system), just none of it is clean.
Early in the year when he was on the heater he was on, that seemed to be fixed more or less. And he can be successful with his current skating level if he consistently shows the puck skill, because he has the instincts. But lately he just can’t make the plays he clearly wants to make, because he can’t even make the simple ones.
It does make me wonder if this rumored injury he’s playing through is arm/shoulder related. Otherwise it’s just a weird regression of something that really shouldn’t regress.