How Vegas's Cup Win Can Change The NHL Forever

The Vegas Golden Knights finally did it on their six year road to the Stanley Cup. Led by the likes of Jack Eichel, Jonathan Marchessault, Mark Stone, and Adin Hill, the Golden Knights have tried a variety of different methods in efforts to break through to their first Stanley Cup. What stands out more than anything else though is the way in which they've sought out and acquired star players, whenever they become available. With the tendency among organizations to copy the latest winners of the Stanley Cup, today we explore how Vegas's stanley cup victory could play a role in changing the NHL forever.
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#Vegas #StanleyCup #Marchessault
0:00 Intro
0:50 Gaming The Expansion Draft
3:22 Blockbuster Deals
7:37 Sacrificing Useful Pieces
9:15 Unsung Heroes
10:20 The Golden Knights Process

[@barry3dg]

Just has a little addition, as a Vegas fan. This team completely changed under Cassidy. So much more discipline and it was tested with Florida. Marchessault is a completely different player. He used to take so many penalties, along with the rest of the team. It's great to see the team mature.

[@EmpyrealFlux]

Exactly! The team matured a ton within a short period of time. At first, they were the underdogs, then players began acting cocky, talking a ton of trash and giving away penalties. Now the whole team knows the objective and saw it through to win the cup as a Team. Even when Tkachuk was trying to get under VGK’s skin in the finals, they stayed focused and tried not to get penalized, and won the whole thing. Glad to have Butch as head coach.

[@AmericanMetalhead100]

If you ask me, Bruce Cassidy has been the most important addition we've made since 2018. He came in and provided a sense of just... Calm. From the players to administration, its all been very even-keeled with him. Instead of going from broke all the time at the craps table, they instead hedged their bets on blackjack and allowed things to play out as they did. Lo and behold everyone else had 5s, 6s, 7s but we had a pair of aces.

[@RobdaVegasMailman]

Excellent point but one can't say enough abut the job the goal tending coach Sean Burke did. Imagine any other team losing their projected #1 goaltender before the season started, raiding their AHL team for what would be their #1 and #2 goaltenders for the year, then having to bring in THEIR backups due to injuries...and barely missing a beat.

[@vegasrenie]

@@AmericanMetalhead100 Not just calm, focus. Sure, they had a few slip-ups (Petro 🤦🏽‍♀️) but were overall more focused on the ultimate goal. Which is why, despite the Panthers BS, they ended up winning by a blowout and with fewer injuries than they did. Being big and tough and fast didn't hurt, but Panthers couldn't get past the Knights' calm and determination.

[@elliotwalton6159]

Championship hockey isn't about making friends, it's about winning Cups. There's no doubt if the Leaf's core four were on Vegas they would have been broken up two or three years ago for better potential cup-winning assets. Vegas management understands this is professional hockey, not high school.

[@johnmarshall4399]

Nhl fans do not care

[@richardtherichard26]

No they think it’s high school. They recruited the best players they could, ignored the salary cap and just took the best players they could regardless of how far over the cap they were (scholarships) and were handed the best team possible bc the nhl was so excited to expand they couldn’t be bothered to figure out how to do the draft. Vegas is definitely a high school team. They’re the prep school that plays in the public school league. The same rules don’t apply to them that apply to all the other schools bc they’re Gary’s little tit suckling baby. They’re an embarrassment to the entire league, and so is their winning the cup

[@richarddesilets4947]

@@grepox8571 if every team started acting like Vegas, the league would suck. After they missed the playoffs last year, people were ripping on them for giving away players for nothing (Suzuki for Pacs for nothing) and they will only be able to keep doing that for so long- and will players want to go there knowing they could be traded at any time and possibly find out about it through Twitter? I can't wait til they are where the Pens are now- a middle of the road team in decline with a short list of good prospects

[@bacondog5617]

@@richarddesilets4947 it wouldn’t be the Vegas way to be middle of the pack they’ll find a way a way not to be there to aggressive

[@Aforg209]

@@richarddesilets4947 Won't happen anytime soon, bud

[@DanielRamirez-qq3tj]

Exactly! Idk why people say they were gifted a start team. They were mostly 3rd and 4th liners and had the worst odds to win the cup that year 😂

[@R8rRen]

I remember 2017. The story slowly started to change around game 20, but there were still some "analysts" saying vegas sucked after round 2 of the playoffs. What an odd time!

[@dacrosber]

Cause people are dumb and have revisionist history… everyone seems to forget literally everyone was saying they would finish in the worst 5 teams their inaugural year

[@jeanjacques9365]

It was often said in comparaison to previous expansion teams which had less choices and ended up with teams that took years to be made competitive. Just starting with Marc-André Fleuri was more than any expansion teams have ever gotten before that. In that sense they were gifted a "real team" not a cup winning one by any means but a team that could win as opposed to previous expansion teams who couldn't pick as many players and had much less choice because teams were allowed to protect more players.

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

@@jeanjacques9365 Well of course, but those teams didn't write a 500 million dollar check either. What, do you think Bill Foley was going to write that check to get a bunch of scums? Maybe if my Kings paid a little more, they wouldn't of started with some players who worked at Walmart in the off-season.

[@hugh2hoob668]

Fleury was hot in 2017 though

[@user-sz8gu8ik2r]

The Seattle Kraken have done what Vegas did in many ways. They were a very competitive team with the pieces of the puzzle . They got a top goaltender in Grubauer. They played the same style as Vegas did in this their 1st year. Vegas played all 200 feet both ways as did Seattle with success. Lets see if Seattle continues this pattern and success. I am a big fan of Vegas & happy to see them win the cup so quickly. They play old style hockey but with speed which makes them a cup winner.

[@vegasrenie]

Seattle really surprised me this year. After last year where they had issues because Grubauer wasn't exactly playing top notch, they really turned it around this year. I think they are already a contender, especially after handling the Avalanche (which was the first time an expansion team had ever done it to a current Stanley Cup winner) and taking Dallas to a full seven game series. People have underestimated Vegas and I think they will continue to underestimate Seattle.

[@winwin6661]

Agree I would’ve wrote the same thing well written

[@chevelle1]

Yes, as you said, go for star players. But the key is to have them on decent contracts. Top players weren’t squeezing every last nickel out of their team (like Toronto for example). Their final cap hit was 97 million. Florida’s was 87. Vegas used the LTIR loophole perfectly. Also, Vegas didn’t have the injuries that Florida had, especially to top players. I’m sure the rest of the league is looking at what Florida and Vegas both accomplished and will replicate them in terms of roster construction and play styles.

[@andrewz58]

Seattle would've matched up better vs. Vegas in the Western final had they best Dallas imo

[@robertsprouse9282]

​@@andrewz58, Seattle's overall record vs VGK is????

[@2whl4re]

I remember the first year, someone posting (youtube) a disparaging comment/question about the expansion team, to the effect of "what does Vegas know about hockey?" Well, apparently they know a lot. Credit where credit is due. Great analysis.

[@Jacobnorberg]

10:27 would have been the perfect time to emphasize that William Karlsson had been drafted from Columbus with 6 goals and 25 points in the previous season, then proceeded to put up more than triple that number the next season with 78. We did not knowingly draft a 43 goal scorer, but he instead broke-out into one. Great video though. Always good to hear an objective analysis on the expansion draft because everybody is crying and saying we were gifted a cup-winning team.

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

And he turned out to be a great 200ft player, something the Knights pro scouts recognized.

[@Jacobnorberg]

@@Bouncer-id1rh Especislly under Cassidy this season. Him and Eichel played a PHENOMENAL 200ft game.

[@LoomisPC]

Why Vegas won IMO: Players stepped up, very smartly built roster, Cassidy, Awesome management & AWESOME fans! It's so funny how some people are so sour over the win, but it is well deserved. This coming from a bruins fan.

[@pens8766]

I don't think people are sour there Bruins fan I just think hockey fans don't want their intelligence insulted on how it was done. Vegas would have never been in contention for a cup let alone win it if they had to go buy the expansion rules of the past

[@justjohnny420]

@@pens8766 Expansions of the past didn't even have a salary cap though. Vegas got some of their good players from other teams wanting to pawn off assets where they don't like the contract. Previous expansions, teams could just eat those contracts for themselves since they don't have a limt on how much they can spend. And Vegas also had a cap floor which previous expansion teams didn't have. If an owner of the past wanted to, he could go cheapy cheap on the roster and just pocket the profit. Now teams have to at least spend a certain amount. Previous expansion teams could spend only like 20m if they wanted to while majority of the league spends anywhere between 40-80m

[@redrazr6269]

@@pens8766 expansions of the past should’ve been done the way the Vegas/Seattle expansion was done. The NHL quite frankly hurt themselves by being so hard on the expansion teams previously.

[@phototrap1]

Most hockey fans have been very classy when commenting on the Golden Knights' Stanley Cup championship, but there are certainly some people out there who are sucking some serious sour grapes. A word to them: This organization has been managed almost flawlessly since their inception. For the last 5 years, since losing to Washington in 2018, the Knights have made great moves to boost the team to another level. Just look at the trades and draft choices the Knights have made over the last few years - Mark Stone, Pietrangelo, Howden, and Eichel to name a few. Add head coach Bruce Cassidy, who taught the Knights how to play championship defense, and you have a ridiculous team. We missed the playoffs last year, but this year the stage was set for greatness to be possible, if we could stay healthy. The front office is a well-oiled machine. Don't be pissed at the Vegas Golden Knights because YOUR TEAM has been mismanaged for decades. The Knights made great decisions and won the CUP. They earned it, from top to bottom.

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

Yep, my uncle was an original season ticket holder of the Kings in "67", and my cousin, she became a season ticket holder in "81"...my uncle has since passed. But, at a family event is SOCAL before the Anschultz Group took over years ago, they were complaining about the lack of success the Kings have had, when my uncle stated..."these SOB's have stolen money from me for decades".

[@axe2grind244]

Why would you fault somebody from say…Buffalo or Vancouver or even Toronto for feeling that way. Those fans have every right to feel that way. Was Columbus given the same treatment? They didn’t give the NHL half a billion dollars so no, they weren’t.

[@stevencooke1027]

They were great to watch. A model playoff team. Not a bunch of thugs given a free hand by the league like dirty Florida.

[@vegasrenie]

Even if you feel like tarring and feathering and some of the people in the front office, every team has to judge the quality of their players with decisions made in administration. I wanted to take a baseball bat to several of the people in the front office when they made certain trades 🌸, but ultimately this is the result. I still want to argue, but I can't. The results speak for themselves. Another thing people forget is that this is VEGAS!!! People come here because of everything we have to offer. If you give a good player an opportunity to play in, say, Buffalo or in Vegas, chances are they're going to choose Vegas. We have a big, enthusiastic fanbase, and our stadium is on the corner of the effing Strip! While some Vegas fans are new to the sport, there are those of us who have been around a minute or two. My first NHL game was in 1974 during the Flyers first run for the cup. Off and on during the years, I have still paid attention, but it wasn't until some friends forced me (forced, I tell you!) to go to a Knights game where I became, well, crazed. I put the fan in fanatic. 😁😁 That said, people from all over come here to live. When 🌸 first came back to Vegas as an opposing goalie, I sat next to Vegas residents from Chicago who wore Blackhawks shirts. We argued amiably through the whole game, and although we lost to the Hawks, there was never any ill will. If you go to any game here, you will see lots of jerseys from the opposing teams because people are still loyal to their old teams. Except this year. It was all about the Knights, baby!

[@redrazr6269]

@@axe2grind244 sounds like the owner of the blue jackets should’ve put a bigger investment into his team 🤷‍♂️

[@marcus813]

I never bought into this narrative that the Golden Knights started with a superteam. Not even the most optimistic Golden Knights fan saw that 2018 playoff run coming.

[@haysbrickell9579]

I went back and looked at one of the predictions at the start of the playoffs. Even though Vegas came in 1st in the WC, they were only ranked 8th out of the 16 teams and given a whopping 2% chance of winning the cup. What happenned? Why were the "experts" so wrong? Well, several reasons. Even though he didn't get the attention like some of the other forwards, Barbashev was absolutely outstanding. Along with Howden and Amadio, the top 3 lines really solidified and only grew stronger as the playoffs progressed. With Roy as the 4th line center, by the final round even a fully healthy Florida likely stood little chance against such depth. Then if Whitecloud and Hague are your 3rd defensive pairing, need more be said about your blue line? Lastly, but hardly least, is of course in net and one simply cannot say enough about Hill. Add all of this up and combined with excellent coaching, you've got the recipe for a Stanley cup champion.

[@vegasrenie]

And don't forget the emotion factor. I think a lot of analysts analyze according to their own particular prejudices. They saw the same things that you saw, but they preferred to say that the Knights were trash and would not make it out of the first, maybe the second round.

[@stevencooke1027]

I don't know why. I had them, the Stars and Oilers fairly close, with the Avs still a possibility, but more because of their reputation and squad talent. I did have my suspicions about the Oilers, and with their very leaky goaltending and refusal to sub Atkinson, and the failure of Nugent-Hopkins for one to relieve pressure on the big two, they were doomed against a very balanced Golden Knights team. I wasn't sure the Bruins would get through, thinking either the Rangers or the Hurricanes might take them out.

[@POSS99]

Now same idiots who predicted colorado to win it all this year are at it again. How are the avs a top cup favorites in 2024? They were tossed by the kraken due to lack of depth how are they going to beat the knights, oilers, kings, stars next year?

[@forthedoggiesguitars2277]

I took the Knights the first week of the regular season at + 1800 to win the cup. It worked out and got real intense during the Dallas series that I may just hit this futures bet.

[@sammy2121]

They were so close to winning it all numerous times before cassidy. If they had a right coach they would've probably won 1-2 cups already.

[@jtotheroc]

The Bruins are kicking themselves for firing Cassidy.

[@user-jy1mu7lv1u]

@@jtotherocI thought the same thing

[@vegasrenie]

@@jtotheroc I know they are! In fact, I think that more than once they've spoken about going to the front office with torches and pitchforks!

[@cedricdavis513]

Vegas could easily have 4 cups by now lol.

[@timmyboy2495]

@@cedricdavis513dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

[@liljoe31]

Thank you for an objective analysis of Vegas' stanley cup build, without the weird pompous dismissal of the knights which permeates most hockey channels on youtube. As a fan i'm hoping we keep most of this roster for another run next year, signing barby should be the FA priority. Vegas dynasty has a nice ring to it

[@stopdroolin8418]

Yeah that's not happening.

[@mikhaila13]

⁠ it can happen. they have an excellent team and an excellent coach. the ability to have jack eichel and mark stone on different lines shows a lot of depth. not to mention their big blue line being signed together for another year at least.

[@TheHenryDuong]

@@stopdroolin8418 nah

[@user-jy1mu7lv1u]

I hope they keep Barbashev too, thing is they don’t have the cap space for him

[@liljoe31]

Yeah the lehner contract is killing the cap space.if they can get out from that somehow tho. Where there's a will theres a way we will see

[@namelesslight3303]

Kelly & George deserve mass kudos. They moved on from Fleury, Pacioretty, and Reaves at the right time. They also made the hard choices to not re-sign Perron, and move on from favorites Haula and Schmidt. The Petro FA signing was solid, as he has been a work horse logging many minutes and playing very well, and fitting in smoothly. Also note that Eichel needed to be on a good team that didn't need him to carry them, one where it wasn't all on him. They let him get the surgery he wanted and now you have a healthy, grateful, and happy to be there Eichel. His play was amazing and inspiring to watch. Marchessault's goals mostly came from Eichel assists. Getting Quick was also a great move. The chemistry & synergy he has with Martinez, one of the VGK leaders only amplified the good vibes in the room, and Quick's presence helped keep Hill calm and focused. This year the VGK got lucky by not having too many injuries (unlike last year which was just ridiculous), and when the playoffs started with Barbashev & Stone, they really elevated to another level. Something must also be said about players that are not too expensive that consistently play ABOVE their contracts. Vegas has been successful in this regard as well: Smith, Roy, Whitecloud, Hague, Howden to name a few all played well above their pay grades and were defensively responsible and contributed offensively. Rolling 4 lines and not worrying about matchups keeps your team engaged, confident, and less tired in the 3rd or in OT. All in all a rock solid regular season and incredible playoff run. Will be interesting if they can find a way to keep Barbashev and/or Hill around for next year.

[@carlgemlich1657]

Best analysis I've read so far.

[@inept0]

I want to add this about the Haula "cap dump" trade which got them Nick Roy. This was after the Calder Cup finals where the Charlotte Checkers beat the Chicago Wolves in 5. At the time the Wolves were the Knights AHL affiliates. The scouts who attended those games were incredibly impressed by Roy and even remarked, "we just didn't have an answer for him." In the time since Haula has bounced around the league and Roy has a Stanley Cup championship.

[@Bradzilla88]

How was the fleury trade at the right time? The Fleury trade was a flop. Fleury should have retired a golden knight like the owner told him he would. Never should of traded Schmidt either

[@jtotheroc]

Marchessault, McNabb, Theodore, Smith, and KARLLSON, and CARRIER. You may want to edit your video man. We have 6 remaining from expansion. Patches was traded because he had a bad habit of being injured on a monthly basis. Our lineup this year was amazing and they put the entire league on notice this season.

[@macgarnickle8964]

If you watch the video he lists all 6, 4 were drafted and 2 were from trades that day. Theodore and Smith the trades are mentioned maybe 20 seconds after the other four

[@thereal702edge]

You didn't listen.

[@4theloveoflife]

There is 6 not 4 of the original misfits William Carrier, Reilly Smith, Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb, Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson

[@liljoe31]

I remember looking at the first year roster and identifying Theodore as the lone blueblood high ceiling prospect they had. He has developed nicely along w Nicholas Hague the Knights may have something going developing young blueliners

[@hellodaddy3370]

white cloud is also an original technically. he played like one game or something cause he kept going back and forth from the feeder team the chicago wolves.

[@marciimeris503]

​@@hellboundzed8236ahh yes hyper aggressive and arguing a technicality. Go eat another burger so we don't have to deal with you

[@CharlesABelair]

Zach Whitecloud is also an original Golden Knight, who played 1 game in 2017 with the team, signed to a try-out contract. Nicolas Hague is a 2nd round pick from the 2017 draft as well, and also the only drafted player by Vegas in their Cup run this year. Both are often completely missed when talking about VGK originals, but both were under contract by the team in their 1st year.

[@psal8715]

@@marciimeris503 You are overreacting to what is, at best, a passive aggressive post.

[@mariamanasewitsch2977]

I’ve watched this team grow. Living in LV 35 years & coming from the East, it was fantastic to have our own PROFESSIONAL sports team. This town is filled with transplants like me, who know & love hockey. The enthusiasm of “newbies” to hockey is remarkable. Reason: 1) they were born here. 2) they helped us band together 10 days after the worst mass shooting in American History 3) they don’t SUCK, lol😂😂😂 There was a lot of dissatisfaction among fans with the treatment Fleury. There was practically a riot when they got rid of Gallant for DEBOER!!!! It could even be said that the reason they missed the playoff’s last year. To get rid of him. Idk, but in my experience the first one to go is the coach. I was HAPPY they “dressed” everyone. I mean the Silver Knights that were called up to play all season & they all were a part of the Cup’s game 5. I think one of the simplest reason’s to WHY they won is, they had to learn to play with everyone. 5 goalies!!! Yes, Hill is the 5th backup. Boy, I’m guessing the Shark’s wish they’d kept him NOW. Thanx for letting me rant, I enjoyed the playoff’s more this year, than any other time. Every series was exciting. I DO think the “refs” need a refresher course in hockey rules that CONSISTENTLY make the same calls in EVERY game, but that’s nearly impossible. So, congratulations to my GOLDEN KNIGHTS!!!! Thank you for an awesome year!!!

[@rudegall]

EXACTLY!!! 😅

[@haysbrickell9579]

A lot of naysayers are whining about how good Vegas was from year 1 because they were gifted so many good players. In fact, in 2017 the gurus picked Vegas to finish last or close to it with 65-75 points. No one could imagine Wild Bill scoring 43 goals after a high of 9 at Columbus. Admittedly, Florida's giving up their leading goal scorer, March-assault, so they could become better defensively is a real head scratcher but thank you very much Dale Tallon. Bottom line: Vegas became a cup winner by astute ownership, gutsy transactions by management that almost (think Tatar) always worked, a great coach in Cassidy, and a dedicated and loyal fan base.

[@Bradzilla88]

Im glad VGK won the cup but it definitely took a toll on VGK fans. Its "cut throat" for sure. It was hard to see Fleury, Schmidt, and Reaves and now Smith let go. The people of vegas are dedicated to their team, we are loyal. I just wish the management takes that into consideration in VGK's future. I still feel like VGK could have won the cup without a lot of those trades,we just needed a coach like Cassidy to get the knights to play a little smarter. Loyalty matters at least to a fan like me.

[@VGK2017]

Was tough to see Fleury and Smith go. I understand Smith to keep a younger and more physical Barbashev. I wasn’t too upset to see Schmidt and Reaves go though. Schmidt a nice guy but turned the puck over a lot and Reaves a tough enforcer but rather have the bottom 6 skill that we have now

[@donnieblanko]

Don't forget that Mark Stone had the most take aways in the playoffs, something he's always been great at.

[@AaronMQuantz]

Stoney's puck thievery is positively Datsyukian. Love me a good puck thief

[@mayorhumdinger1630]

There's 6 remaining on this team, not 4

[@mr.a590]

he’s saying 4 of the guys they selected remain. Smith and Theodore weren’t selected,they were traded for during the draft.

[@thereal702edge]

Listen better.

[@lucducharme3348]

GOALTENDERS #5 won the Stanley Cup. why no body is talking about that. Lehner out for season< THOMPSON injured, Brossoit injured, Quick on the bench as back up. Vegas are really smart and understand that you need back up goaltender. not like the Leafs.

[@NOTLeavingLV]

Or how this season was like the first in the goaltender situation. We also had five in year one.

[@stevencooke1027]

The Leafs did well in net with their number 3 goaltender. They didn't lose because of that. Bobrovsky was superhuman for two-and-a-half rounds then reverted to the mean against Vegas. The Leafs lost because as soon as Matthews and Marner stopped scoring no one else did. Rather like last year. Their defense was skittish against Florida. And of course, the referees tried very hard to please Maurice by being extremely Panther-friendly.

[@carlgemlich1657]

Don't forget Patera.

[@bustertn2014]

Enough with the referee gifted them talk.@@stevencooke1027

[@carlgemlich1657]

Wow, most complete and accurate vgk review I've seen. Well done!

[@richardmourdock2719]

And not once did the word "coaching" come through in this commentary. Seems to this hockey fan, they were extremely well coached.

[@wolfzzz1999]

I wouldn't be surprised if they win again next year. vegas is stacked

[@namelesslight3303]

Yeah they only have a couple FA's and a couple RFA's. Will mostly be the same team. If they stay healthy they could definitely be there next year.

[@ABobeck94]

Gonna be a challenge. Vegas needs to address who their two goalies are heading into next season. They currently have Thompson and Lehner (we’ll see) as the tandem, but Adin Hill was the one that got them the cup and he’s a UFA.

[@user-jy1mu7lv1u]

I was thinking the same, but we may not have all our players - take barbashev for instance

[@Foxentails]

Karlsson hadn't done much at all before getting to Vegas. Marshy scored 30 goals on the Panthers the year before, but he was not protected in the expansion draft.

[@jaylenbarnes2.079]

I'm so happy that Vegas won the Stanley Cup they totally deserved it

[@adamperez8703]

They earned it nothing is deserved in competition

[@balayagesalon]

@@Hankman23didn’t help it was only on tnt …worst thing that could’ve happened

[@jfri92]

@@Hankman23what’s the point of this comment?

[@Mistersupafly]

Fuck Vegas

[@tikitiki39]

There's no secret, have 4 lines that work hard and can score. Team's like Toronto still don't get it. The playoffs are much more physical. 50 goal scorers during the regular season that can't take any abuse just won't cut it.

[@brianjones7660]

here is where Buffalo will fall short. Tage Thompson, i love him on & off the ice, but when they watched film of him his goals dropped off in the last quarter. He was hurting , but they put guys in his face so he couldnt shoot at will as he'd done earlier. At best he's a 35-40 goal man .....I'll take it, but others need to pick up the slack. We are drafting a kindergarten full of "cant miss" prospects who are the size of Xmas ornaments. They will be ground to dust in the playoffs. Savoie, Kulich, Johnson,Kisakov (5-11 and 145....no really) are not going to function well in playoff style hockey. Sad but its coming.......

[@harveycohen9905]

When a team gets to the 2nd round (and beyond) of the playoffs, the opposition probably knows how to negate or limit the opponent's top line and in some cases, the 2nd line. That makes depth scoring, and more importantly, depth defense more crucial. This is where the VGK excels; there wasn't that much drop off between the top line and the 3rd line, and all defense pairings were very good to great. The 4th line, while not great in scoring, played a heavy game and their impact further weekened the opposition defense making the impact of lines 1 to 3 that much better. The team structure was also very, very good and was played almost flawlessly, thereby limiting the high danger chances and rebound chances. It is therefore no surprise that the VGK didn't need an "all world" goalie, just a good one.

[@thomasrudy6132]

i wish my team had accomplished what they did in 6 years

[@Abraham-tt7po]

Leafs?

[@hugh2hoob668]

​@@Abraham-tt7po no only the Islanders had more success early on

[@thomasrudy6132]

@@hugh2hoob668 the Islanders did not win a cup by year 6, it took them 8 years to win their first

[@stevencooke1027]

You're not a Leafs fan are you? If so, the Knights might suggest the "core four" idea doesn't work with a salary cap. It doesn't help knowing Bettman sees no value in Toronto being successful in the playoffs, but he sees a lot of value in Florida being successful. Vegas didn't need his help though. They were just that good.

[@Abraham-tt7po]

@@stevencooke1027 The core 4 was a dumb move by the front office. i think they should have more veterans on the lines.And trade Matthews

[@kylecopley5790]

Good video my guy I watched it while working from home. Super knowledgeable and now I know how to build the master team in NHL franchise mode 😂

[@rileykazama3145]

Vegas was disrespected by everyone and they played determined and boy were the golden knights were pissed

[@mariamanasewitsch2977]

There are 6 “misfits” still on. Marchessault, McNabb, Karlsson, Smith, Theadore & Carrier.

[@NOTLeavingLV]

He also said Eichel had surgery before being traded and his trade value was less even though we took the entire contract and it’s one of the largest in the nhl.

[@Devildogcacti]

Well done video.

[@goblue4795]

Great video!

[@Murdokk73]

Great analysis. I’ve been a VGK fan since 2018 and watched most of my favorite players be sent off time and time again. I admit that I was critical of the front office many time throughout the last 6 years. It all seems to have been intentional in order to win a championship.

[@brajorie]

Shows you how important it is to have a well balanced team vs teams relying one or two all stars.

[@brianjones7660]

If the 2 guys running this VGK outfit had been in EDM over the years, they might still be winning Cups. How many Top 3 picks did EDM have over , forever it seems, while Vegas had what by comparison? A lot less.

[@GlobalResistanceCoalition]

Alreday done! The day Lord Bettman took control of the NHL, it Changed The NHL Forever. R.I.P NHL

[@slasher1087]

Making record money

[@thereal702edge]

Cope harder

[@alexguzman230]

The cherry on top for the Vegas cake was the bruins stupidly firing bruce.. a lot of the credit needs to go to that man. You can’t keep a machine oiled without the oil and bruce was that oil.

[@mariamanasewitsch2977]

Bruce had more experience playing EC teams. Knight’s did have the best season record against the EC.

[@jacksonaltidor]

Congratulations 🎉

[@johncapone8843]

I can tell you as a Vegas fan and long time hockey fan of the last 4 years this Vegas team had the best offensive and defensive formations in the league especialy there full court press will win them the next 4 or 5 Stanley's cups!

[@thedarkhorse100]

Nobody gets gifted a Cup winner

[@JT-th1uc]

The knights only had to gave up a 3rd liner and mid level prospect for eichel

[@csharp48]

Tuch is more than a 3rd liner. Maybe on Vegas, when (technically) the playoffs started with Mark Stone and point a game Stephenson as their "3rd" line. That's part of the reason I'm so happy for the trade. He was and would have been big here, but Buffalo is way more desperate for an Alex Tuch type. Plus it's his hometown team.

[@hugh2hoob668]

As a pens fan i was pissed we let Fleury go we could've had a chance at 3 cups 😢 we lost Fleury and 2/3rds of the HBK line

[@mikebott2718]

Kinda cool how you got Kip from Napoleon Dynamite to narrate your video

[@adamperez8703]

Dadanov was great for us we just had too many injuries janmark was great too

[@user-jy1mu7lv1u]

Janmark never did too much. Only one hat trick that I remember

[@1223jamez]

I love the Vegas Golden Knights!

[@dereks1848]

I don't. Lol

[@kevinejohnathancueva-llano7076]

They were never gifted a team. People saw Karlson and say a 20 point player. In the panthers nobody cared for MS. They took misfits and people didnt give ice time and we gave em the chance. People saying they were GIFTED no other teams so no value in the players and didnt protect them from being picked. So they weren't gifted anything. lol

[@rhitweet]

I like sending people a link the day after expansion draft

[@saschaganser9671]

VGK had a pretty unique situation. Cap was tight and the other teams flooded them with assets at the expension draft. VGK then took plenty of risk with all the trades and gave up on plenty of assets, picks and good players. Suzuki, Tuch, Krebs, Glass and plenty of others, also they were burning in cap hell and had to exploit every loophole there is. Their great luck was to find Adin Hill and got him on a hot streak after Lehner was out for the season and Broussoit was out. If they got a Stuart Skinner performance, they would not have won the cup. They also signed very risky deals for Stone, Pietrangelo and took the risk with Eichel. If you look at what they gave up - Suzuki, Tuch - both of them are 1st line players, Suzuki is even a franchise player, and Tuch delivered 1ppg last season + 36 goals. Krebs and Glass look like solid middle 6, maybe even 2nd line players, add Nate Schmid and Pacoretty and Dadonov and MAF that basically had to be given away for free due to cap issues. That`s a pretty solid team already, and i`m not even sure if i got everyone. Very hard to copy, a lot of risk taken and a lot of future has been given up for that cup.

[@prettynormalguy3169]

TL/DR? This person is a typical Vegas hater over hyping everyone they traded and doubting every player they picked up. Us Vegas fans live off your salt. Thanks.

[@saschaganser9671]

@@prettynormalguy3169 What a lousy reply, not picking up any point. For a looser, everyone is a hater. Don`t find Adin Hill, no cup. Pietrangelo got away with his chop, that`s what you can learn.

[@prettynormalguy3169]

@@saschaganser9671 Adin Hill was our 4th string goalie. Do some research. Petro chop? You’re still crying about that? Pathetic….

[@darkblackstarr]

Tuch was a 3rd line plug who never scored more than 17 goals and glass and krebs did nothing for the team. I'm glad they're gone. And btw, mcdavid, draisitl both choked, crashed and burned. How many rings do they have? None. Petro got two.

[@POSS99]

​@@saschaganser9671You know you have a bad team when your first line winger is alex tuch.

[@ethanparker7900]

Why is everyone saying vegas winning will change shit and that them winning is "bad"? That's what I am having a difficult time understanding. You don't get to pick and choose who wins the cup unfortunately. A team had to earn it by making the playoffs then winning 4 games in each round to do so. I am not a Knights fan I am just saying the truth and tbh I am glad for those that are Knights fans

[@kennybegeske8824]

It's They're First Time As Stanley Cup Champions

[@JimmyLiao-sg3cz]

I think that the draft rules are very generous these days, hence the immediate success of Seattle and Las Vegas. Only being able to protect 3 defenders means that they are guaranteed to have an entire squad of 2nd liners, while every other team has to have 3rd liners. They did not have any flashy D-men, just solid D from shift to shift. From this solid core, it was easier to build and improve from there.

[@slasher1087]

And yet, they didn't choose all 2nd liners. Karlsson surly wasn't. He had to fight just to get ice time. Teams thought they were being smart by trying to dump contracts.

[@diggergeensen860]

They may not have been gifted an all star team, but they were gifted enough assets to be able to quickly build one. Plus they escaped getting worse with the rest of the league during Seattles expansion draft. This is a team that has not had to draft and develop players yet during their entire existence, thanks to having the assets to go after almost every big name player to come on the market. You can’t do that, whithout having a plethora of extra draft picks. I don’t blame the league itself for all of Vegas’s early success. However their cushy expansion rules, coupled with the rest of the league being stupid about handing them picks to take certain players all had a hand in this. In my opinion it’s embarrassing to have an expansion team be as good as they were so quickly.

[@troyarbeau-et3fm]

They an awesome team,not just 1 or 2 lines are scoring goals,all 4lines can get it done when needed,they deserve the cup 100%,they were running over teams like nothing,I can see a repeat next year,and another cup for them!!!!awesome team!!!!

[@johanjotun1647]

Stevenson for a 5th wow

[@stevencooke1027]

You tainted the video by showing Tkachuk and Buttman. Up until then it wasn't a villain piece. I don't know how easy it is to replicate the string of great signings and decisions made by Vegas. Nor is it easy to develop a team with this sort of chemistry. I was also struck during the Finals and during these highlights at the level of patience and hockey sense everyone on the team seems to possess. They had a Florida team which had killed teams on the forecheck running around in circles. It often looked as if Florida was two men short much of the time.

[@Brad88ford]

Making money moves! That's how to do it! Make trades and get the core that works well to win it all

[@shaylelarue787]

I agree teams hold onto their stars players too hard

[@mikekoz6351]

Vegas was smart ...they got as many Canadians as they could and then went on to win the cup

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

The only people who care about the nationality of the players are Canadians. Must be some national insecurity.

[@mikekoz6351]

@@Bouncer-id1rh Nah it was more of a joke buddy, lots of good USA and European players …. It’s just they did have an abundance of canucks

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

@@mikekoz6351 Dude, I'm old and it's always been that way. I'm old enough to remember when 100% of the players were Canadian. I mean, it's a Canadian sport where every Canadian virtually learns to lace up a pair of skates before their tennis shoes as the saying goes. Having said that, I wonder if the day will come where that same saying goes with kids in the sunbelt states of America. Those kids dominate amateur sports in America and if they start lacing up skates, watch out the rest of us.

[@vegasrenie]

Our entire defensive line is Canadian. Except for Martinez!

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

@@vegasrenie Does that matter?

[@theboundD1]

There are 6 original members still. other than that great video.

[@rhitweet]

5 players left. 6 OGs were in the playoffs and won the atanley cup

[@Clyde_Frog]

I feel like we say that every years

[@jtjr26]

I would say that all the moves that Vegas made could have easily gone the other way. Also, there is no guarantee if they act that aggressively in the future that it will all work out. I think the more established teams in the NHL have their own cultures and the level of risk they are willing to accept.

[@backtosleep]

Bettman gave Vegas and Seattle one hell of a deal starting in the league. Many teams would kill for the same deal. This was a slap in the face of many teams that started in the league and struggled to get competitive.

[@haysbrickell9579]

Actually, that's not entirely true. Buffalo, after a rough 1st 2 years, had a very good record in their 3rd year and went clear to the finals in just their 5th year. The famed Broad Street Bullies (a.k.a. Philadelphia Flyers) became a force in the early '70's and won 2 cups in their 7th and 8th years. Of course there were the dynastic Islanders, who won their 1st of 4 straight cups in their 8th year. There were definitely some expansion teams that struggled for quite a while, but it's pretty amazing what these 3 teams accomplished very early after entering the league.

[@gustoe21]

The ones who keep trying to justify VGK’s Championship by claiming that they were “gifted” a championship team are either Maple Leafs, Canadiens, Oilers or Sharks fans

[@heckyeahohyeah1]

It’s actually 6 that still remains

[@-Nobody-1]

Its not about having that « superstar « its about having a few lines of guys who can put up points. Not a couple guys doing all the heavy lifting.

[@Braidev-on-top]

As a knights fan I am very disappointed how people reacted when they won the cup

[@Masaru702]

Same as a fan of the VGK, people saying we were given the cup, no we weren't just GM making decisions to better the team slowly, but it paid off in 6 years. We only missed playoffs once within our short team history.

[@dereks1848]

Not many ppl like the Vegas fanbase tbh.

[@Braidev-on-top]

@@dereks1848 I know because we got everything handed to us, based off what every fan base says. But we earned this win

[@marciimeris503]

Hey so.. smith, march, carrier, theodore, karlson and mcnabb are all still on the team. Theres 6 original members left

[@thereal702edge]

You didn't listen well.

[@marciimeris503]

@beatpacific I listened well enough. I don't care if the other 2 weren't picked up in the draft specifically they were picked up as side deals during the draft. Arguing a technicality is idiotic

[@pokesprout7469]

People just saw Vegas got an all star team because how good they were off rip. We were all used too expansion teams just being awful right away.

[@sherwinrasmusenmusicchannel]

I am from Vegas all it challenges is,” the legendary teams,” Det, Colorado those guys have competition. Also Las Vegas is mot a small media market but it is nit La. Vegas bas the 19th largest stadium but the #1 fans. This is like imagine if it is baseball and the Yankees and Red So. Are average teams and say the Chicago Cubs win the World Series.

[@Fastestslowperson]

There’s more then 4 of them still there

[@hugh2hoob668]

I've watched every Stanley Cup Final since 1988 i missed this entire finals 😢

[@user-ot2tc6ge4n]

Nothing is going to change

[@Red021686]

Vegas also has shown poor loyalty to core players like Schmidt, Fleury and Pacioretty by dumping them off for little to no return in trades when facing cap crunch situations.

[@bustertn2014]

There is very little loyalty in sports. Also, if your want to talk loyalty, then it works both ways, do you expect the players to take less to stay? I doubt they want to.

[@randoir1863]

Can you imagine how many Canadian teams we'd have in the playoffs if they adopted the cut throat , emotionless management style that Vegas is using ?

[@a.fredscullard162]

YES, that is 100% correct!

[@alexkatsanos8475]

They went from flashy to huge on D and tougher…Theoretically then Seattle should win it in a few years.

[@majestic8550]

No one in the hole world could guess what a move out of Columbus would do

[@Naota-00]

#vegasstrong

[@patrice5976]

Just a great story. What else can you say? the noise we hear (🎻) from the fanbases around the league, wincing (🧂) with envy (🏆💰……👀💦), has a similar echo to what Mtl fans enjoyed hearing in the 70s (🕺🏼). The constant whining (💦🍼) of other fanbase about how privileged and lucky the Habs always were… about this or about that. There could be some Vegas fans out there also thinking that it is the most beautiful music (🎶🎵🎶) in the world (🌎) and they can’t get enough of this “passionate” chorus (👺👺👺) lamenting ( 💔💧) or how unfair (⚖️) it all is or How “the league‘s helpin’ Vegas”. Isn’t envy a sin in most faith? 🏆👑🍭🥂🪆💰💰💰…………👀💦 Virtuous Vigorous Valiant Victorious Vegas. Thy Stanley Cup Prophecy has been realized, a new era is upon us all. Urbanites from SinCity please savour this delicacy. You deserve it. I love watching history unfold before my eyes… congratulations to the Knights and to their great fans. Seems like loads of fun from here in Montreal

[@smk3390]

Vegas has made alot of good moves over the years and regardless they have a real complete team this season. That all said, I don't agree with the expansion draft completely as we have just withnessed the Kraken breaking into the playoffs their first year as well. Everytime the NHL does an expansion draft it throws a wrench into the rest of the NHL's plans to build as they are forced to protect what they can and leave the rest of their players available to be picked off by the expansion team. End of the day the NHL is a business and wants to lure in lucrative owners with fat expansion fees.

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

So then don't except checks totaling 1.1 billion dollars, it's that easy. What, are people supposed to write checks for 500 & 600 million respectively, and then end up with scrums as to not impact the other teams?

[@stevencooke1027]

Second year for the Kraken. Toronto helped by letting McCann go in order to protect world's most overrated player, Alexander Kerfoot, at best a fourth liner, a man who is a Swiss army knife if your idea of a Swiss Army Knife is a rusted pair of scissors, dull knife, broken corkscrew, and tool that goes 20 games without a goal playing with Auston Matthews .

[@smk3390]

@@stevencooke1027 still its a recipe for insta-competitive team and puts teams in a position to lose players who they may be building with, its going to happen again soon im sure, Bettman likes those fat expansion dollars.

[@smk3390]

@@Bouncer-id1rh it is that easy, but the NHL likes those dollars.

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

@@smk3390 So what, you sound like your crying over it. Good grief. Don't live your life jealous. it's so adolescent.

[@NOTLeavingLV]

I try and be nice but this video has some huge inaccuracies. Overall high effort video. There are SIX original players left, not four. Eichel was not “coming off of a surgery,” he had the surgery after he was traded, and Vegas took on his ENTIRE $10M contract, his trade value was not “greatly reduced” and he remains one of the highest paid players in the NHL.

[@nathanfox3090]

only 4 from the actual expansion draft itself the other 2 were side deals, but the other 2 points are spot on lol

[@thereal702edge]

You didn't listen. Delete your comment, fool.

[@Pieintheskycookingchannel]

6 remain on the team

[@R8rRen]

"no other team got..." Oh, you mean the EXACT same rules that Seattle got? LIAR!

[@guslill7644]

Wasn’t that first round pick they traded to Buffalo for Eichel the same pick that became Tage Thompson

[@NHLchaos]

Thompson was actually drafted by St. Louis in 2016 and was then traded to Buffalo in 2018 in the Ryan O'Reilly deal

[@guslill7644]

@@NHLchaos my bad

[@o339o9]

Sabres traded away two elite players to cup winning teams. Poverty franchise

[@slasher1087]

Not only that but both of them had problems with management. O'Reilly even said in an interview when playing for Buffalo "I lost my love of the game multiple times this season." I think some fans need to stop calling players a cancer for hating being on certain teams and start looking at management.

[@brianjones7660]

@@slasher1087 When Ryan has a problem with Kim... When Jack has a problem with Kim... When others have a problem with Kim.... what we have established is that Kim IS the problem.

[@JP-qt7yd]

How about selling the Leafs?

[@omny6686]

I dont kniw why a team woukd pay any single player more than 6 million. Toronto really over spent, and Edmonton has a 20 million dollar duo that carry their teammates falling corpses. Get a hot post season goalie, a bunch of 6"4 giants, and just ride the season to a 6 seed.

[@iLightSoundGeometry]

💙

[@2nick9]

You sound like Adam friedland

[@wm9312]

1st, the NHL smartened up and didn't just take the money and walk away. They finally realized that to expand the game successfully a solid base must be provided. 2nd, They are good because their management made/makes good decisions. I saw somewhere that only 1 draft pick was on the roster.

[@daboys1215]

They were gifted by a ridiculous expansion draft BUT only 6 of those players are left on this championship team. If they had won the cup in year one it would have been a huge gift but this team won, in large part, due to the trades and free agents brought in by McPhee and McCrimmon. They were aggressive. They didn't wait to build and it paid off.

[@BL00DPILE]

No comments about LTIR I see

[@annihilationHaven]

There are three main reasons for Vegas' success and two cannot be imitated, one is the highly generous expansion draft gifted to them by the NHL, the second is the league's best tax rate which draws every free agent (alongside Tampa and Florida), and the third is picking the very best choice for coach out of the gate, and then Cassidy who happens to be the best coach in the league. There is no doubt that having a 17 year gap between expansion drafts had given Vegas a competitive edge over other expansion teams, there's no debate about that at all, it was a clear advantage.

[@brianjones7660]

Nashville too.

[@a.fredscullard162]

Please tell me just how the best tax rate (along with Florida) is the NHL`s fault!

[@spikez1751]

@@a.fredscullard162 don't forget Texas

[@NexanNV]

6 original members remain*

[@thereal702edge]

And 4 from the draft which is exactly what the video said.

[@jeremytaft8247]

Won’t change the NHL at all cause what they did is nothing new to the sports world. But the fact that they got a hit on almost every single player they brought in really just shows that teams do need a little bit of luck when it all comes down to it. Cause no it doesn’t work out at all or it works a little bit but no championship.

[@user-gk7mc6xf1s]

Just so you know. There are six original golden knights not Four.

[@thereal702edge]

And you didn't listen to the video. 4 remained from DRAFT.

[@jimbobogie8204]

Gee-I hope that nobody from Toronto sees this! At least Vegas got rid of the black sweaters...they belong in Vancouver. Meanwhile watch out for Seattle...they're building their team the way that Stevie Y is building thei Wings. The Knights did what they had to do...they were and are in a "fragile" market-they had to "come out flying" and to their credit. But what will happens when the Knights have to "pay" for theit short-term success?

[@vegasrenie]

While we are very happy with the cup, a lot of us are still super frosty about the loss of Marc-André Fleury. The only reason I think he's not as good as he used to be is because being traded gave him an emotional hit. He's a sweet guy and I think he still feels the impact of getting stabbed in the back. You have to know the history in order to understand how very important he was to the organization.

[@Yimvision]

I'm a Knights fan who had no problem with them trading Fleury. He may well have been a sweet guy, but when he carelessly turned the puck over (with 1 minute left against Montreal) and cost us game 3 of the semi final round, it was time to move on. He didn't get "stabbed in the back". He got old, arrogant, and expensive.

[@wikoli-kuloloniele-kapalam2779]

I totally agree with you. As a VGK, we love MAF! ❤️ there was an interview article that he said he will be back in Vegas after retirement and that he and his family are planning to build a house here and call Vegas as their 2nd home. He love Vegas and the community and we love him back!

[@wyattleonard7618]

@@Yimvisionwait until you hear about a similar oopsie the brodeur did in the 2003 finals… something about losing his stick? similar accident, it happens, and it happened a single time

[@TommyCubed]

​@Yimvision I think thats where I stopped supporting him as much as i used to

[@prettynormalguy3169]

Real fans understood and appreciate the MAF trade. Dramatic mostly female “fans” cried and still do about it. You’ll learn. Or, you won’t, and you’ll keep being laughed at by the “real” VGK fans.

[@AiTechnologyHelpTv]

Taking out the Bruins and avs and lightning was the chance Vegas needed to win the cup. Despite the 2% chance or whatever, all the missed calls Vegas could have gotten lucky but they defiantly have a stacked team of depth, 19 candiean players etc

[@michaelsmith2723]

6, not 4, remain.

[@MrMultichris234]

2 of them (Theodore and Smith) were not the „main” picks from Expansion Drafts. Theodore was given in a Trade So Vegas took Clayton Stoner in Expansion Draft. Similarly Smith was traded so Vegas could pick Marchessault