I always liked the idea of acquiring Martinez. He's been an unsung commodity for a long time and one of the few LA kings I had a quiet respect for as a big fan of defensive play out of defensemen (I begrudgingly respect Doughty but he's such an asshat that the respect is very minimal). I didn't like the cost given what Scandella's price was and I'm still not crazy about the cavalier dumping of assets.
But I'm really really happy to see he's thriving in a system that actually works. I equate his LA performance the last two years the way you might look at a guy like Hampus Lindholm in Anaheim. Lindholm is a fantastic stay at home defensive talent but you wouldn't know it looking at his numbers and the team's analytics. Even a defensive phenom can't sustain a broken system and a group of forwards that are incompetent in defensive assistance and I think that's a big part of what's plaguing LA and Anaheim. In Vegas' system, Martinez's abilities have the proper chance to contribute.
What's surprising me is his consistent offensive contribution. Even in the golden days for LA, Martinez was never much of an offensive weapon. Cup winning goal aside.
Long story short, happy he's with the team. Going into the deadline I greatly preferred an unremarkable offensive talent relative to defensive strength as an add to our blueline as opposed to some puck moving defensive liablity (Gustafsson) so I'm really pleased that that seemed to be McCrimmon's philosophy.