Do you think Vegas Repeats?

[hangman005]

We haven't had a poll in a while. Last season and this season are showing a lot of similarities so just curious as to where y'all think we end up.

Seattle has 2 games in hand and is 2 points behind.
LA is 2 points behind, but we have the game in hand,
Calgary and Edmonton are 7 points back with the same number of games played.

Last 10's:
Vegas 5-4-1
Seattle 8-2-0
LA 6-3-1
Edmonton 6-3-1
Calgary 5-3-2

I've said it earlier, but I feel Vegas record has more been a reflection of how bad the West in general has been than a reflection of how well Vegas have played. Taking periods of games off at a time, sitting on leads, hell lately we haven't been getting leads to sit on. We have very players willing to put the hard work to get into the tough areas, heck I'd say at all really. Now throwing injury after injury into the mix, it doesn't bode well, and I honestly can't say we've improved in the areas we've needed to improve in. Seattle are due to cool off a bit. But I'm not seeing them drop completely off, LA just needs to stay the course, and if Edmonton and Calgary can find a little more consistency in their game while we half ass our way through, we could be in deep trouble.

Click to read more...

 

[The Duck Knight]

If they can get reasonably healthy (Theo and Stone back) they'll get in and probably get to the WCF if they can avoid Colorado in the 1st round. They aren't winning a Cup with this roster construction though. They need 1 if not 2 net front forwards to play in the top 9.

 

[azvgk]

Right now our bottom 6 is awful and we lack a sniper. I'm not all that impressed with the coaching either. Can somebody tell Nic Roy (who is a good player) to go to the front of the net and to not hold onto the puck so long? Can they work on their awful passing?? Can we start to hold on to our draft choices and develop some young kids instead of looking for the next shiny new toy??

 

[hangman005]

If they can get reasonably healthy (Theo and Stone back) they'll get in and probably get to the WCF if they can avoid Colorado in the 1st round. They aren't winning a Cup with this roster construction though. They need 1 if not 2 net front forwards to play in the top 9.

I'm definitely less confident in that, sure it's possible but I guess it depends which Vegas shows up that series. Agree with you on the roster construction and I'd throw leadership in there too.

Right now our bottom 6 is awful and we lack a sniper. I'm not all that impressed with the coaching either. Can somebody tell Nic Roy (who is a good player) to go to the front of the net and to not hold onto the puck so long? Can they work on their awful passing?? Can we start to hold on to our draft choices and develop some young kids instead of looking for the next shiny new toy??

When William Carrier is your best bottom 6 player, you have problems. I love Carrier, I love what he brings and I'm happy he's finally getting rewarded for it, but we need better plays than him being the best, 2nd best and third best players in the bottom 6.

 

[The Duck Knight]

Right now our bottom 6 is awful and we lack a sniper. I'm not all that impressed with the coaching either. Can somebody tell Nic Roy (who is a good player) to go to the front of the net and to not hold onto the puck so long? Can they work on their awful passing?? Can we start to hold on to our draft choices and develop some young kids instead of looking for the next shiny new toy??

Holding onto draft picks is the last thing this team needs to do at this point. They haven't been able to find and develop talent with the picks they've had. Late 1sts and 2nds are pointless for a team that has our current roster makeup and isn't able to develop forwards. They have no choice but to continue going all in at least for the duration of the Stephenson/Theo/Eichel contracts. You can't build for the future without high 1sts and this team is way too good to get those for the next few years.

 

[azvgk]

Holding onto draft picks is the last thing this team needs to do at this point. They haven't been able to find and develop talent with the picks they've had. Late 1sts and 2nds are pointless for a team that has our current roster makeup and isn't able to develop forwards. They have no choice but to continue going all in at least for the duration of the Stephenson/Theo/Eichel contracts. You can't build for the future without high 1sts and this team is way too good to get those for the next few years.

Disagree - Vegas will always be a destination for free agents, but unless we start developing some players our bottom 6 will continue to be awful. You need some young players on ELC's in today's NHL to balance out the more expensive high end players.

 

[The Duck Knight]

Disagree - Vegas will always be a destination for free agents, but unless we start developing some players our bottom 6 will continue to be awful. You need some young players on ELC's in today's NHL to balance out the more expensive high end players.

I don't disagree that they need those kinds of players, but they need them now and yesterday, not 3 or 4 years from now. Guys they pick this year won't even sniff the NHL until after the window is closed. They've had 6 years of draft picks now and the best forward they've developed is Cotter. Unless something changes behind the scenes that isn't going to change where they'll be picking. They need to maximize the current window where they have guys on value contracts like Stephenson and Theodore.

 

[Vegan Knight]

Disagree - Vegas will always be a destination for free agents, but unless we start developing some players our bottom 6 will continue to be awful. You need some young players on ELC's in today's NHL to balance out the more expensive high end players.

Recent Cup winners went out and built third lines with trades. Our weakness is not bottom six, it's third line specifically. HBK line, Tampa's 1st round picks on Coleman/Goodrow/Paul, St. Louis built a lot of their forward group that year through free agency.

We're already all in. Any first rounder we pick will probably not see the ice the next two years.

Two years after this offseason Marchessault and Smith are probably gone, Stone and Stephenson are two years older and slower (Stone's back is worrying and Stephenson's game is built around speed which once he loses a step can easily see a decline, and he will need a contract after next year) Pietrangelo will have two more years of major wear and tear on top of being two years older.

Theodore will only have a year left, Eichel will have two, Thompson and Hague will have contracts that need to be negotiated. Waiting for future draft picks to hopefully become useful middle sixers doesn't seem like the move for us right now.

I can see the reasoning that forwards already in the system (Sapovaliv, Brabanec, Dean, Brisson, Morozov, Dorofeyev) are off limits in a trade but trading our first rounder, someone from the back end like Cormier and players to balance salary for help now (a top six forward and goaltender to push Thompson) seems very possible.

The West is up for grabs and we are right there in it, I can't see them walking away from probably one of the best remaining opportunities we are likely to have.

 

[azvgk]

Recent Cup winners went out and built third lines with trades. Our weakness is not bottom six, it's third line specifically. HBK line, Tampa's 1st round picks on Coleman/Goodrow/Paul, St. Louis built a lot of their forward group that year through free agency.

We're already all in. Any first rounder we pick will probably not see the ice the next two years.

Two years after this offseason Marchessault and Smith are probably gone, Stone and Stephenson are two years older and slower (Stone's back is worrying and Stephenson's game is built around speed which once he loses a step can easily see a decline, and he will need a contract after next year) Pietrangelo will have two more years of major wear and tear on top of being two years older.

Theodore will only have a year left, Eichel will have two, Thompson and Hague will have contracts that need to be negotiated. Waiting for future draft picks to hopefully become useful middle sixers doesn't seem like the move for us right now.

I can see the reasoning that forwards already in the system (Sapovaliv, Brabanec, Dean, Brisson, Morozov, Dorofeyev) are off limits in a trade but trading our first rounder, someone from the back end like Cormier and players to balance salary for help now (a top six forward and goaltender to push Thompson) seems very possible.

The West is up for grabs and we are right there in it, I can't see them walking away from probably one of the best remaining opportunities we are likely to have.

In two more years after this one, Eicjel will be 28, as will Theo. Hague can be replaced, by that time Miromanov will be at least his equal if not more. We can always attract free agents. The idea that we're "all in" for this year and then we'll suck in a year or two isn't how you build a powerhouse.

Recent Cup winners went out and built third lines with trades. Our weakness is not bottom six, it's third line specifically. HBK line, Tampa's 1st round picks on Coleman/Goodrow/Paul, St. Louis built a lot of their forward group that year through free agency.

We're already all in. Any first rounder we pick will probably not see the ice the next two years.

Two years after this offseason Marchessault and Smith are probably gone, Stone and Stephenson are two years older and slower (Stone's back is worrying and Stephenson's game is built around speed which once he loses a step can easily see a decline, and he will need a contract after next year) Pietrangelo will have two more years of major wear and tear on top of being two years older.

Theodore will only have a year left, Eichel will have two, Thompson and Hague will have contracts that need to be negotiated. Waiting for future draft picks to hopefully become useful middle sixers doesn't seem like the move for us right now.

I can see the reasoning that forwards already in the system (Sapovaliv, Brabanec, Dean, Brisson, Morozov, Dorofeyev) are off limits in a trade but trading our first rounder, someone from the back end like Cormier and players to balance salary for help now (a top six forward and goaltender to push Thompson) seems very possible.

The West is up for grabs and we are right there in it, I can't see them walking away from probably one of the best remaining opportunities we are likely to have.

Also, the reason I say the bottom 6 is because as a 4th line Roy-Carrier-Kolesar is excellent, but in essence they're right now the third line because our real third line is so bad.

 

[Vegan Knight]

In two more years after this one, Eicjel will be 28, as will Theo. Hague can be replaced, by that time Miromanov will be at least his equal if not more. We can always attract free agents. The idea that we're "all in" for this year and then we'll suck in a year or two isn't how you build a powerhouse.


Also, the reason I say the bottom 6 is because as a 4th line Roy-Carrier-Kolesar is excellent, but in essence they're right now the third line because our real third line is so bad.

We've been good for six seasons counting this one, last year's second half injuries notwithstanding, and adding two more onto that makes an eight year run of success.

Teams generally don't get too much more than that unless they have Crosby, Ovechkin type players and successfully build around them early, or get lucky with non-first round draft picks.

Also, getting help now with a first round pick or Cormier and keeping an eye on the future don't have to be mutually exclusive, with a player like Kuzmenko as an example.