But it is really not that accurate. Eye test he is still the 7th or 8th best King. On any night, I'd rather roll with Kopi, Byfield, Kempe, Danualt, Moore, and Fiala. I know what I will get with those 6 night in and night out-- skill and will every game. It is a nearly a tie between PLD and Laff.
I've seldom seen a guy look more disinterested on the ice. How many board battles does PLD win? Where is the stat for that? A guy with PLD's size should be winning many more board battles. He should be imposing his size on people and disconnecting them from the puck. But it doesn't happen. Smaller guys impose their will on him.
And I call bullshit on "we brought him in to be the 4th or 5th most productive forward on the team". I'd assume when you trade a bunch of assets for a guy and extend him for 8 years at 8.5 million (the 3rd highest cap hit between 2 future HHOF players and the 2nd highest cap hit starting next year), that we'd be getting the future 1C. Not a piece, but the piece... to quote Scuds. PLD is the 15th highest paid center in the league. Is he playing like it?
So he's gone from one of the worst contracts in the league, with Huberdeau in Calgary, to a bad contract. That's improvement but stilll far from what we need. PLD needs to have a monster playoffs.