I too thought that Kev was really, really bad at times last year, so bad in fact it confirmed to me how little faith MM must have had in Darcy.
He did get some chances last season and failed to really inspire, how good a player he'll be if he plays every week we'll find out at Palace.
I do think the answer is slightly in the question though. Snapped up by one of the strong relegation canditidates rather than one of the hopefuls.
Is our squad a better place with Darcy? Probably. Will we manage fine without him? Almost certainly and definitely if Connelly is the player the r's fans say he is.
As for MM, juries out for me on whether he will fully use the squad this year as I thought he had the chance to mix things up last year and didn't at times. He's building a much better squad imo but if he doesn't use it properly this season I don't think he'll need to worry about the season after.