Who deserves the credit for VGK success?

Uncle Scrooge

Hockey Bettor
Nov 14, 2011
13,479
8,022
Helsinki
GMGM gets no credit from me. All he did was pick the best player available, best TDL rental or collect draft picks to select who the other GM wanted him to take. He was building a team for 3-5 years from now, this is just a coincidence.

Yeah i love seeing Vegas doing well but McPhee isn't a wizard.. It's pretty easy to make deals when you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

We can evaluate GMGM based on what he does with his team moving forward. But 12 picks in the first 3 rounds through 19-20 certainly makes things easier :confused:
 

Connor McConnor

Registered User
Nov 22, 2017
5,242
6,011
Florida's decision to let March walk when he was making $750k is an absolute joke and their GM should be fired just based on that. Reilly Smith was probably moreso just a salary dump as he's a borderline 20 goal scorer over his career making $5m over the next 5 years (again, blame the GM for signing a guy who is a 20/20 player to that contract to begin with)
 
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bukwas

Stanley Cup 2022
Sep 27, 2017
5,644
2,784
With the level of success they've had you pretty much have to high 5 the whole works of them.
 

Iapyi

Registered User
Apr 19, 2017
5,072
2,361
Canadian Prairies
it's obviously a cumulative effort from everyone. i'm not a mcphee fan but it is cute to see some posters not admit he has done a good job. some people will just never admit when they are wrong about something.
 
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Mr. Met

Registered User
Nov 8, 2017
857
2,523
81Jonathan MarchessaultC3414223618121990-12-2726Cap-Rouge, PQ5.09174
71William KarlssonC372013332151993-01-0824Marsta, Sweden6.01189
57David PerronL31921303071988-05-2829Sherbrooke, PQ6.00200
19Reilly SmithR379213018141991-04-0126Toronto, ONT6.00185
18James NealL371710271841987-09-0329Whitby, ONT6.02221
56Erik HaulaL331412261721991-03-2326Pori, Finland6.00193
6Colin MillerD37516212621992-10-2924Sault Ste. Marie, ONT6.01196
89Alex TuchR3381018861996-05-1021Syracuse, NY6.04222
21Cody EakinC375121716-31991-05-2426Winnipeg, MAN6.00190
88Nate SchmidtD37214168111991-07-1626St. Cloud, MN6.01194
27Shea TheodoreD223912021995-08-0322Langley, BC6.02195
13Brendan LeipsicL2911112421994-05-1923Winnipeg, MAN5.10180
5Deryk EngellandD3639121481982-04-0335Edmonton, ALTA6.02214
47Luca SbisaD231910861990-01-3027Ozieri, Italy6.02209
3Brayden McNabbD3426831141991-01-2126Davidson, SASK6.04212
92Tomas NosekC35358431992-09-0125Pardubice, Czech Rep.6.02210
24Oscar LindbergC367188-51991-10-2925Skelleftea, Sweden6.01202
77Brad HuntD17077201988-08-2429Maple Ridge, BC5.09187
41Pierre-Edouard BellemareL37426451985-03-0632Le Blanc-Mesnil, France6.00198
15Jon MerrillD12112651992-02-0325Oklahoma City, OK6.03205
28William CarrierL201121711994-12-2022Montreal, PQ6.02212
87Vadim ShipachyovF3101231987-03-1230Cherepovets, Russia6.00187
7Jason GarrisonD40110-21984-11-1332White Rock, BC6.01218
25Stefan MatteauF5011011994-02-2323Chicago, IL6.02220
1Dylan FergusonG1000001998-09-2018Lantzville, BC6.01189
35Oscar DanskG4000001994-02-2823Stockholm, Sweden6.02190
29Marc-Andre FleuryG9000001984-11-2832Sorel, PQ6.02180
30Malcolm SubbanG13000001993-12-2123Toronto, ONT6.02200
33Maxime LagaceG14000001993-01-1224Longueuil, PQ6.02190
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

#NameGPMinGAGAAWLTENGSOSavesSvPct
35Oscar Dansk416951.7830001880.946
29Marc-Andre Fleury9550181.96711012700.938
30Malcolm Subban13747282.251020003310.922
33Maxime Lagace14776493.79661003340.872
1Dylan Ferguson
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]
 
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Revelation

Registered User
Aug 15, 2016
5,298
2,963
Predators, Jackets, Wild and Panthers went out of their way to hook Vegas up. Caps giving them Schmidt and Broons giving them Miller played a part too but those would have been harder to protect.
 

WesMcCauley

Registered User
Apr 24, 2015
8,616
2,600
GMGM managed to get a team together that are one of the top teams in the league so far this season. Thats incredible when he didnt go for best players available but for building a decent team and get alot of prospects/picks. Building for the future was the main strategy for him at the expansion draft. The fact that they not only are in a playoff spot in january but at the top of the western conference is insane. They all deserve tons of credit! The coaches, GMGM and obviously the players.
 
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MikeyDee

Registered User
Dec 29, 2017
285
183
Metro Detroit
McPhee and Gallant, but I'll preface that with only because they were given such an advantage with the drafting rules in place by Bettman. If I were a NHL team I would have been pissed about the rules from the very beginning. I know the idea was to make the expansion team competitive, but really??? VK's were given too much of the bat to begin with (IMO). I was never a big fan of McPhee, but I do think he is better than the average GM. Gallant on the other hand, I feel was given the rawest of deals when he was fired by Florida. He's proved he was an above average coach before he was even fired. I just wish Detroit had some way of getting him before VK did. :shakehead
 

Yarborough

This is not a robbery, I swear!
Mar 14, 2015
6,917
270
YYC
The whole organization and the fans.

Thought this team was going to be bottom 5 not top 5 and yet they continue to impress me.
 

Pilky01

Registered User
Jan 30, 2012
9,867
2,319
GTA
I am well beyond feeling good for the team and have moved on to being genuinely jealous/irritated that the league basically just let someone bypass the building stage and purchase a team that is better than others who have been working within the league's "parody" orientated framework for decades to no avail.

f*** the Golden Knights and f*** Gary Bettman. The league looks like a joke.
 

Fire Benning

diaper filled piss baby
Oct 2, 2016
6,970
8,252
Hell
Mostly the other NHL teams for being dumb.

Look at most of their top players:

  • Marchessault was unprotected by Florida so they could protect Alex Petrovic who is now been healthy scratched a few times. Marchessault is now Vegas' leading scorer
  • Smith was also given away by Florida for literally nothing even though they had no obligation to do so whatsoever. Smith is now a big part of Vegas' top 6.
  • St. Louis protected Ryan Reaves over Perron. Perron's on pace for 20 goals and 70 points this season and the Blues don't even have Reaves anymore.
  • Boston protected Kevan Miller over Colin Miller and now Colin Miller is a top pairing Dman on Vegas with Kevan toiling away on Boston's bottom pair.
  • Washington left Nat Schmidt unprotected instead someone like Tom Wilson who's pretty much the definition of a plug forward in the NHL. Nate Schmidt is basically Vegas' number one dman right now.
  • LA decided to protect someone like Derek Forbort over Brayden McNabb who has been a stalwart of their defense corps.
All of those players are on Vegas right now as a result of other team's mismanaging their protection slots. As for the others, a good handful of them were given up from other teams who were forced into sacrificing younger talent in favor of NMC's they had given out in the past.

  • Columbus could've protected Will Karlsson over Dubinsky if they hadn't given an NMC to Dubinsky who's a pretty average middle six player. Karlsson now has 20 goals and leads Vegas in scoring.
  • Minnesota could've kept Erik Haula and Alex Tuch if they didn't shell out all the money to Suter and Parise who both had NMCs. Both of Tuch and Haula are producing well for Vegas.
  • The Rangers could've kept Oscar Lindberg if they didn't give Rick Nash or Marc Staal NMCs.
  • Ducks gave asay Theodore because they were hamstrung with Bieksa’s terrible contract.
You can continue to go down the list. James Neal and MAF are the only players who I can think of as players who weren't sacrificed as a result of poor management (as far as key players not counting the Leipsics, Bellemares, Sbisa, Merril etc. etc.) the rest were given away for free either by other teams because they didn't think they worth anything or they were hamstrung by past mistakes. You also have to wonder why players like Karlssson, Haula, Miller, Schmidt etc. who are outperforming a lot of players on their former teams who they were playing behind in the lineup at the time, why were they not playing ahead of them on their former teams? Why were they not given a better opportunity?
 
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Brock Radunske

안양종합운동장 빙상장
Aug 8, 2012
16,787
4,701
Before the season started, everyone on here trashed George McPhee for picking a horrible roster. He was considered a joke on here and nobody thought the team could even come close to the playoffs. Are his expansion picks completely redeemed at this point (and are people willing to admit they were wrong)? He was widely considered a bottom-3 GM to start this season but could easily win GM of the year.

Then there's Gerard Gallant, as a coach he's definitely gotten the most out of his players. He should win the Jack Adams this year for what he's done. Looking at the roster they have, does GG deserve more credit than McPhee?

The players also deserve credit for performing way above expectations, but would they have been able to do so without Gallant, or McPhee to an extent?

Lastly, does Gary Bettman get credit for changing the expansion rules to make it much more favorable than in past years?

Let me know who you think deserves the most credit for their success, sorry I'm kind of asking a lot of questions.
Me. I do.
 

PeanutButterPoti

Registered User
Dec 17, 2017
82
55
I am well beyond feeling good for the team and have moved on to being genuinely jealous/irritated that the league basically just let someone bypass the building stage and purchase a team that is better than others who have been working within the league's "parody" orientated framework for decades to no avail.

**** the Golden Knights and **** Gary Bettman. The league looks like a joke.
Yup, all this.

The plan from the start was to hand VGK a "competitive" team so they wouldn't have to go through the pains all expansion teams go through. It was said many teams by Bettman and crew. So when the draft protection comes into play, as many people stated here, a lot of teams were royally effed and were forced to protect very serviceable players. Add to that list Florida gifting them their players, the "Vegas flu", etc.

This team was built to bypass the pains of being shitty. Which annoys the hell out of me.
 

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