Growing pains are a part of life.
There are growing pains in life, as well as in hockey. One of the growing pains of hockey is prospects. Teams heavily invest time and resources into developing the organization’s prospects.
The Detroit Red Wings are no exception.
Because of this, they closely monitor a prospect’s progress in the league they play in. Unfortunately, not every league is equal.
Nate Danielson is learning the hard way that the AHL is not like the WHL. The 6-foot-1 first-round draft pick has been experiencing a cold patch recently while playing with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
For eight straight games, the center failed to register a single point. Over the same stretch of time, he fired 15 shots on the net. Eight of those shots came in the final three games of the cold spell.
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He was pushing hard at the end of the streak to break through — which he eventually did.
The Griffins played back-to-back games against the Iowa Wild (Friday and Saturday), and Danielson registered an assist in each contest. He also had three shots in those games.
Overall, he’s having a good season. Collecting 24 points in 47 games is nothing to scoff at for an AHL rookie. Expectations for the center are undoubtedly higher than that, especially considering his final WHL season.
Split between the Brandon Wheat Kings and Portland Winterhawks, Danielson recorded 67 points in 54 games last year. It was his fourth year in the WHL.
The only way to go is up.
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