What does Vegas do differently than us?

[Clark4Ever]

GMs of other teams should feel embarrassed, not the league.

For the league I can’t imagine a better scenario. It’s been huge for the local market in Vegas and has actually given the national US sports media a mother reason to focus on the NHL. It’s a buzz generator

Yes, the GMs should feel embarrassed to an extent, but the NHL is accountable for revamping the expansion draft rules.

 

[ottomaddox]

I wasn't joking at all. If you don't think an expansion team finishing near the top of the standings and dominating every team they've faced in the playoffs is an embarrassment to the league, that's your prerogative.

Moving forward, for their sake, I hope the fans will hang in there if the team takes a step back or two.

A team that plays cohesively together with good team defense and a solid goaltender is no reflection on the league. These pillars of success are as old as the league itself.

As you can see from the Oilers recent history that no one is going to hand you a cup just because you won several lotteries.

 

[ottomaddox]

Yes, the GMs should feel embarrassed to an extent, but the NHL is accountable for revamping the expansion draft rules.

Why should they revamp the rules? Do you seriously think that the next expansion team will go to the cup finals in their first season too?!

I don't know why we should think that these current expansion guidelines are unfair for every team.

What did TORONTO lose in the expansion draft? Did it really affect us that much?

 

[Nithoniniel]

I wasn't joking at all. If you don't think an expansion team finishing near the top of the standings and dominating every team they've faced in the playoffs is an embarrassment to the league, that's your prerogative.

Moving forward, for their sake, I hope the fans will hang in there if the team takes a step back or two.

The league strives for parity, there's no better sign than this. What has happened is that a team unearthed hidden gems, exploited dumb moves by others, and created a very strong team for themselves. What's embarrassing about that? How is it reflecting badly on the league? I can definitely see embarrassment for a lot of GMs that look incompetent in comparison, but not the league.

Yes, the GMs should feel embarrassed to an extent, but the NHL is accountable for revamping the expansion draft rules.

There's nothing wrong with the expansion draft rules. They were not extremely harsh, but they were not exactly leaving teams forced to expose core players either. It asked them to identify what players were important to them, and the teams made a whole lot of subpar decisions. I'd say that they were very well crafted.

Nobody thought the expansion rules were too good for Vegas at the time. Pretty much nobody around here thought they could do more than perhaps challenge for playoffs at the start of the reason. The only one in media who gushed over them at all was Pierre McGuire, who said they had a lot of character guys and might duke it out for a playoff spot.

 

[Battle Lin]

man when your goalie is posting 1.68 and .947

all lines will look like 1st lines, and every d pair is gonna look like a number 1 pair

 

[ottomaddox]

man when your goalie is posting 1.68 and .947

all lines will look like 1st lines, and every d pair is gonna look like a number 1 pair

He's been good, but I am going to give them tons more credit than that. I used to see Patrick Roy carry a few bad Canadiens teams in his day, but that only got them so far.

 

[Joey Hoser]

Pretty much the epitome of "lightning in a bottle".

 

[Willchel Marlynder]

By NHL design...

I really don't think the expansion draft was designed to make expansion teams Stanley Cup contenders in one year. Judging by the pre season negative outlook, or heck judging by the mid season denial by people of Vegas, I don't think anyone expected this. Sure this may be a result of the expansion draft design. But the outcome we're seeing is not what the NHL had in mind when tweaking the rules. This outcome was not intended.

Exactly, but, it's not only our Leafs that should be embarrassed by Vegas!

Agreed. Florida might be the ones who are most embarrassed. I don't think Vegas gets this far without being gifted Marchessault and Smith.

 

[6ix]

They have a coach that doesn’t put 2 grinders with their best player. Seriously Babcock is a f***ing idiot. If he does this shit next year I hope Dubas fires this dinosaur.

 

[Pookie]

A team that plays cohesively together with good team defense and a solid goaltender is no reflection on the league. These pillars of success are as old as the league itself.

As you can see from the Oilers recent history that no one is going to hand you a cup just because you won several lotteries.

No but this is a reflection on the league:

“We have made that a point to (general managers that) they are going to be forced to expose better players (in an expansion draft)," deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Wednesday at the general manager meetings.

- March 16, 2016​

 

[Ignatius Reilly]

I really don't think the expansion draft was designed to make expansion teams Stanley Cup contenders in one year. Judging by the pre season negative outlook, or heck judging by the mid season denial by people of Vegas, I don't think anyone expected this. Sure this may be a result of the expansion draft design. But the outcome we're seeing is not what the NHL had in mind when tweaking the rules. This outcome was not intended.

I think it's a bit of both. NHL wanted a more competitive team right from the start to build an audience and interest. So they tweaked the rules.

They just didn't think it would end up quite like this. It would be very hard to predict how any changes would ultimately play out.

I don't think it's a big problem - it's a pretty cool story. Next year, they'll be back to business as usual, trying to stay at the top and build for the future at the same time.

 

[ottomaddox]

No but this is a reflection on the league:

“We have made that a point to (general managers that) they are going to be forced to expose better players (in an expansion draft)," deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Wednesday at the general manager meetings.

- March 16, 2016​

I didn't see a single outrageous "Side Deal" mentioned in that quote.

Here are the side deals:

FLA gave VGK Riley Smith in order to select Marchesault.

PIT gave VGK a 2nd to select M.A.F.

MIN give VGK Alex Touch so they would take Eric Hoala (and not Matt Dumba).

ANA gave VGK Shea Theodore so they would take Clayton Stoner

CBS gave VGK a 1st and a 2nd plus David Clarkson's contract to select William Karlsson.

 

[ottomaddox]

Also TOR never balked. VGK selected Branden Leipsic. No side deal was done. This had little to no affect on The Toronto Maple Leafs.

 

[Pi]

MARC Andre Fleury >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Frederik Andersen.

 

[Pookie]

Also TOR never balked. VGK selected Branden Leipsic. No side deal was done. This had little to no affect on The Toronto Maple Leafs.

I'm just focused on the fact that the NHL rewrote the rules with the clear intent, per Daly, to make better players available in order that Vegas could be more competitive than other expansion teams.

That plan has worked... maybe a little too well.

 

[Gary Nylund]

The league strives for parity, there's no better sign than this. What has happened is that a team unearthed hidden gems, exploited dumb moves by others, and created a very strong team for themselves. What's embarrassing about that? How is it reflecting badly on the league? I can definitely see embarrassment for a lot of GMs that look incompetent in comparison, but not the league.

There's nothing wrong with the expansion draft rules. They were not extremely harsh, but they were not exactly leaving teams forced to expose core players either. It asked them to identify what players were important to them, and the teams made a whole lot of subpar decisions. I'd say that they were very well crafted.

Nobody thought the expansion rules were too good for Vegas at the time. Pretty much nobody around here thought they could do more than perhaps challenge for playoffs at the start of the reason. The only one in media who gushed over them at all was Pierre McGuire, who said they had a lot of character guys and might duke it out for a playoff spot.

Agree with all this. Would only add that if MAF doesn't play as well as he did in the 1st round, Vegas is out in the 1st round and 99% of fans here are saying they knew all along that Vegas would get exposed in the playoffs.

Also TOR never balked. VGK selected Branden Leipsic. No side deal was done. This had little to no affect on The Toronto Maple Leafs.

It was just a matter of good timing for us that we were in no danger of losing anyone good the way most teams were. We won't be so lucky next time.

 

[Rielly4]

Marchessault, Karlsson became superstars. Neal, Perron, Smith were always good players capable of being key offensive contributors. Tuch was a good prospect, who was given up so that they would not take the highly touted Matt Dumba. Theodore, Schmitt, Miller are the backbones of that blueline and all can really skate and are heady. Even though there blueline really lacks superstar talent, they get it done by commite and Fleury absolutely holds the fort.

Gerrard Gallant may be the best coach in the NHL and he was amazing in Florida too before coming to Vegas.

Vegas was built to be a team with speed, but not only do they have speed...Since they have minimal young players they have strong forwards, this allows them to be strong on the wall which enables them to force turnovers on the forecheck. Also GG built there breakout around guys getting the puck on the wall inducing a pinch and making strong plays up the middle to transition with speed. There breakout is so good because guys are very strong on the wall and dont turn it over when huge guys like Myers and Byfuglien pinch down the wall.

 

[ottomaddox]

Agree with all this. Would only add that if MAF doesn't play as well as he did in the 1st round, Vegas is out in the 1st round and 99% of fans here are saying they knew all along that Vegas would get exposed in the playoffs.



It was just a matter of good timing for us that we were in no danger of losing anyone good the way most teams were. We won't be so lucky next time.

I don't believe that. The next expansion team will only be allowed to select 1 player from TOR. If we fall apart because someone selected (one of) a top 4 D, a 3rd/4th line forward, or a back up goalie then we probably don't deserve to be a playoff team.

 

[nsleaf]

I'd rather see them do as well as possible than finish dead last like most expansion teams do. To me that is more embarrassing to the league than them actually winning it all.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I don't believe that. The next expansion team will only be allowed to select 1 player from TOR. If we fall apart because someone selected (one of) a top 4 D, a 3rd/4th line forward, or a back up goalie then we probably don't deserve to be a playoff team.

LOL wut? Who said anything about falling apart? All I said was that next time, we will be in a position to lose someone a lot more valuable than Leipsic. Therefore we will have a difficult decision to make the same that most teams did in the last draft - who do we protect or do we make a deal with Seattle.

 

[ottomaddox]

LOL wut? Who said anything about falling apart? All I said was that next time, we will be in a position to lose someone a lot more valuable than Leipsic. Therefore we will have a difficult decision to make the same that most teams did in the last draft - who do we protect or do we make a deal with Seattle.

Despite my wording, my point is that it's just one player.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Despite my wording, my point is that it's just one player.

Which has no effect on my point whatsoever.

 

[thewave]

Vegas... Work hard, balanced team and Elite tending. We didn't get elite tending, not close and that's why we lost.

 

[ottomaddox]

Which has no effect on my point whatsoever.

If the draft were today who might that player be? How difficult will that decision be?

 

[Nineteen67]

#1 They very calmly flip the puck off the boards and glass out of their own end, which seems to work better than passing it to the other team’s D inside the zone, while the Leaf forwards are hanging out at the redline.