After losing 3 straight there is now a real chance that this team misses playoffs. I just think I can't be disappointed more, and then it keeps going.
Also, a little bit of a new/old topic, but in the mainstream Kings media sphere, it was commonly talked about that The Kopitar/Doughty regime had a "switch" for playoffs.
"Oh, they're slow now but they'll flip the switch and become more competitive"
"Just wait until games matter, they'll start producing then"
The fact is that the "switch" has been a complete copium myth ever since the cup was won. People look at what happened there and thought "oh they used to be bad and now good, so switch" when in actuality it was a dominant team once Sutter took over, and off loading forever minus Johnson for Carter was basically adding 10 wins a year. They were so good and in sync that things didn't matter.
2014 was a similar story, we were forcing Mike Richards at 2nd C when he was cooked, and moving him to 4th C in the middle of playoffs actually flipped the momentum. It wasn't a new found sense of effort or competition.
And every year since those two cups, there's been a little copium pipe in the corner wishing that things will magically get better when the regulars start caring a little more. And that is always a lie.
Kopitar, Doughty, and the culture around them do not get better later. They try their best all the time and variance fluctuates on whether that is good enough or not. Everyone's comments all the time point towards this being what actually happens, they play the same way all the time and don't understand why they lose.
I think Kopitar and Doughty are still serviceable players, but they are not banner holders. They cannot carry a team on their back. And their temperaments do not inspire lesser performers to be better, nor themselves to be better.