Vegas has a lot of toys to play with in regards to draft picks. They still have a 2nd rounder this year, plus three 3rd rounders they can use to move up if they want to. That’s in addition to the three 2nd rounders they have next year and both of their 1st rounders for 2019 and 2020. Suzuki is really good, but he also represents the third of three first rounders they had two drafts ago.
Draft picks are valuable insofar as they are scarce. Vegas isn’t suffering from a scarcity problem in their futures department, and they’ve done well attracting free agent signees (e.g. Zach Whitecloud) as well. They have an advantage over most other teams because they have (and have had since the expansion draft) more ammunition than any team usually has any hope of ever stockpiling. It’s also worth remembering that (1) all of those prospects have to play somewhere eventually, (2) each team only gets 50 contract spots, and (3) Chicago hates playing development players.
Vegas gave up too much to get Tatar in the first place, but given that they almost made the Cup despite that (not because... Tatar had hardly anything to do with their run), you can look past it. They also lost James Neal and David Perron to free agency this year, and won’t have Nate Schmidt for the first 20 games. Patches helps fill those gaps and then some. And I don’t really see their inventory of futures as being weak -again- despite these two big payments.
I think Vegas just occupies a weird, unique space in the market right now that gives them certain advantages. It just doesn’t look like what we’re used to. It’s like they’re paying for dinner with $2 bills: It looks weird and crazy to us (gotta hang onto those Jeffersons), but we don’t realize they have a whole safe full of them at home.
That’s a good pickup for Vegas, and it’s even better for Paciorettt to get the hell out of Montreal. He and Stastny will be fun to watch together.
