TheAngryHank
Expert
- May 28, 2008
- 18,104
- 6,731
Florida?I can see Vegas making it to the playoffs this year. That would be a record right? First expansion team to make it to the playoffs in their first year of existence.
Florida?I can see Vegas making it to the playoffs this year. That would be a record right? First expansion team to make it to the playoffs in their first year of existence.
The St. Louis Blues lost in the Stanley Cup Finals in their first three seasons in the NHL.
I was wondering how he was doing for them.Vegas picked good players in the ED. It's not surprising to see them play well.
What's impressive is that they all have it going at the same time. Part of the credit has to go to their great fans, winning culture they created for themselves, and the insane work ethic that team has had so far this year. It's fun to play for that team, and when it's fun, it's easy to play well.
The only disappointment so far is probably Oscar Lindberg, i thought he'd be part of those guys who produce more but so far it hasn't happened.
But let's also keep in mind it's only 1 season, and a special one at that. What all these guys do moving forward when things kind of calm down, maybe they make the playoffs and expectations are set higher for next year. Just like they all have it going at the same time right now, they could all regress together as well.
I was wondering how he was doing for them.
The St. Louis Blues lost in the Stanley Cup Finals in their first three seasons in the NHL.
Their forward group always looked decent on paper, certainly from a depth standpoint. There defense is very weak on paper however, but they've gotten around it so far by playing a good structured team defense.
With all that being said, Marchessault and Perron are producing at a PPG pace. Karlsson is also on pace for 70+ points, Smith for nearly 70 and Haula for 60. All those paces certainly won't last. At some point they'll hit a wall. But at this point I gotta think Vegas manages to sneak into the playoffs, even if 'only' as a wild card team.
If you look at past expansion teams (NSH, ATL, CBJ, MIN) plenty of random journeymen finished with personnal highs in points simply because they were put in the top-6 all season long. Keep in mind those teams were absolutely terrible, finished at the bottom of the standings and had barely any good players.
Fast forward to Vegas who actually have good players, good support and are finiding success with a good coach and system. It's not surprising that their top-6 guys like Marchessault, Perron, Haula, Neal and Karlsson would post nice numbers. If guys in the NSH and ATL era posted 50 or 55 points, why couldnt the Vegas guys be able to post 60 or 65 pts?
They're scoring goals, so someone has to collect the points right? Especially on a winning team. And Vegas is not showing signs of cooling down. Even if
they do cool down a little bit, and end up missing the playoffs, I don't see why Karlsson or Marchessault couldnt record a 60-pts season.