Vegas - Everybody's team?

[alicia]

Imagine thinking one Cup win to an inaugural team will tarnish any Cup wins by a team that has sweaty fans.

Grow up, I'm a Canucks fan, I've seen my fair share of brutality in the post season and out. What Vegas is doing is great for the city, and for the game. If your team can't get it done, then that's on your team and it's executives. This whole idea of Vegas being a cheap plastic team is bullshit, it's like you either got eliminated by them or you don't enjoy a good hockey game.

 

[Hal 9000]

https://deadspin.com/wow-the-golden-knights-are-going-to-be-bad-1796327043

 

[MSZ]

https://deadspin.com/wow-the-golden-knights-are-going-to-be-bad-1796327043

LOL This article is golden.

 

[groov2]

LOL This article is golden.

Yes; the best part is that pretty much all of us thought the same thing.

 

[AaronDellForPrez]

If your team can't get it done, then that's on your team and it's executives.

Blaming the team executives that did not have the luxuries that vegas team executives did is ludicrous. Vegas' team executives succeeded precisely because the league gave them a better starting point, player-wise, than any expansion team in history. The deliberately reduced the protection that teams normally have in expansion drafts. And why did they do that? Because they feared it would take too long for them to succeed. Did they choose the right amount of advantage to give them? Did they reach the appropriate level of "help the team do a little better than previous expansion teams?" Uh, no. Obviously not.

 

[OldCraig71]

I can reasonably refer to it as stealing. They shortened the allowable list of protected players for this particular expansion draft. Teams were not able to protect players they wanted to keep. It wasnt like it was only unwanted players left. It was a league experiment to see if, perhaps, they tipped the scales in favor of a new expansion team by limiting even more what players existing teams could protect, then maybe the expansion team would be competitive in 5-6 years instead of 10-12.

The experiment proved one thing - they obviously went to far, put existing teams at too much of a disadvantage. Vegas winning it all would obviously put the stamp of "failure" on the experiment, and would be an indelible stain on league history. And they should go back to the expansion rules of previous expansion teams, instead of allowing this sort of failure to happen again.

In a market like Las Vegas the nhl could ill afford to have a team end up being bad and finishing it’s first season with 60 points. They had to hit a home run or realistically does that team make it through 5 years? The owner paid the largest expansion fee in league history so it just had to work for the league and it’s 30 other owners. The league is still not gaining any extra stake in tv popularity south of the border and is a very minor player compared to the other big 3 sports so they had to ensure that the experiment worked.

 

[JAS 39 Gripen]

Sadly, Vegas is showing that you dont need four #1 D's on your team to be successful (looking at you, Nashville)

 

[Icarium]

This is the lineup Vegas had to work with coming into the season (credit to nbwingsfan from another thread):

Marchessault (51)- Karlsson (25) - Smith (37)
Perron (46) - Haula (26) - Neal (42)
Leipsic (AHL) - Eakin (12) - Tuch (NCAA)
Nosek (AHL) - Bellemare (8) - Lindberg (20)

Schmidt (17) - McNabb (4/healthy scratch)
Miller (16) - Theodore (9/AHL)
Engelland (16) - Garrison (12)

Fleury (backup goalie)
Pickard (backup goalie)

Does this look like a Stanley Cup caliber roster to you?

Vegas made their success. They were handed nothing. The great play of players like Marchessault and Karlsson is a product of Vegas making them play great. They didn't bury Karlsson in bottom 6 like Columbus did. They saw the potential and took advantage of it.

The Vegas team deserves to be in the Conference Finals. People need to get over it.

I knew it was something like that but I hadn't seen the exact numbers. Talk about a difference with the claims of Vegas being handed "a team of second liners". But I guess facts are just inconvenient for some people.

And that Vegas team would have been a lot worse if Florida hadn't lost their mind and gifted them 2/3 of their top line, so the idea that the expansion draft rules are bound to make a team an instant Cup contender is perfect nonsense.

Vegas' team executives succeeded precisely because the league gave them a better starting point, player-wise, than any expansion team in history.

This only goes to show how unfairly other expansion teams were treated, IMO. The NHL saw that and rectified its mistake. Due to greed, of course, because these more generous rules allowed them to charge a far higher expansion fee but still I don't see what's wrong with expansion draft giving expansion teams a fair chance. Just because it hasn't happened before doesn't mean it's a bad idea. Is there a team that was gutted by the draft? I don't think so, except for maybe Florida but that was for the most part due to their own stupidity.

 

[Pookie]

I knew it was something like that but I hadn't seen the exact numbers. Talk about a difference with the claims of Vegas being handed "a team of second liners". But I guess facts are just inconvenient for some people.

And that Vegas team would have been a lot worse if Florida hadn't lost their mind and gifted them 2/3 of their top line, so the idea that the expansion draft rules are bound to make a team an instant Cup contender is perfect nonsense.



This only goes to show how unfairly other expansion teams were treated, IMO. The NHL saw that and rectified its mistake. Due to greed, of course, because these more generous rules allowed them to charge a far higher expansion fee but still I don't see what's wrong with expansion draft giving expansion teams a fair chance. Just because it hasn't happened before doesn't mean it's a bad idea. Is there a team that was gutted by the draft? I don't think so, except for maybe Florida but that was for the most part due to their own stupidity.

Giving them a chance vs a gift are two different things.

Rules were tweaked to allow Vegas to be competitive out of the gate. I’d say they need a little further tweaking in the other direction before Seattle comes in.

To those who say that Vegas’ castoffs and grit are the story, I don’t doubt the players feel that way.

But I’m sure Columbus and Minnesota’s players felt that way too. Difference is clearly the talent on the respective rosters.

And that’s by design.

 

[AussieCapsFan]

On this site we post what we think and feel about ice hockey, I will do that until I don't feel like it anymore, if the Knights win the Cup, I think MY passion for the game will take a hit.

What does my staying or leaving have anything to do with you or anyone else?

Yep - my passion for the game is already taking a hit. It's not that Vegas don't deserve to win. The players, the coach, I mean let's be honest, it's phenomenal for them. But bigger picture, there are so many long suffering franchises that have given up so much blood, sweat and tears to hockey and the NHL, and they are still not even in the late rounds or the Finals or winning a Cup. And it really bothers me. I watched the Vegas / Jets game tonight and the Caps / Lightning game last night and I thought "wow, the Stanley Cup playoffs are really about enjoying them to the point where you become angry and disappointed because the team(s) you love aren't winning any more".....and for me that's what's happening. It kind of sucks. Unless you're a fan of Vegas or Tampa.

 

[AussieCapsFan]

Yep - my passion for the game is already taking a hit. It's not that Vegas don't deserve to win. The players, the coach, I mean let's be honest, it's phenomenal for them. But bigger picture, there are so many long suffering franchises that have given up so much blood, sweat and tears to hockey and the NHL, and they are still not even in the late rounds or the Finals or winning a Cup. And it really bothers me. I watched the Vegas / Jets game tonight and the Caps / Lightning game last night and I thought "wow, the Stanley Cup playoffs are really about enjoying them to the point where you become angry and disappointed because the team(s) you love aren't winning any more".....and for me that's what's happening. It kind of sucks. Unless you're a fan of Vegas or Tampa.

Didn't really tell it as well as I wanted to - what I mean is, it's not like the better, more dominant teams are even winning, and that's what sucks for me. The Caps were all over the Lightning but that late goal a few second off the PP decided it. And then Vegas scores a late goal, actually two quick, crappy turnaround goals in a game that the Jets pretty much owned....and next minute series is 3-1 in their favour? It's just....so effing deflating....to anybody who loves hockey except the Vegas fans...

 

[Icarium]

The Caps were all over the Lightning but that late goal a few second off the PP decided it. And then Vegas scores a late goal, actually two quick, crappy turnaround goals in a game that the Jets pretty much owned....and next minute series is 3-1 in their favour? It's just....so effing deflating....to anybody who loves hockey except the Vegas fans...

Hockey has always been like that, if you want to watch a sport where the team which is better on paper almost always wins there are plenty of those. To me, this unpredictability is one of the best aspects of hockey. When the Caps beat the Pens in two decisive games in which the Pens had more chances and conceded some goals after stupid mistakes it was amazing according to Caps fans but now it's unfair when the shoe is on the other foot?

 

[H382]

This was meant for another thread that got deleted, but was in response to people saying Vegas doesn’t deserve a Cup.

I don't hate Vegas, I just can't get behind an expansion team having this much success. The fans haven't earned it. I didn't like the Avs winning in '96 either, though at least some of their fans had suffered through a few years of the Rockies.

signed, a cranky Blues/Canucks fan

How long do teams have to wait before they have earned the right to win a championship? Were the first 5 teams to ever win the Cup not worthy either? They all had only been in the league a short time.

In reality, it’s a small contingent of people who “haven’t paid their dues.” All the players have played their whole life. The coaches, staff, trainers, front office, all have come from a life of hockey.

Vegas has a lot of transplants. Chances are most of them who go to games are not new to hockey.

And final group that are new, this is the kind of thing they needed to get hooked on hockey. This is a GOOD thing.

They deserve everything they’ve worked and played so hard for. I can only respect what they’ve done.

 

[dkhockey]

Imagine thinking one Cup win to an inaugural team will tarnish any Cup wins by a team that has sweaty fans.

Grow up, I'm a Canucks fan, I've seen my fair share of brutality in the post season and out. What Vegas is doing is great for the city, and for the game. If your team can't get it done, then that's on your team and it's executives. This whole idea of Vegas being a cheap plastic team is bull****, it's like you either got eliminated by them or you don't enjoy a good hockey game.

watching a game\ show at their arena is a joke. rink announcer is more annoying than DJ khalid.... cringeworthy, and no, i am not over 30

 

[Random Forest]

"The fans haven't earned it"

My god, some fans have such an inflated self image of their own grandeur. If your team wins a Cup, you, as a fan, have earned nothing, whether you've been a fan for one year or one hundred.

This idea that you need to suffer before you can be happy is absurd. Otherwise, we should just hand out the Cup to whatever team's been waiting longest.

 

[alicia]

This whole 'they were given opportunities that no other expansion team had!!' is a bit a joke too.

EVERYONE thought they'd be a basement team, myself included. What's happening is nothing short of a miracle. Like someone else said, try to enjoy it.

 

[BoltsFanPinellasPark]

It's not just a great hockey story, it's a great pro sports story.

 

[Stephen]

"The fans haven't earned it"

My god, some fans have such an inflated self image of their own grandeur. If your team wins a Cup, you, as a fan, have earned nothing, whether you've been a fan for one year or one hundred.

This idea that you need to suffer before you can be happy is absurd. Otherwise, we should just hand out the Cup to whatever team's been waiting longest.

Yeah, tend to agree. It's just a nice story for pro sports that you can build something miraculous and unexpected this way. Don't specifically care about Vegas, their fans or anything like that. It's just a nice accomplishment.

 

[IceNeophyte]

watching a game\ show at their arena is a joke. rink announcer is more annoying than DJ khalid.... cringeworthy, and no, i am not over 30

Then I expect we won't be seeing you here again. We will sorely miss you.

 

[Kranix]

Blaming the team executives that did not have the luxuries that vegas team executives did is ludicrous. Vegas' team executives succeeded precisely because the league gave them a better starting point, player-wise, than any expansion team in history. The deliberately reduced the protection that teams normally have in expansion drafts. And why did they do that? Because they feared it would take too long for them to succeed. Did they choose the right amount of advantage to give them? Did they reach the appropriate level of "help the team do a little better than previous expansion teams?" Uh, no. Obviously not.

Team executives didn't have the opportunity to sign a roster of mid level players and hire the right coach?
Vegas might win the cup before the Sharks, so you should just keep crying and stop watching hockey forever.

 

[the]

I love the Golden Knights and cheered for them since the start of the season. I’m so happy that they are proving the critics wrong and having success this early.

So many salty fans here who are trying to discredit this franchise. Probably the same fans who were saying that hockey would never work in Vegas.

Las Vegas really have an outstanding fanbase and I hope they get to win the cup after all the bad things the naysayers said about them since they arrived in the league.

Go Knights Go!!

A lot of jealousy here.

 

[Drytoast]

I'm personally enjoying the success of Vegas at the expense of the league's embarrassment.

 

[Lieutenant Bookman]

How can people say the Vegas fans haven't earned it? You know what's worse than suffering through decades of losing hockey? Suffering through decades of no hockey at all. As someone who lives in a city with no pro hockey team, I would trade my city's nonexistent history for the losing history of the Blues or Sabres or Caps. It's laughable that people who have the privilege of watching the best players in the world play in their city would talk down to those who haven't had that privilege by saying they don't deserve to see their team win when they finally get a team. Haven't suffered enough my ass

 

[davethehammer]

Vegas winning the Cup would be one of the greatest sport stories of all time.

This is made for Disney to make a film out of and replace the men with women actors, 90 percent of them in abusive relationships where Las Vegas gives them a clean start to live up to the potential their parents had for all of them as children.

Just picture MA Fleury, played by the wonderful Odette Annable, sitting alone in the locker room when GG, played by Clint Eastwood, gruffingly says "what do you want?"

"I just want to WIN"

This is printed money

...because sports is entertainment....
Gretzky never won a championship in L.A., losing in the 1993 finals to the Montreal Canadiens. But he did save the franchise by doubling season ticket sales at the L.A. Forum. = still went to finals for more major market profit

greatest player in history? make sure he plays in both U.S major markets

 

[davethehammer]

I'm personally enjoying the success of Vegas at the expense of the league's embarrassment.

embarrassed ? theyre laughing all the way to the bank.