First off all things are possible through Geno. Jot that down.
He also wasn't dealing with a massive anchor skating behind him nearly every single game, things hadn't come fully to a head with Kessel and Sullivan, he was in a better place mentally, etc.
I'm not saying Malkin and Schultz don't play well together, they do. I'm honestly not even too sure how Malkin got involved in all this. I'm simply saying this team would benefit huge from another Daley-esque defenseman. I find it hard to believe that I'm all alone in seeing how much smoother the entire team operated with him doing his thing out there.
Last year wasn't the only year Geno had in Sully's system though. Hell, 17-18 was his best year since the lockout. Why did it happen then if Geno was playing without a part that's so crucial? Why didn't it come when the crucial part was there?
Why I'm asking these questions is because you're far from the only person who's high on how much a skater like Daley helped the blue line and I think this line of opinion is beginning to overstate what Daley did and understate what Schultz does. Your post about Geno knowing how crucial a guy like Daley is seemed a prime example so I used that as a jumping off point.
For me, based on how he actually played here and how often he was available and some of the results we've had since, I don't see how a Daley can be said to be crucial. He won the last two series in 15-16 without him and we did great in 16-17 regular season when he was a definite drag on the team and once we got over the Cup fatigue in 17-18, we were a great team without him.
Don't get me wrong, that sort of skating dman would be a great benefit, but the benefit is imo getting overstated. Apologies if I've read the word crucial as being a stronger endorsement than you meant.
