Why is "TWENTY" in quotes and capitalized? That's how long he's been playing. And they won with him at (wing).
He's a GENERATIONAL winger, not a "franchise" winger.
MacKinnon is a GENERATIONAL center and he's won one in 12 years, is playing with a guy on a level that the Caps have never had (Makar), and just got bounced in the first round.
Are centers "more important" than wingers in the overall scheme of things? Sure.
The point of my post wasn't to debate the finer points of building a Cup winning team but rather that A LOT has to go right along the way no matter what your personnel is. Look at the Avalanche - two of probably the top 10 players in the game playing a team without two of its best players and their shaking hands after round one.
32 teams in the league. 3.1% chance your team is going to win the Cup. Those are horrendous odds. Look around at some of the franchise around the NHL - Leafs haven't been to a final, much less won the Cup, in 58 years. Canadians longer drought than us. Vancouver, Buffalo, Columbus, Utah/AZ, and on and on have never won a cup. Islanders 40+ years. Detroit no playoffs in almost a decade.
The NHL is a hard league. There's no magic formula to success. A lot can throw the train off the rails. Look at the Rangers this year. Cup favorites going into the season and it was a complete disaster.
If we're talking about center depth, how many teams have Miller/Zibanejad/Trocheck/Carrick level of center depth? And this team couldn't even make the playoffs. Are any of them Mackinnon level elite? No, but two of them have had 90+ point seasons. 3 of them 70+.
Being the last team standing in the NHL is a very difficult thing to do. And, of course, the two times the Rangers have has a 1OA or 2OA they made the pick that every team in the league would've made and end up with the short end of the stick.