As technically a veteran player (regression, ewwww), Daryl would be one to try and dispense a bit of wisdom, advice, experience even. 

Mostly, no matter how much you feel like you may have dropped the ball (well, puck I guess in this case) early in your career, if you show a willingness to work hard, earn your place on the roster, you can get there. This is from personal experience. As a young player in the J, Daryl was a late joiner, being an early UDFA pick up for St Louis, he was already behind his draft classmates. He worked hard,  both on the ice and in the locker room, to show that he had what it takes, and was drafted surprisingly high by Seattle. My own IRL issues caused an IA spell. When I returned, Daryl had been overtaken by players from the following draft class and didn’t have an SHL contract. He showed his willingness to work hard and try and recover some of the ground he lost, earning a new contract with Seattle, graduating to the SHL, being a decent enough defenseman (until last season anyway), and even being named an alternate captain for the Argonauts! If you put your mind to it, you can do anything!