Patience may be a virtue, but it’s not always a popular sentiment in a win-now, tweet-fast world.
When the burden and high expectations that go with being chosen second overall in the 2020 NHL draft weren’t sitting comfortably on the broad shoulders of 6-foot-5, 225-pound Quinton Byfield, he was condemned by some fans as a bust. At 19.
No matter that his progress with the Kings was slowed by a fractured left ankle in October 2021, or that he was in COVID protocol two months later, or that he played last season with two sprained wrists.