Vegas' worst pick and best pick?

[canuck89]

To all those saying Sbisa was a "bad" pick... Have you seen the other guys the Canucks had exposed?

If it wasn't Sbisa, the next likely guys to go would've been Gaunce or Boucher. Benning had no need to make a side deal with McPhee, since losing any of these guys is hardly detrimental to the team. No matter who the Knights picked from Vegas, they weren't going to get a "good" player.

Sbisa has only one year left on his contract. If a coach recognizes what kind of player he his (a third-pairing defenseman) and plays him accordingly, you might be able to squeeze something good out of him. And with the glut of defensemen that McPhee picked, in the draft, he obviously has plans to trade some for more picks and prospects. McPhee may have to eat some salary on the one remaining year of Sbisa's contract, but I know there's a GM out there who would be willing to make a trade.

 

[wingsfan17]

Vegas already has deals lined up today. I'm sure they asked teams if they would be interested in Mrazek if they took him, and apparently there was no interest.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Does anyone have any shred of justification for why they took some guy I've literally never heard of over Mrazek?

Taking Mrazek makes Detroit worse (potentially). LV is tanking. They don't want to help any other team get top picks. LV is all about getting top 3 picks in the next few drafts.

 

[krt88]

I still don't understand Theodore + Stoner instead of Manson/Vatanen + 29 other defenders better than Stoner

We will take Stoner but you give us Theodore. If Anaheim said no, they would have had to make there own deals and then the challenge of getting back value that you don't likewise have to protect.

It was easier to just pay off Vegas and be done with it.

 

[SirKillalot]

Worst: Engelland

Even though he is a local guy, there are plenty of younger players who could have some upside from the Flames. Makes no sense to pick local just for the sake of picking a local.

Best: I'm gonna go with Thorburn in a sense that they got the 13th overall for it.

13th overall is probably gonna be better than whatever else they could have picked from the Jets. If Gusev comes over and plays really good, then the Lightning pick in Garrison might be it.

 

[stepdad gaary]

Does anyone have any shred of justification for why they took some guy I've literally never heard of over Mrazek?

theres really no point in drafting Mrazek if you think Fleury is your guy. I dont think the Dallas stars are a great example of how to assemble your roster as far as goalies go.

You can say, they could easily flip one but the goalie market has been non-existent since like 2014 so everyone is living in fantasy land if they think they goalies get traded all the time. No one wants to risk a lot of assets to acquire a goalie when their success is so volatile. its really that simple.

 

[DL44]

To all those saying Sbisa was a "bad" pick... Have you seen the other guys the Canucks had exposed?

Forget that... have they even seen TVR, Engelland or Stoner play?

 

[Royale With Cheese]

I'm not sure you can look at many of these picks in isolation like that.

For example: Chris Thorburn.

Thorburn is a bad hockey player. They only chose him because the Jets swapped first rounders and added a third so that Vegas would select him.

As a hockey pick, Thorburn is terrible, but when you consider the side deal, it becomes less terrible.

 

[Royale With Cheese]

Worst: Engelland

Even though he is a local guy, there are plenty of younger players who could have some upside from the Flames. Makes no sense to pick local just for the sake of picking a local.

Best: I'm gonna go with Thorburn in a sense that they got the 13th overall for it

13th overall is probably gonna be better than whatever else they could have picked from the Jets. If Gusev comes over and plays really good, then the Lightning pick in Garrison might be it.

Correct, but they also GAVE UP the 24th overall pick to the Jets, so Vegas only moved up 11 spots.

 

[tony d]

Best: Fleury, Marchessault
Worst: Brickley, that guy from Detroit

 

[confusedaboutsports]

Best: Nate Schmidt

Worst: Clayton Stoner (if there is any way they could've gotten Vatanen)


Vegas ended up with alot more than they should've if other teams managed their assets well.

Tried to explain what went wrong with the NHL trade-market

 

[Hammettf2b]

Mrazek has a large cap hit, had a massive down year, and many recent reports out of Detroit of perceived attitude issues.

When I first saw Nosek play couple years ago in preseason it looked like he was stuck in quicksand. Since than he's been working hard on his skating. This past season he finally broke out in the AHL. When he was called up late in the season to Detroit his speed didn't look out of place at all. He was getting quality scoring chances and playing well.

He had a dominant playoffs for Grand Rapids helping lead the team to the Calder Cup. From the available Detroit forwards in the expansion draft, he has the highest potential offensive upside. Would say Frk has similar cieling.

I expected Frk or Nosek to be taken by Vegas.


Helm, long contract, relatively big money, hands of stone, losing his speed which is most redeeming attribute. He is also extremely injury prone and at 30.... its only going to get worse. His career is going downhill from here.

Sheahan the drunk purple telletubby took 82 games to scores a goal last season. He could have a rebound season, but Nosek in his limited time in Detroit, greatly outplayed Sheahan.

I saw no evidence of that.

 

[confusedaboutsports]

Vegas really shouldn't have been able to get as much as they did. Pretty silly how few trades were made before protection lists had to be submitted.

On Vegas getting lucky: https://confusedaboutsports.wordpress.com/2017/06/22/the-vegas-knight-are-better-than-they-should-be

 

[DANOZ28]

i thought pulkkanain was a bad pick. from my wild whats wrong with haula plus tuch? tuch has the potenial to be a coyle type 20G scorer in 2 to 3 yrs.

 

[edog37]

the names Vegas picked are just that...names

this isn't going to be their final roster opening night by any stretch...

 

[Esq]

Does anyone have any shred of justification for why they took some guy I've literally never heard of over Mrazek?

Why pay $4M for a back-up goalie who won't have much trade value when you can select Pickard for $1M?

 

[BananaSquad]

According to the Sabres board William Carrier is the next best LW in hockey and they also got a 6th rounder....

 

[PuckSeparator]

I actually think that Emelin wasn't that bad of a pick for them. Yes he makes mistakes and Habs fans wanted him off the team.... until Davidson starting playing regularly. I think most fans found a new appreciation for him at that point.

His soul crushing hits will be a nice addition to a new team.

 

[Riddum]

Are you guys forgetting that GM is the GM? GMGM is notoriously awful. HE got lucky with his draft picks after years of the team sucking (in Washington).

 

[BlueBaron]

i thought pulkkanain was a bad pick. from my wild whats wrong with haula plus tuch? tuch has the potenial to be a coyle type 20G scorer in 2 to 3 yrs.

I had pulk as a pick. His age and price tag made him the most attractive choice I saw, but that was one of the teams barely worth picking from.

Best picks: Neal, Methot, Fleury

Worst:tough call

 

[Willard]

Pickings from the Canucks were slim. Vancouver is truly a talent-challenged team. Sbisa might not do much for Vegas but what other choices did VGK really have there?

Maybe VGK can squeeze a mid to low draft pick out of some team for Sbisa.

 

[SirKillalot]

Correct, but they also GAVE UP the 24th overall pick to the Jets, so Vegas only moved up 11 spots.

Well, he also got a third.

But, since Vegas also received a 2nd round pick in one of the trades. So, totally I think they are better of gaining that 13th and losing the 24th since they added other picks as well throughout the trades.

 

[El Cohiba]

Worst picks: Nosek, Sbisa

Best picks: Neal, Marchessault/Smith

Nosek isn't that bad.

Best: Marchessault
Worst:Thorburn

 

[NoOffense]

Don't really know what was the best pick but I think the worst was Schlemko from the Sharks and then flipping him for a 5th rounder. Can't really see any other pick having that little value.

 

[CrypTic]

To all those saying Sbisa was a "bad" pick... Have you seen the other guys the Canucks had exposed?

If it wasn't Sbisa, the next likely guys to go would've been Gaunce or Boucher. Benning had no need to make a side deal with McPhee, since losing any of these guys is hardly detrimental to the team. No matter who the Knights picked from Vegas, they weren't going to get a "good" player.

Sbisa has only one year left on his contract. If a coach recognizes what kind of player he his (a third-pairing defenseman) and plays him accordingly, you might be able to squeeze something good out of him. And with the glut of defensemen that McPhee picked, in the draft, he obviously has plans to trade some for more picks and prospects. McPhee may have to eat some salary on the one remaining year of Sbisa's contract, but I know there's a GM out there who would be willing to make a trade.

I understand that they weren't going to get a good player from Vancouver. But they were up against the cap for the number of defenders they could pick and IMO it would have been better to, e.g., take Gaunce from Vancouver and then Ouelett from Detroit than Sbisa from Vancouver and Nosek from Detroit. That's a big part of why I think that Sbisa was a bad pick. I didn't think that they were going to get a great player from either org (considering their salaries, contracts, etc.).

But part of it is also that it's hard to know every team's "available list" so part of my reaction to all the picks was based on how good I think the player is overall.