I’m still not sure what a “Kruger player” looks like, beyond the two way forwards and mobile defensive defensemen the league universally values.
Overall, he was a zero-sum transition from Phil in the same way that Housley failed to maintain Bylsma’s limited competence.
Team defense got better, at the expense of offense from a blueline they had just finished investing in (and was effectively offset by the atrocious PK). Giving Larry more balanced deployments turned his shot impacts to goals, but also cut into offensive faceoffs for a slumping Skinner. He broke up the top line, but OER was worse than 53-9 by the end of the season, and Skinner was useless on an island (especially with a shackled defense unable to offset limited linemate talent). Player selection was still an exercise in unpredictable hockey-man bias.