from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

Dean Lombardi is no longer general manager. Darryl Sutter is no longer the coach, nor is John Stevens, who replaced Sutter after his amazing run of Stanley Cups. Both were let go for not keeping up with the times, for not finding a way to keep the Kings fresh and relevant when they managed what almost no one in hockey has managed in recent times....

The championship window opened quickly and closed just as fast for the Kings, one of the worst teams now in all of hockey. In a three-year period, winning two titles, they played in 63 playoff games. That kicks the whatever out of you. That turns great to good over time. The body isn’t built for that kind of punishment year after year.

It happened in Los Angeles. The same happened in Chicago, where the amazing Blackhawks won three Stanley Cups in a short time. They were Western Conference-tough, built to last the way teams have been built to last, distinct of style and rather impossible to beat over seven games.

It’s the toll that winning takes on champions.

Joel Quenneville did such a great job winning three Cups in Chicago that he’s now coaching in Florida. The Blackhawks won with Jonathan Toews as the perfect leader, Patrick Kane as the breakaway scoring threat, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook on defence, Corey Crawford sharp in goal.

Keith is now old, Seabrook slow and old, Crawford no longer sharp, Toews and Kane signed long-term for $21 million and not living up to their current contracts. Since winning the third Cup, the Blackhawks haven’t won a playoff round.

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