Via Red Wings Prospects on Twitter, Grand Rapids Griffins website writer Mark Newman posted a profile of Red Wings prospect Nate Danielson, and the AHL’s website is spotlighting Newman’s article:
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky, and as a prospect in the Detroit Red Wings organization’s galaxy of potential stars, Grand Rapids Griffins center Nate Danielson is as serious as they come.
At the age of 20, the Red Deer, Alta., native is focused on proving the Red Wings made the right decision by selecting him with the ninth overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.
Soft-spoken and endearingly earnest, Danielson has a clarity of purpose beyond his years. While others of his generation might act like they are peering out of the wrong end of the telescope, Danielson seems fixated on stuff that might someday propel him to the NHL, if not outright stardom.
Take, for example, his reading material. After seeing videos of ultra-endurance athlete David Goggins, Danielson picked up his memoir Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds. It tells the story of how Goggins overcame poverty, prejudice and physical abuse to become the only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, an Army Ranger and an Air Force tactical air control party officer.
“He went through some extreme circumstances, and I felt like the whole book was about if you really put your mind to something, you’re going to be able to do it,” Danielson explained. “It’s kind of what I want to do. I want to be a hockey player and so that’s what I focus on.”
