IMO, at least thus far everything has gone right for VGK, both by design and happenstance. They drafted a bunch of guys who would be considered reclamation projects or disappointing prospects who might still be on the cusp of being good. Lots of teams pick up guys like Karlsson thinking they can turn it around or blossom and it only works out a few times (look at, say Edmonton trading for Strome, or Calgary taking Setoguchi). But for VKG they pretty much all worked out. The shooting happened, to galvanize the team. Gallant became available through a dumb decision- a perfect coach for them. Fleury, who's been a really good goalie, but not elite IMO, had a career season. Any backup goalie can have a stretch of really good games (see Johnson, Chad). And for VKG, each and every one of their several backups did just that. For whatever reason, this team just came together really well.
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