Quote:
Originally Posted by Igottago
This makes no sense. If they win the cup they've earned it. The NHL didn't give Vegas some all star team. They have defied all the odds with great management, coaching, and players stepping up.
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Congratulations to Vegas if the win the cup, and full marks to those players, coaches, and management for doing what they needed to do to get the job done. No negativity whatsoever directed toward VGK or their fans. On that point we agree.
However, my frustration is with the NHL and the format with which it allowed Vegas to pick players. They got to hand pick a roster from basically the entire pool of players in the NHL except for 7 forwards, 3 defencemen, and a goalie from each team, so there were plenty of opportunities to pick quality players from deep teams.
Can we stop pretending that the Knights aren't an elite team with elite players? They are, without a doubt, an elite team with elite players. They are 5 wins away from being crowned the best team in the NHL. Look, every team that makes the playoffs has quality players, quality coaching, and plays extremely hard. To pretend that Vegas has a significant leg-up on the rest of the league in terms of effort, coaching, and team chemistry, is a bit naive I think. Every team that makes the playoffs has plenty of those things. The thing that ultimately separates the truly elite teams from the rest of the teams is talent. Vegas is oozing with talent. They got that talent by hand-picking it off the rosters of the rest of the NHL. Now they have (possibly) the best team in the NHL. It doesn't sit well with me and I don't see why it should.
And before you say well the NHL couldn't have foreseen this happening... well, it is their job to fully think through policies before they implement them. This expansion process was just plain unfair to the rest of the teams in the league.