The NHL has to make the next expansion draft better

[ColdSteel2]

Vegas could have built a good team with who was available, but they instead elected to make several (in some cases weird) side deals, bypassing some good players. They also stockpiled a ton of defense instead of targeting best player available. It's their own fault.

The defense thing was the dumbest part of all. Yeah, D is valuable but not when you have 11 of them. GMs have proven they will wait you out in a situation like that. You're gonna have guys sitting around half the summer wondering where they will play and then they'll get dealt for a 3rd in August.

 

[CornKicker]

the fact is vegas has no prospect pool, they need the picks. Id almost argue that the exapnsion team should get 2 picks in every round. one lottery pick same odds as now and a later round pick in the 21-26 range.

it would keep them from trading players for picks and allow them to still draft 14 players/.

 

[Flukeshot]

This is still probably the best expansion team in history.. (maybe over-stated if looking at 1967).. So since then.

Check out how horrific the Preds were... Even a few of those names, like Richter were taken because back then teams got draft pick compensation for losing UFAs.

1998 Expansion Draft

 

[TOGuy14]

Their GM just traded a really solid top 4 D on a good contract for a 7th round pick and a 2nd rounder three years into the future.

The problem isn't the process, it is the guy driving the bus off of the cliff.

 

[DeltaSwede]

Shouldn't allow expansion teams to swap the players they pick. It's just silly how quick of a rebuild Vegas will go through.

It's just a "build" in their case.

 

[Sleepy]

Correct.

McPhee very easily could have gotten his hands on the likes of Vatanen, Dumba, de Haan and could have easily offersheeted talent like Draisaitl or Kuznetsov with the capspace, while extorting teams for more than just 2nd Round picks to get certain players

Could have, but let's be honest. All those 1sts he'd have to give up for those players will likely be lottery picks. He can't gut the future of the franchise before they even play their first game.

 

[ManofSteel55]

Vegas was given every opportunity to have a competitive team (competing for the playoffs, not true cup contenders) and their GM opted to pass on that for the sake of building for the future. How else can the NHL make an expansion team better if the GM opts to build the way McPhee did?

 

[ManofSteel55]

the fact is vegas has no prospect pool, they need the picks. Id almost argue that the exapnsion team should get 2 picks in every round. one lottery pick same odds as now and a later round pick in the 21-26 range.

it would keep them from trading players for picks and allow them to still draft 14 players/.

That's not a bad idea. A weird one that would never fly, but I'd be all for giving them an extra pick at the end of every round (making it a 32 player round for those 2 or 3 years). They get their regular pick, and the 32nd pick, taking away the need to trade for so many picks elsewhere.

 

[Aceboogie]

They could have made a good team with rules given. Unfortunately NHL underestimated how bad McPhee is

 

[Viqsi]

Apart from when the NHL doubled in size, the top three inaugural expansion seasons in NHL history belong to three recognized perennial powerhouses: the Florida Panthers, Hartford Whalers, and Columbus Blue Jackets.

...I think Vegas is on the right track, myself.



For the record:
Florida Panthers: .494 (83 points in 84 games)
Hartford Whalers: .456 (73 points in 80 games)
Columbus Blue Jackets: .433 (71 points in 82 games)
Edmonton Oilers: .431 (69 points in 80 games)
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim: .423 (71 points in 84 games)
Atlanta Flames: .417 (65 points in 78 games)
Minnesota Wild: .415 (68 points in 82 games)
Buffalo Sabres: .403 (63 points in 78 games)
Nashville Predators: .384 (63 points in 82 games)
Quebec Nordiques: .381 (61 points in 80 games)
Winnipeg Jets: .318 (51 points in 80 games)
Tampa Bay Lightning: .315 (53 points in 84 games)
Vancouver Canucks: .359 (56 points in 78 games)
Kansas City Scouts: .256 (41 points in 80 games)
San Jose Sharks: .244 (39 points in 80 games)
Atlanta Thrashers: .238 (39 points in 82 games)
New York Islanders: .192 (30 points in 78 games)
Ottawa Senators: .143 (24 points in 84 games)
Washington Capitals: .131 (21 points in 80 games)

 

[Price is Wright]

They should have raided teams of their best players and then put them up in auction to the highest bidder. Force GMs to fight each other over the Vatanen's and Dumba's. Everyone would hate you in the end for it but you'd have a better chance of building a great team.

 

[Crede777]

They should have raided teams of their best players and then put them up in auction to the highest bidder. Force GMs to fight each other over the Vatanen's and Dumba's. Everyone would hate you in the end for it but you'd have a better chance of building a great team.

I think had he gone that route the other GM's would have refused to interact with him and collectively shut Vegas out.

 

[Not So Mighty]

McPhee let too many teams off the hook, my own included. Doesn't matter though. Expansion teams should suck out of the gate. It would be unjust for the league to set up a brand new team to be able to draft a realistic playoff team out of the gate. It just wouldn't be fair to the teams struggling in the basement.

I would only agree that maybe they cut the 7 forwards protected down to 6. They can't do that though if they expand again in a couple of years. It'd be a slap in the face to Vegas.

 

[Caeldan]

I like the concept posted earlier of the next expansion team basically building their farm system a year earlier and participating in two entry drafts prior to playing their first NHL game.
However I'm not sure how exactly you'd factor in the logistics of that, as you'd be incurring a full season of expenses with zero revenue.

Also, I think that while the making trades to 'protect' extra players is fine... the flipping selected players shouldn't be a thing. Especially given that the returns on all of the flipped players so far has been significantly lower than the request to protect. Basically just punishes teams who decided not to get extorted by GMGM.

 

[CupInSIX]

It may not be fair to Vegas but I think the rules were just right.

 

[LarKing]

Lol quality bump here.

 

[hangman005]

Oh how times have changed from the draft was great McPhee just screwed it up to Vegas was gifted a contender from the start.

 

[mouser]

There are enough threads discussing this topic that bumping a year old thread with 20 posts isn’t adding anything new.