We hear a lot about the value of playoff games for young players, but I’ve always been skeptical of it. How much insight and experience can one truly gain from what is usually for an up-and-coming team a very small sample of games?
Well, turns out, for such a Game 7 setting, the answer is probably a lot.
I have no doubt that Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi grew from the experience. Because, wow, what a masterclass. What a complete display of team buy-in, team identity, team strategy, an almost perfect execution from start to finish of a hyper-conservative, hyper-effective plan.