On a side note, I would just like to say taht the NHL has gotten exactly what it wanted here. I know a lot of people like to hate on Bettman, but let's assess the Vegas siuation here.
1) The NHL was able to charge a $500M expansion fee. HUGE win for the owners.
2) In order to entice that, Bettman offered Vegas a 'better' expansion deal. By reducing the amount of players that each team could protect, the idea was that there would be some decent players available to Vegas. Turns out there were. Vegas wins big.
3) Typically, new expansion teams suck for years before they can become competitive. If a team could get a better jump out of the gate, it should help the team, the fans, and the league. It appears that this will in fact happen, so that's a win for all those groups.
4) Parity. The league has worked very hard to achieve more parity, making the vast majority of games competitive. By stocking Vegas so well here, they should be much more competitive than a typical expansion team has been. Another win for the league.
From a 40,000 foot perspective, this expansion has been an absolute homerun for Bettman, the league, Vegas, and (hopefully) their fans.
Edit: sorry, not the right thread for this
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