The media& #39;s obsession with Doughty is that he was once good and isn& #39;t a pure offensive defenceman. This means that his decline isn& #39;t immediately apparent to them because it& #39;s not just point totals going down. https://twitter.com/joshuaS_10/status/1253783807439880193">https://twitter.com/joshuaS_1...

"Defence" for mainstream hockey media is 60% reputation and 40% time on ice. If you& #39;re on a bad team they won& #39;t even care about +/- because they can just blame that on teammates.

Like, Drew Doughty was a -34 in 2018-19. I don& #39;t remember hearing about that from any mainstream outlets, compared to endless crowing about Karlsson& #39;s "struggles." Honestly the first time I read anything negative about him was @domluszczyszyn& #39;s contract rankings.

Also, I don& #39;t think we can discount that a lot of the hockey media doesn& #39;t want guys like Doughty to decline - they want Legends™ because many of them still approach hockey with a romantic narrative. It& #39;s more appealing for the Hall of Fame-bound defenceman to be always good.