Vegas made out like bandits. Scored 1st round picks from the Jackets and Islanders, then swapped firsts with the Jets to move up 11 places.
And now they have a team that might actually be a contender....
Crazy
The crazy thing is that the Knights made all kinds of deals not to take players in exchange for picks. Remember, people were pissed that even though the Knights were given the opportunity to draft a pretty good team, after all the wheeling and dealing they ended up with a weak roster, and instead turned their assets and leverage into picks. McPhee took a lot of flak for going against the spirit of the generous expansion rules.
The fact the Knights took a long-term approach to the expansion draft, stockpiled a tremendous collection of prospects and picks, and are still icing the best expansion team ever is remarkable.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
Last edited by CliffFletcher; 01-30-2018 at 02:36 PM.
The crazy thing is that the Knights made all kinds of deals not to take players in exchange for picks. Remember, people were pissed that even though the Knights were given the opportunity to draft a pretty good team, after all the wheeling and dealing they ended up with a weak roster, and instead turned their assets and leverage into picks. McPhee took a lot of flak for going against the spirit of the generous expansion rules.
The fact the Knights took a long-term approach to the expansion draft, stockpiled a tremendous collection of prospects and picks, and are still icing the best expansion team ever is remarkable.
There's a bit of luck involved though as I don't think in their wildest dreams they felt their opening night roster was capable of what they have accomplished to date. While they will likely host a playoff series I feel it's only a matter of time until the clock strikes 12 for them whether it be late this season or early next season.
There's a bit of luck involved though as I don't think in their wildest dreams they felt their opening night roster was capable of what they have accomplished to date. While they will likely host a playoff series I feel it's only a matter of time until the clock strikes 12 for them whether it be late this season or early next season.
They will finish with the best regular season result for any expansion team. What I wonder is if they can go deep in the POs as soon as Florida (for one year) or NYI (for many years including the dynasty) did.
EVERY SINGLE TIME... Gaudreau gets the pass back in the neutral zone and tries to carry it in. You would think that they have 2-3 different options?? Maybe a set play with a dump-in or surprise the other team and pass it to someone other than Gaudreau.
It's just really frustrating to see.
The biggest downfall of our PP is soft passes that get easily picked off. It happens all the time and drives me bananas. If these guys start making crisp passes instead of giving it away it would go miles.
I was going to let this slide but it's flat out wrong. The last time they showed up with some energy? How about last game? The game where they completely dominated the Oilers and had a 2-0 lead after the 1st period.
The starting the game unprepared narrative when they've had the lead in 4 straight games is silly. Now, turning on cruise control and blowing leads is a valid criticism of their play as of late.
edit: They've actually scored first in the last 5, 8 of the last 9 and 10 of the last 13 since Christmas.
Except that who scored first is not a valid metric at all. One team can dominate the entire period but fail to score while the other team scores on one of their few chances.
Maybe I wasn't being specific enough, but my post was referring more to situations when the team has had a few days rest.
A couple of months ago I was looking at GG teams' record (Dallas and CGY) after the team(s) had 3+ days of rest, and his record wasn't very good. I can't remember the exact numbers but they were well below .500.
There's a bit of luck involved though as I don't think in their wildest dreams they felt their opening night roster was capable of what they have accomplished to date. While they will likely host a playoff series I feel it's only a matter of time until the clock strikes 12 for them whether it be late this season or early next season.
I've been waiting (along with the rest of hockey fans) for the team to hit the wall and start falling...and we are still waiting.
Now it could possibly happen down the road. But at some point, you just have to consider that they have probably the best coaching in the league, unreal chemistry, and a desire to play together and win after being looked at as castaways.
Never ever doubt the power of chemistry. IMO it triumphs over even elite top end skill. A group of players that is playing for each other with a coach who has his own story of being a castaway...that is pretty powerful stuff.
And while this might sound horrible to say, I really believe the terrible shooting event at Mandalay Bay really brought the team together to start the season. Vegas strong. Again it sounds horrible, but it gave the team something to rally around and something to play for.
You can't really pick a better team for a Cinderella story then the VGK. How cool would it be to see a 1st year expansion team go on a deep run. I don't think you'll find a hockey fan anywhere rooting against them.
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