What are these NHL playoffs teaching us? That you don't need HOF superstar forwards to compete. Teams with depth, gritty forwards, and lower cap hit on their top 6 is proving to dominating the playoffs. Leafs are out and Oilers are about to get bounced (by a team with strong deep team depth).
Rangers have one expensive winger: panarin
Boston has: Pastrnak
Panthers: Barkov
I attribute this to drafting good center 2-way players; Danielson, Larkin, Kassper (to a lesser extent) is enough to set Detroit up. They need a star winger that can produce a 100 points, and they'll need good defensive depth and a clutch goalie.
The idea is Danielson is HUGE for the rebuild. Cossa is HUGE for the rebuild and Detroit's defense prospects are the best in the league. Yzerman is building grit and toughness (Kasper, Mazur) and a he could well be on his way to building one of the best bottom 6 depth in the league.
My post isn't so much exclusively about Danielson, but how Nate adds to depth and winning culture that Yzerman is clearly building.
Positive things are on the rise in HockeyTown.