The addition of Mike Richards has made the Kings tougher up the middle, but the loss of Simmonds leaves a void to an already thin area on the team: Toughness. The Kings lack the kind of toughness that will enable them to go far in the playoffs.
Dean Lombardi needs to bring in an animal to play on the back-end, a tough forward willing to drop the gloves to fill in for Simmonds, and a real power forward, i.e., not Penner, to play alongside Kopitar.
The good thing is that the Kings as is are much tougher then the wimpy, diving, flopping, and yapping Canucks. Need I say more?