if anything, LAST year is a good example of Doughty playing great on a terrible team, and he had arguably a better case for Norris than Hedman, but there wasn't much noise about it because the Swedes backed Hedman and the EK fans backed not-Doughty because another Doughty Norris would cause a stir. There was Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty and damn near nothing else (Dustin Brown too, sorry) and two career years carried them kicking and screaming to the playoffs but nowhere else. They were getting absolutely caved in without him and Game 2 of the playoffs when he was suspended should tell you everything about what happens when a good Doughty is off the ice (but we rarely have to deal with that because he's been so healthy and consistent, which he instead gets punished for instead of applauded for). This year is a good example of what happens when Doughty (and Kopitar to a degree) struggle for the Kings, though it's overstated since (ironically, I'll add, since the EK booster club usually gets upset about plus minus except this one for reasons) his EN goals are rough. He had 20 bad games by his standards but people forget he was literally 0 GA through several games before hurting for 20 or so.
The real problem is selective attention. 20 bad games by Doughty gets this rep that he doesn't know what to do on a struggling team, but 100 bad games by EK gets excused entirely, because Doughty's game is rarely based on flash and raw offensive numbers. We used to joke he'd lead the league in third assists because of all the plusses he racks up in transition that he doesn't get an assist on. Hell the one VS SJ the other night is emblematic of how he drives offense without credit--draws all three SJ checkers, breaks the play the other way, goal, Kopitar causally cruising by EK.
