WCF - Vegas Golden Knights (1) vs. Dallas Stars (3) - Stars Win Series 4-1

[Itse]

I don't care how Vegas got where they are.

I'm just envious and not ashamed of it one bit. I hope Dallas kicks their butts.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

lol bull####.

####ing horse#### league handing an expansion team a contender right out of the gate. What a clown show.

You just watch when Seattle does the same goddamn thing. No building through the draft like every other team has to do. Get to build by stealing assets that every other team in the league has been collecting for years.

Should have named them the Vegas Pirates.

You didn’t think they had handed them a contender at the time, so how is it the NHL’s fault a random group of the 13th most valuable players across the league and some expendables turned out pretty good?

It’s not even that hard of a team to build. You don’t think the Oilers could sell off McDavid and Draisatl for a bunch of scrubs and draft picks and build a Vegas 2.0? Well, it’s the Oilers so of course they couldn’t but the point is that any team could have acquired any of those players for a modest price. Flames could trade Tkachuk, Gaudreau, and Monahan tomorrow for a haul of players like Vegas picked, and people would lose their minds.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Back on topic...

Dallas has really impressed me since they turned their series around against the Flames. It's like they flipped a switch that teams are always looking for in the playoffs. They're just tough to beat, across the board, at all positions.

I think Vegas has had two fairly easy opponents so far in Chicago and then Vancouver who probably wouldn't have pushed it as far as they did without unreal goaltending. Dallas is going to be a big test for them.

I think Dallas was also fortunate to not have to face the Avs top goalie. Grubauer didn't lose a game in the restart/post season and had incredible numbers. Hard to know if Dallas scores as much without facing substandard goaltending.

Basically, these are two good teams that are playing pretty well, but I'm still not sure who to favor. I'm going to say Vegas in 7, but it's really a toss up as far as I'm concerned.

[JohnnyB]

This should be a great series. Vegas hasn't faced such a tough forecheck or a team with so much size yet. Dallas has shown they were able to overcome a team with outstanding offensive power, but Vegas's attack is more distributed than Colorado's and is relentless.

I feel this series will come down to Khudobin. If he has a really strong series, I think Dallas has a good chance to take it, if not I think the Vegas offense will be too much for the Stars.

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by Itse

I don't care how Vegas got where they are.

I'm just envious and not ashamed of it one bit. I hope Dallas kicks their butts.

You're clearly not the only envious one. Lots of envy showing in this thread.

[vilzeh]

When Vegas built their team through those picks, most of the "NHL experts" out there said they will finish last & get around 20 wins in the season, oh well.

[OldSam]

Can't cheer for the goon squad. Go Vegas!

[Igottago]

Gotta think Vegas, although Dallas has somehow found a way to stay pretty scrappy. I just see Vegas having much more sustained quality of play based on the Vancouver series (which went way longer than it should have). Vegas in 6.

[monkeyman]

Does Reaves face supplemental discipline for his hit on Motte?

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

lol bull####.

####ing horse#### league handing an expansion team a contender right out of the gate. What a clown show.

You just watch when Seattle does the same goddamn thing. No building through the draft like every other team has to do. Get to build by stealing assets that every other team in the league has been collecting for years.

Should have named them the Vegas Pirates.

Lol you keep saying this but the fact of the matter is it’s not true.

The expansion draft rules helped but even at the time of the expansion draft people thought they’d be a lottery team.

The issue is some idiotic NHL GMs made stupid moves that allowed them to get some top line talent (Marchessault, Smith, Theodore) and stockpile picks (Columbus, NYI, WPG 1sts) that’s what made them good fast.

Teams should have just let them take their 13th best player, but instead they overthought it and gave up way more value to Vegas.

And Seattle will do the same thing because there are a lot of bad GMs in the NHL who always overvalue their own players too much, and they will overpay in other assets to protect that guy who’s probably average at best.

[Drake]

Knights in 7

[Vinny01]

Feels like Vegas and Tampa are on a collision course.

Have no problem with Dallas going all the way. We were beaten by the best

[PegCityFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Lol you keep saying this but the fact of the matter is it’s not true.

The expansion draft rules helped but even at the time of the expansion draft people thought they’d be a lottery team.

The issue is some idiotic NHL GMs made stupid moves that allowed them to get some top line talent (Marchessault, Smith, Theodore) and stockpile picks (Columbus, NYI, WPG 1sts) that’s what made them good fast.

Teams should have just let them take their 13th best player, but instead they overthought it and gave up way more value to Vegas.

And Seattle will do the same thing because there are a lot of bad GMs in the NHL who always overvalue their own players too much, and they will overpay in other assets to protect that guy who’s probably average at best.

Wpg only flipped picks with them but I agree. Everyone thought they would be a free space on the bingo card, who knew making a team of cast offs and draft picks could work? Reminds me of Billy Beans speech to David Justice in Moneyball.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

lol bull####.

####ing horse#### league handing an expansion team a contender right out of the gate. What a clown show.

You just watch when Seattle does the same goddamn thing. No building through the draft like every other team has to do. Get to build by stealing assets that every other team in the league has been collecting for years.

Should have named them the Vegas Pirates.

Not a chance IMO.

GM's simply wont be as worried about losing player X this time as they were last time. Lessons were learned with Vegas...hard ones.

I doubt you see more than a couple significant deals to bypass one guy and take another, unless it involves taking a significant salary dump....some of those will happen as cap room will be one huge asset that the Kraken can dangle.

[868904]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

You didn’t think they had handed them a contender at the time, so how is it the NHL’s fault a random group of the 13th most valuable players across the league and some expendables turned out pretty good?

It’s not even that hard of a team to build. You don’t think the Oilers could sell off McDavid and Draisatl for a bunch of scrubs and draft picks and build a Vegas 2.0? Well, it’s the Oilers so of course they couldn’t but the point is that any team could have acquired any of those players for a modest price. Flames could trade Tkachuk, Gaudreau, and Monahan tomorrow for a haul of players like Vegas picked, and people would lose their minds.

Yup, that initial roster was terrible and everyone panned the selections.

The key to the whole thing was they hired a great coach who got the team running on the right foot and built an identity, and they have carried on since then.

If only that coach were available to the Flames right now.

[Corral]

Ugh

Worst year possible for the final four to be dominated by southern US teams.

Looking forward to sportsnet updates on viewing numbers going forward. They’ll be ugly

[Hackey]

I'm glad Vegas is good. The more strong markets in the league the better for everyone. Its hard to get people to care about the team in good markets when the team is crap. I think the rules gave them the opportunity to be competitive and they really hit a home run. Seems highly unlikely we will see a repeat of this with Seattle so I dont think the rules are much of an issue.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I do wish there was more flexibility with the expansion rules than just the two options (7-3-1 or 8-1). I.e., in addition to those two, how about 6-2-2, or 3-5-2, for teams that want to cover two goalies - you're then giving up either your third best d-man or fourth best forward. It would just create a bit more variety in the types of players available to be drafted, while creating more potential for trades to be made to fit those molds.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Not a chance IMO.

GM's simply wont be as worried about losing player X this time as they were last time. Lessons were learned with Vegas...hard ones.

I doubt you see more than a couple significant deals to bypass one guy and take another, unless it involves taking a significant salary dump....some of those will happen as cap room will be one huge asset that the Kraken can dangle.

Yep. Any GM still working that got hoodwinked the first time will not likely let history repeat.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

And Seattle will do the same thing because there are a lot of bad GMs in the NHL who always overvalue their own players too much, and they will overpay in other assets to protect that guy who’s probably average at best.

See Exhibit A....Josh Manson.

Bob Murray ruined his franchise overnight with that trade. Which in a way gives me some pleasure because I loathed that Ducks team. On another hand...Shea Theodore should have been the Flames #22 pick in that 2013 Draft.

As for this series it should be interesting as the Stars who couldn't score for the life of them suddenly outran the Avalanche in a track meet series. Two teams that like to have the puck in this one so it hopefully will be a good one.