from Mark Whicker of the LA Daily News,

What Lombardi and Sutter never found was a replacement for Slava Voynov, who left on domestic violence charges in the fall of 2014, a Norris candidate in partial bloom.

Lombardi rewarded Dustin Brown, Marian Gaborik and Matt Greene for meritorious service. The contracts reeked of gratitude, but not realism. Chicago has won three Stanley Cups by protecting the core and profusely thanking Troy Brouwer, Patrick Sharp, Andrew Shaw, Dustin Byfuglien, Brian Campbell and Andrew Ladd as they show them the door

The Blackhawks beat the salary cap to the point that they have 14 players who make less than $1 million this season. And, even then, Chicago has not won back-to-back Cups. This stuff is hard.

Now the Kings see Justin Williams, Wayne Simmonds, Milan Lucic, Brayden Schenn and Jordan Weal thriving throughout the league. They wouldn’t have gotten Mike Richards without giving up Simmonds and Schenn, and probably wouldn’t have won that 2012 Cup. But at least when they missed the 2015 playoffs, they had the same regular-season record they did in 2012. The 2017 team was far more ineffectual. It cried for change.

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