Vegas Golden Knights

Flowah

Registered User
Nov 30, 2009
10,249
547
Regardless of what they tried to do (is it on record that they
tried to be bad? I think they tried to assemble the best group of players possible) I have 2 takeaways:

1) You don't need to tank to be competitive/a top team in the NHL

2) There is a lot of undervalued talent out there
1. They also have an elevated PDO. Tied for 7th highest in the league.

2. They're in the Pacific. Doesn't that mean they play the bad teams like Arizona, Edmonton, Vancouver a lot? Ducks were hot garbage for a while too with so many of their key players down.

They're definitely playing well but I think they're overperforming slightly. I definitely don't think they're #1 in the league in terms of their team strength.

Vegas basically did what a lot of tanking teams would want to do anyway. They started with a clean slate. No bad contracts kneecapping their flexibility. Lots of teams, because of their cap situation or just because the expansion draft rules, had to expose good players. Fleury, Neal, Smith are some good players.
 

Frk It

Mo Seider Less Problems
Jul 27, 2010
36,198
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I don't entirely, disagree here. I would say their goal was asset maximization rather than "finishing with xx points/standings". But building the best asset pool possible mostly involves taking the best players available (with a few exceptions) and it's not like they have shipped out a bunch of guys. As a result they are more or less playing with the best team they could acquire.


I also don't entirely disagree about them "playing above expectations" either. But I think that goes to show that the top and bottom of the NHL are closer than many would like to believe. Which (IMO) further devalues the concept of a full blown tank.

Yeah, at forward they handled it pretty smartly and got some undervalued guys. I think they really could have built a much better defense if they wanted, but somehow that group is working. I have no clue how.

There's definitely a good amount of parity in the league. I actually don't think there have even been that many teams that outright tanked though, personally. On the flip side, I think sometimes you have to let yourself "fall out of purgatory". Calgary started to turn it around when they did that, IMO. Kind of a fine line between doing that and tanking, though.
 
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SirloinUB

Registered User
Aug 20, 2010
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1. They also have an elevated PDO. Tied for 7th highest in the league.

2. They're in the Pacific. Doesn't that mean they play the bad teams like Arizona, Edmonton, Vancouver a lot? Ducks were hot garbage for a while too with so many of their key players down.

They're definitely playing well but I think they're overperforming slightly. I definitely don't think they're #1 in the league in terms of their team strength.

Vegas basically did what a lot of tanking teams would want to do anyway. They started with a clean slate. No bad contracts kneecapping their flexibility. Lots of teams, because of their cap situation or just because the expansion draft rules, had to expose good players. Fleury, Neal, Smith are some good players.

I do agree that there is a level of over achieving but they are 4-1-1 against the teams you listed and they lost to the Red Wings. So it's not like they made it to the top by beating up on basement dwellers.
 

Obe2kenobe

Registered User
Mar 23, 2014
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What Vegas has done so far is incredible. I keep expecting them to come back down to earth but they're 46 games into the season and are now tops in the league. Unreal, for guys that are old enough to remember Ottawa and how bad they were when they first came into the league. It will be interesting to see if they carry this success into the rest of the season and the playoffs.
 

Goalie guy

Registered User
Jul 8, 2011
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Taylor MI
ast thing this team needs is a coach that make them overachieve in the regular season. Vegas isn't going to do anything in the playoffs.
What makes you think that? You think they are peaking now? you put those players in the play offs with a even little bit of a thought they can do something and watch out. Now the wheels could fall off as well. But I don't know man something is just saying they shake a lot of teams up this year.
 

Henkka

Registered User
Jan 31, 2004
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Tampere, Finland
Vegas is 5th best team at West on road games winning percentage. Imo that tells more about their real level.

At home they currently could have some advantage of this Vegas flu. I don't think they are anyhow the best team, but they are better than I ever expected.

When watching the games, they look realgud. I think they could win one or two playoff series but then the run will end.
 

Run the Jewels

Make Detroit Great Again
Jun 22, 2006
13,817
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Last thing this team needs is a coach that make them overachieve in the regular season. Vegas isn't going to do anything in the playoffs.

I would have been fine with Gallant. There aren’t that many really good coaches and he seems to be one of the few. The tough thing would be if Holland is retiring would Gallant want to deal with that situation all over again? Hopefully after an actual rebuild we can make a run at him, I think he’ll have a long, successful career as an NHL coach.
 
Sep 28, 2017
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People keep saying they got a good deal in the expansion draft. I agree, but they are still getting castoffs from other teams for the most part.

The fact they're doing so well is incredible.
 

Dotter

THE ATHLETIC IS GARBAGE
Jul 2, 2014
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The data goes both ways.

Vegas, Boston, , St Louis, SJ, Dallas, Minnesota, Calgary, Nashville and Columbus are all sitting top 15 in the NHL without blowing it up. For clarity on what I mean, None of these organizations have torn their teams apart to suck on purpose.

Posted for truth. Everyone thinks the only way is to try and lose; "fail for Nail" was the biggest slogan not too long ago. That team is still "failing" for a new "Nail"... probably not on purpose anymore.

Tanking is a very fine line you likely don't want to fall in to. Though having good picks no doubt does help bring talent. Vegas is proving you need more than just...........talent.

That said, I'd be happy if Detroit gets a top 5 pick. I think they have the depth vets to keep them from falling into that black hole with Helm, Abdelkader, Daley, Ericsson, Glendening and etc...
 

lilidk

Registered User
Mar 4, 2008
9,588
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Vegas is bunch of 3rd liners working hard , skating fast , playing any situation . Have no idea why they need one dimensional player like Tatar . No one believe in their success, but they prove everybody wrong . Imagine if we have team full of Luke Glendening, we wouldn't be drafting at 6.
 

Flowah

Registered User
Nov 30, 2009
10,249
547
Vegas is bunch of 3rd liners working hard , skating fast , playing any situation . Have no idea why they need one dimensional player like Tatar . No one believe in their success, but they prove everybody wrong . Imagine if we have team full of Luke Glendening, we wouldn't be drafting at 6.
C'mon. I didn't think they had any elite super stars but calling them a bunch of 3rd liners is a bit much.

James Neal, Reilly Smith, Marchessault have been putting up at least top6 numbers before Vegas. ~40-50 points a season is 1st line winger numbers for some teams.

Fleury is an unbelievable goalie as we are seeing. Everyone said he was their star piece going forward and that's been true.
 
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izlez

We need more toe-drags/60
Feb 28, 2012
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Maybe it's just my perception, and he HAS been good, but it really bothers me how much people are putting their success on Marc-Andre Fleury

They had a combined 38 games played by:
Malcolm Subban
Maxime Legace
Oscar Dansk
Dylan Ferguson

That's the type of thing that could cripple just about any team and they hardly faltered, if at all. What they have done this year is just amazing
 

Flowah

Registered User
Nov 30, 2009
10,249
547
Maybe it's just my perception, and he HAS been good, but it really bothers me how much people are putting their success on Marc-Andre Fleury

They had a combined 38 games played by:
Malcolm Subban
Maxime Legace
Oscar Dansk
Dylan Ferguson

That's the type of thing that could cripple just about any team and they hardly faltered, if at all. What they have done this year is just amazing
No doubt their team really held it together while they were going through their goalie merry go round.

But in these playoffs it's been clear to me how much they lean on him.

Also. In his career before VGK he earned .592 P%. His last 3 seasons with Pittsburgh he got .613 P%. With VGK he's earned .674 P%. And I don't think it was the 2x, repeating Stanley Cup Champions dragging down those numbers in Pittsburgh compared to Vegas. The other goalies that you listed combined for .547 P%. That would have given Vegas 90 points on the season. They miss the playoffs.

I don't know what happened to him over the season but he's just gone insane.
 
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TheMoreYouKnow

Registered User
May 3, 2007
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Leicester City won the Premier League in a non-capped environment with a huge gap in talent between the haves and have-nots. What Vegas is accomplishing isn't quite as miraculous due to the salary cap and an expansion draft with favorable rules, but it's still one of those stories. Leicester City was a fluke and Vegas will probably stay one too.
 

Oddbob

Registered User
Jan 21, 2016
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Regardless whether they win it all or get bounced in the WCF, I am sticking to my thought ever since this whole hot season started, they are one hit wonder, where everything this season has worked for them and everything just came together. I think next year, is going to be a huge dose of reality of where they really sit talent wise, and will translate in the standings.
 

njx9

Registered User
Feb 1, 2016
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I don't think they'll run 1st in the West half the season, but unless they let everyone go in the offseason, it's hard to imagine they'll really be that much worse. The NHL, rightly, wanted them to be competitive, and I think they engineered that perfectly.
 

PelagicJoe

Registered User
Mar 20, 2012
2,130
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St. Louis, MO
Leicester City won the Premier League in a non-capped environment with a huge gap in talent between the haves and have-nots. What Vegas is accomplishing isn't quite as miraculous due to the salary cap and an expansion draft with favorable rules, but it's still one of those stories. Leicester City was a fluke and Vegas will probably stay one too.

I am inclined to agree with you. I predict Vegas will not be as good next season. They remind me of that first L.A. Kings team that came out of nowhere and got lucky on that first cup run they had.
 

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