Top players ignored by Vegas at expansion draft?

[Jee]

how was he a 13th forward last year when he finished 6th in scoring for the Habs. I mean I know they sucked bad last year but he still outscored most of his teammates and if he didn't miss 10 games his ppg was on pace to put the same numbers as Byron so then only 5 players would have out produced him all while mostly playing with the black hole of offense as his center in Pleks.

He's an obvious Habs hater, you won't talk him into sense. Don't waste your time with him.

 

[WesMcCauley]

Didn’t staal and dumba both go unprotected?

Because they had a deal in place where Vegas got Haula and Tuch instead.

 

[Daximus]

They could have had a good bottom 6 player from the Jets but opted for the 1st rounder instead which got them Suzuki, which got them Pacioretty. We'll see how that works out for them.

 

[CupInSIX]

yeah Grabner would have been a much better pick than Oscar Lindberg in hindsight

Despite the salary cost, Soderberg is still quite a bit better than Pickard whom Vegas lost for basically nothing.

They traded him to the Leafs for a 6th and Toby Lindberg.

They could have had a good bottom 6 player from the Jets but opted for the 1st rounder instead which got them Suzuki, which got them Pacioretty. We'll see how that works out for them.

I think the whole deal was they got to move up in the 1st round (plus a 3rd) if they didn't take anyone under contract. Enstrom waived his NMC but they still wanted to protect him.

So they wound up with Pacioretty in the end for picking Thorburn. Not bad.

 

[CupInSIX]

He's an obvious Habs hater, you won't talk him into sense. Don't waste your time with him.

I've been a Hab fan my whole life what are you going on about?

 

[voxel]

Vegas should have picked up Khaira from the Oil. I was worried they would but they picked the bust

 

[sharks9]

Emelin was turned into a very useful 3rd round pick so...no. No matter how many thousands upon thousands of times you talk up Charles 'the franchise' Hudon, and what an enormous, boneheaded, missed opportunity he was, he would have wound up like Leipsic on the outside looking in.

A more interesting thread would have been what the Habs would be like if they kept Subban and Sergachev.

How is it useful when they haven't even used it yet, and odds are the player won't become as effective as Hudon is now.

 

[CupInSIX]

wait the guy is a healthy scratch now?

How is it useful when they haven't even used it yet, and odds are the player won't become as effective as Hudon is now.

well for starters, they can trade it for a better player than Hudon

 

[sharks9]

well for starters, they can trade it for a better player than Hudon

But they haven't. Hudon is in the NHL right now while that 3rd-round pick isn't doing anything

 

[Bring Bak Damphousse]

A more interesting thread would have been what the Habs would be like if they kept Subban and Sergachev.

Ugh too soon.

 

[maacoshark]

Didn’t staal and dumba both go unprotected?

I think the Wild made a deal with Vegas to protect those players.

 

[traparatus]

You know, if your biggest expansion draft regret is not selecting Charles Hudon, you've done all right.

 

[Balthazar]

McPhee didn't want to build the future of that team on the expansion draft but on the entry draft. He selected a lot of dmen hoping to create scarcity and teams to trade picks for them. Didn't work as planned on all counts.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

wait the guy is a healthy scratch now?



well for starters, they can trade it for a better player than Hudon

Emelin is out of the league as he's terrible.

Your point is still flawed.

Honestly they both kinda suck, but Hudon less so.

 

[The Nuge]

Vegas should have picked up Khaira from the Oil. I was worried they would but they picked the bust

Yep. And it’s not like it’s only obvious with hindsight. Most of our fan base was saying Khaira was the right pick

 

[Artorius Horus T]

Raffl is a better player than PEB, IIRC Raffl wasn't protected. PEB is a good 4th liner though in his own right.

Bellemare is by far the best 4th line center and the best PK:er in the NHL, Raffl is complete nobody,
Raffl > Bellemare is so not true, 1 lucky 21 goal season years ago, that's it.

 

[Calad]

Rangers were so incredibly lucky to keep Jesper Fast through the draft

 

[Garbage Goal]

Bellemare is by far the best 4th line center and the best PK:er in the NHL, Raffl is complete nobody,
Raffl > Bellemare is so not true, 1 lucky 21 goal season years ago, that's it.

Between your posts content, your username, and the explanation of your username below your username this is probably the weirdest post I’ve ever seen on HFBoards.

 

[super6646]

Think taking kulak over engelland would've been the smarter choice, but it's not like we had a lot of talent available anyway. 2020/2021 is gonna be way more problematic for us, as we almost certainly lose a bonafide top 4 dman or top 6 forward.

 

[Pia8988]

Think taking kulak over engelland would've been the smarter choice, but it's not like we had a lot of talent available anyway. 2020 is gonna be way more problematic for us, as we almost certainly lose a bonafide top 4 dman or top 6 forward.

Engelland had the Vegas connection to help establish someone a bit local to the team. They also don't have any RHD. Kulak wouldn't break the top 3 LHD.

 

[Fire Benning]

How has no one mentioned Yanni Gourde yet?

 

[bobholly39]

Honestly it's pretty easy to miss at least 10 players that were better when you are selecting from 30 other teams. The problem with that logic is you are supposed to select the best team, not the best players.

Considering Vegas went to the SCF, they literally had the best expansion draft in sports history. I doubt anyone on HF could have done half as good as Vegas did during the draft.

I mean yes....sorta. but OP is asking about any particular players that were left out whose stock has risen a lot since

ie Karlsson wasn't worth much b4 the draft but he blew up in Vegas since. Any other exposed players like that they skipped on? If so - that player wouldn't have likely hindered Vegas's "team" synergy - only helped.

 

[Revelation]

Jesper Fast from NY was biggest miss

Kincaid was up there

 

[Maukkis]

You have to ignore every team with which Vegas had side deals in place to take a specific player.

ANA: N/A
ARI: maybe Connauton, but then again, not much of a loss given their other picks
BOS: they crushed it with the Miller pick
BUF: nothing of significance out there anyway, even though they were only agreeing upon leaving Ullmark alone.
CGY: Engelland was picked for non-hockey reasons and still worked out. Funny, huh?
CAR: N/A
CHI: N/A
COL: Soderberg might be the first true miss they had in terms of ability, but they did pick a bunch of forwards of his caliber anyway. Moreover, his contract might have been the breaking point here.
CBJ: N/A
DAL: Pateryn belongs to that 'woulda been nice' category of players who would have been good additions, but not much of a loss there either.
DET: Ouellet, see above.
EDM: Khaira should have been the pick here. Being associated with Reinhart is just sad at this point.
FLA: N/A
LA: Getting McNabb from a team who protected four D anyway was a coup.
MIN: N/A
MTL: pretty much anyone would have beaten Emelin, but seconding the Hudon nomination here. Davidson would have worked too.
NSH: Neal was the BPA without question.
NJ: Oh, the irony... Smith-Pelly was available for Vegas. Must mention him here for reasons that are obvious.
NYI: N/A
NYR: a triple miss of Grabner, Fast and Raanta here. Now, Raanta's career path would have been a different one with Fleury in the way, but Grabner and Fast would have been godlike fits in Vegas.
OTT: Methot was likely the BPA, and even if you preferred Wideman over him, they managed to convert him into a second, so little to no loss there.
PHI: Bellemare did contribute to a decent PK unit, if I am not mistaken. Again, a case of there being so little difference between the players that it is hardly justifiable to question Vegas' results too much.
PIT: N/A
SJ: Another case like Pateryn/Connauton/Ouellet. Dillon is a good one, but how much better off are the Knights with him there?
STL: not questioning this one at all.
TBL: N/A
TOR: Leipsic was probably their best bet at getting anything more than replacement level impact out of Toronto.
VAN: They could have picked anyone making ELC money and been better off than with Luca Sbisa in the fold.
WSH: a murder of a pick from Vegas.
WPG: N/A

So, by my count, there were no more than five teams from which the Knights could have clearly gotten more than they did (NYR/COL/MTL, also VAN), and a handful of close calls. Overall, they did a terrific job even in hindsight.

 

[King'sPawn]

Dustin Brown had a resurgence last year. Though he hasn't played this year due to a broken finger.