...Welcome to Corneria.

Given that smithing adds a flat damage increase and so do all enchant damage effects, this makes the fastest items available always the best items available for raw damage. (And also for triggering every other weapon enchantment I can think of.) Also the lower window of susceptibility. This means that daggers are pro, and so are swords since daggers don't benefit from one-handed, but all slower weapons are... not.

Is there any hidden benefit to these slower weapons I'm missing before I go on a crusade to make things better via modding?

slower generally equals higher chance to stagger

Mace Perks allow you to completely negate your opponent's armor rating I think.

The Mace and Axe perks do not add up to anything like the sword DPS. (Enemies only wear basic armor and don't get a skill multiplier.) The sword perk's a joke, but it's an even sicker joke because sword with no perk outDPSes Mace and Axe with perk.

Difference in stagger is nice, though.