It's not an old tired narrative. Get the most out of him all you want but there is a clear deficiency on that line, and losing a position of surplus to fix one of weakness is a smart move.
I feel like whenever people mention a move like this they think it's an attack on Krueger, or Botterill, or Risto. It's not. Sobotka simply is not a 2nd line player no matter how you slice it, and we can and should be aiming to be better there by using what assets we have available to us