NHL Thread

[elevated_u2_fan]

So if Vegas wins the cup the NHL should just fold, right?

[LuckyNumber7]

The expansion draft definitely supported them, but let’s not pretend like the Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators aren’t to blame in large for this.

#2 leading scorer Jonathan Marchessault was given practically for free (a 30g scorer the year prior and contract controlled) because the morons running the Panthers FO thought Riley Smith’s contract made him worthless (@5million) and that justified trading a future star to shed salary, only to watch Smith rebound from an off year (he actually rebounded from a shit coach who was responsible for a shit season and ultimately for the trades, not an off year). So, Smith and Marchy had nothing to do with the expansion. Oh, not to mention Smith’s rut was due to, well, Florida’s GM classlessly during the good coach and taking his job. Who’s that coach you say? None other than Vegas’s own Gerard Gallant, who nobody wanted out of Florida but some greedy know-nothing who somehow found his way into a position of power.


James Neal also had very little to do with the expansion draft. Nashville couldn’t afford him, and figured that was the best way to handle it.

Vegas is only as good as they are because teams can’t afford to keep their players. And because some teams are run by morons.

[LuckyNumber7]

Also, the same Marchessault and Smith who are leading the Vegas Golden Knights in scoring throughout this playoff run.

For FREE.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Ovi

[LuckyNumber7]

Must be throwing a no-no with a post like that.

[DaveC]

Originally Posted by DaveC

NSH 4 - 0 SJ
TBL 4 - 2 WAS

NSH 2 - 4 TBL

3 of the final 4, i got close enough.

go caps.

vegas is a really cool historic hockey story but i really want to see ovechkin finally lift the cup.

[LuckyNumber7]

2 of the final 4 ya lyin ted.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

[DaveC]

Originally Posted by LuckyNumber7

2 of the final 4 ya lyin ted.

fake news

[Hewson]

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

Aaaah, so you finally revealed to us your new job at the arena.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Originally Posted by Hewson

Aaaah, so you finally revealed to us your new job at the arena.

Guilty as charged

 

not really... or am I?

 

no, I'm not

[PhilsFan]

In addition to the things outlined above, the ascent of Wild Bill was a big part of their success this year.

[DaveC]

this article aged well...

https://deadspin.com/wow-the-golden-...bad-1796327043

Wow The Golden Knights Are Going To Be Bad

Barry Petchesky
6/22/17 10:43am
Filed to: VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS

There are two schools of thought when compiling an expansion team. One is to go get the very best players available, believing that the best way to build a foundation for a team and a fanbase is to be as competitive as you can and give fans a reason to get and stay invested. Another is to be as awful as you possibly can. The Vegas Golden Knights correctly subscribe to the latter.

Here’s the roster, pending the inevitable trades over the next days and weeks:

With the obvious caveat that the roster is going to change between now and opening night—and the subcaveat that it’ll be the decent players who are most likely to be traded, making the roster even weaker—that is a bad, bad team.

Some forwards are going to have OK numbers only because someone has to score goals, but this team isn’t going to have more than a dozen regulation wins.

The first line—likely Perron and Neal centered by KHL signee Vadim Shipachyov—is fine. After that you get two lines of guys who would be third- or fourth-liners on better teams. The blueline pairings, currently led by Methot and Emelin, are a little better, but this is still a bunch of fourth defensemen, and they’re going to get torn up by the league’s better forwards. (Grimly, Methot and Emelin are expected to be among the first Golden Knights to be flipped in trades as soon as today.) Fleury is a good, capable starter, but it’s going to be a long year.

Which is fine! This team’s not built to win. GM George McPhee isn’t an idiot. He could have maybe assembled a borderline playoff team if he had taken the best available players, but expensive mediocrity is not a sustainable strategy. Much better to do what McPhee did, and accept picks in exchange for agreeing not to take actual useful players. That’s how the Golden Knights have three top-15 picks in this weekend’s entry draft, and obtained 10 picks over the next four drafts in addition to their own (which should be high). No wonder a rival GM said “I feel like I was just held hostage for the last two weeks.”

Here’s a fun party game: How many of these players will be with this franchise the first time it makes the playoffs? Take a look at the contract situations. The Golden Knights are stocked with guys with one year left on their deals, and even a pair of current UFAs. There are just five players signed for more than two seasons, and one of them is David Clarkson, who’s never going to play hockey again but was acquired just so Vegas could reach the salary floor. Everyone here is here to be moved, or to be allowed to leave, so McPhee can build the roster from the ground up. Recent expansion teams have taken five or six years before their first playoff appearance, so the odds are strong that not more than a couple names on the above list will still be here when the team is good. It almost feels silly to care about who was selected last night as anything more than trivia. (OK, I lied, this party game isn’t fun at all.)

What’s odd to me is how many people who should and maybe do know better are blowing smoke up your ass and saying this team might be good now. You’d expect that from owner Bill Foley, who called it a “great team,” and from head coach Gerard Gallant, who called it “a pretty impressive group.” But from other hockey people, like Nashville GM David Poile, who said “this is by far the best expansion team ever”? Or TSN analyst Dave Poulin, who said this team can contend for the playoffs right now? Or Frank Seravalli, whose gushing column anoints McPhee as the favorite for GM of the Year?

This team is going to be bad, potentially historically so. They’ll be bad for a few years. They won’t even be enjoyable to watch once the novelty of new uniforms wears off, not unless you consider 4-1 losses enjoyable. But this is the plan. They have many, many draft picks, and as much cap space as anyone, and seemingly the go-ahead from the owner to be patient. For now, being bad doesn’t matter, which is not a bad situation to be in.

[Hewson]

Historically bad.

[LuckyNumber7]

Bad to the bone

[LuckyNumber7]

Dunno why anyone still opens up a deadspin article tbh.

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Originally Posted by LuckyNumber7

Dunno why anyone still opens up a deadspin article tbh.

I still do out of habit, but mostly just deride how awful it's become since the Hulk dropped the big leg on them

[DaveC]

Originally Posted by LuckyNumber7

Dunno why anyone still opens up a deadspin article tbh.

i found it via a link in a finals preview article on the guardian (they were mocking it too).

Originally Posted by Headache in a Suitcase

I still do out of habit, but mostly just deride how awful it's become since the Hulk dropped the big leg on them

wasn't that gawker that went under because of the hulk lawsuit?

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Originally Posted by DaveC

i found it via a link in a finals preview article on the guardian (they were mocking it too).



wasn't that gawker that went under because of the hulk lawsuit?

Gawker owned Deadspin you silly goose

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Woah