Quote:
Originally Posted by bax
Man, you can’t say Vegas is built on depth and don’t have any superstar players. They are at the top of the league for star players. By a ton of models (Byron Bader’s model is the first that comes to mind) they had 6 players play at a “star” level this season. Fleury, Stone, Pietrangelo, Theodore, Pacioretty, and Marchessault.
They didn’t finish second in the league because of having Ryan Reaves and Keegan Kolesar on their roster. To say they don’t have stars is ridiculous.
Quality for quantity trades rarely work out. You can’t just look at point totals and say “look at the depth!” Remember when the flames went out and acquired a bunch of former 20 goal guys? Stains, Hagman, Jokinen, Tanguay, etc?
Depth is important but having star players is far more important (and more difficult to acquire)
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Without the depth the VGK establishing out of the draft they don't have the success to become a destination spot for these "star" players. I mean, you must be really dense to think that the on ice success of the GK wasn't the thing that drew the "stars" to Vegas, and the success was not a result of the depth the NHL expansion draft allowed the GKs to develop out of the gate. Without the player depth the VGK had right out of the gate, it would have been an expansion graveyard and no one in their right mind would have accepted a trade there, or signed there as a free agent. It was the organizational depth afforded out of the gate that made the VGK a success, nothing more. Without all those quality players and draft picks given to them by teams wanting to protect assets, that team would have been the Washington Capitals all over again. The $500M expansion fee made it possible for quality players to be available and the GKs a formidable squad right out of the gate.