Anglesmith
Setting up the play?
That's ridiculous. I get that the NHL wants expansion teams to be profitable sooner than later but just magic-ing a contender into existence is unfair to the other teams in the conference.
On principle, I agree with you. Expansion is supposed to introduce a team into the league so that they can start the process of building a team "properly" (ie using the same methods that every other team gets to use). The expansion draft itself should not be a factor in success, IMO.
However, for what it's worth, a large part of Vegas' success came from league-wide misunderstandings and misconceptions due to the fact that this was the first ever expansion under a salary cap. I don't think Seattle will get any of those same breaks.