Why Vegas Winning Is A MASSIVE Problem For The NHL

In this video, we look at the Vegas Golden Knights' historic run to their first Stanley Cup.
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[@RobTalksHockey]

🔥 Guaranteed Auto Pack just released! 🔥 therthcompany.com/collections/all Is this the most unique Stanley cup win in NHL history?

[@Abbittibbi]

No, not at all, they send the Cup wherever they want, it's rigged to the core. Why has Canada not got a Cup in 30 years... 30 YEARS. The reason is simple, arenas are full even without a win, so there is no need to send it back home here north.

[@aceassn716]

2014 La Kings for me Against all odds they were down 3-0 vs sharks, 3-2 vs ducks? Almost choked 3-1 WCF vs Blackhawks, didnt they win 3 game 7s on the road? Along with hardly leading in Stanley Cup Final vs NY Rangers 3 of those 5went to OT if im not mistaken as well Against All Odds run for sure

[@VGK702]

So basically if you are a GM and vegas calls you about a 3rd or 4th liner, immediately hang up and start giving him more ice time 😂

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

I chuckled at first, but damn, there's some truth to your comment when you really think about it.

[@robhileman8890]

💯

[@desertdogguy]

😂😂

[@jdday1757]

I laughed too. But its the truth

[@jdday1757]

Hang up if Steve Yzerman calls as well

[@pachho808]

Florida did something pretty similar: they have only three drafted players on their squad (Barkov, Ekblad, Lundell). They trade incredibly well, such as turning Brandon Montour into a 73-point defender, doubling Sam Bennett’s point production, and turning Verhaeghe from an AHL nobody to the Panthers’ top goal scorer this season.

[@pachho808]

Grigori Denisenko is now 1-way i guess

[@simongemme4501]

This guy is the one guy every hockey enjoyer wants. Keep up the insane work Rob

[@bunsw2070]

I was going to say. What an excellent video.

[@derekohlhauser5632]

I also love THG

[@avsrock1561]

NOOBS should be NOOBS... great work NHL in your pathetic expansion... yeah yeah I know you made a shit ton of money this way but literally threw all the current teams in the dirt... seriously at best could protect eleven players but had to be some offense and defense and goalie... FLIPPING JOKE... teams work to hard for what they have then had to give up that... HEY Vegas understand this... it's what the NHL wanted and they got it...

[@shaman9]

Spot on. Picks have long been over-valued, but GMs don't want to admit they are bad at picking

[@brianhum8765]

Some people are too stupid to understand that compared to other sports, it's harder to evaluate hockey players at such a young age than probably any sport except baseball because development wise they're further away from being pro ready (look at the average age of drafted NFL players vs NHL or MLB). It's not basketball or football where most draft picks are not only in the pros the fall after the draft but are playing WAY closer to the level of the established pros or even better (you see rookie RBs and WRs dominate within a month of being in the NFL every season) whereas in hockey all rookies outside of the McDavids and Makars clearly are still a few years from being as good as everyone else. So obviously if you're good at identifying undervalued players that are a little older, already in the league (so they're further down the development path than rookies), you should trade draft picks for them because the hit rate will be much higher. A lot of players will also take a discount to play in Vegas for a number of reasons including the lack of income tax so you can sign free agents cheaper than almost any other team in the league (particularly the Canadian teams).

[@kftc1980]

“Making massive mistakes, and then fixing those mistakes…”. Everyone misses that second part. They seem to understand the salary cap world better than the other 31 teams.

[@tylerlawer8750]

I just think the other teams choose not to deliberate exploit it

[@kftc1980]

@@tylerlawer8750 right, they don’t want to win or make $.

[@HockeyIQVideoReview]

they've literally never existed without the salary cap world... they also have been around for 5 years, the fact they could fleece everyone because they were handed by far the most generous expansion draft rules in history and every other team was shitting themselves because of it prior to their draft probably also helped them stay out of cap hell. Give it time, they'll experience it like everybody else.

[@habsfan3632]

@@tylerlawer8750If you arent pushing the very limit of every rule, you should be fired for not doing everything you can to improve your team.

[@brianhum8765]

@@tylerlawer8750 Chicago and Tampa already won the cup exploiting it and they exploited it far worse; Vegas never actually rostered an over the cap team during the playoffs it was healthy scratches that pushed them over while Chicago and Tampa dressed key players like Brad Richards and Kucherov. Besides the fact that if you don't push the limits of the league rules you shouldn't be a team executive and should be fired immediately. Nice try salty fan of some other worse team.

[@Lekky93]

Vegas winning is a problem for the league because it just confirmed that playing with structure is more important than playing with skill. For teams like Toronto this must hit like a Mack truck.

[@kenkur27]

And Edmonton. Suck big time for several years, accumulate a bunch of blue-chip draft picks (Matthews, McDavid etc) and then still fail to get past the second or third playoff round.

[@jdday1757]

Florida also played with structure. Paul Maurice's dump and chase style worked well for them in the playoffs as they were the team of destiny. Until they ran into Vegas

[@Lekky93]

@@jdday1757 Florida's structure was easily dismantled by Vegas though. Florida targeted attacking players on the blue line, and running them down the walls where you fell into their trap. Vegas, Notably used this to their advantage. Vegas forwards would move east west in the neutral zone to move the defenders away from the walls. Florida's D couldn't handle all this added movement because they hadn't played a team that moved the puck as well as Vegas in the neutral zone. This allowed Vegas to generate odd man rushes like crazy. Something other teams couldn't do.

[@lewissemajay8789]

HWBT - Yup - Hard Work Beats Talent when talent doesn't work hard - Joe Thornton? Patrick Marleau,? the Sedin twins? Auston Matthews? Mitchell Marner? etc. Same could be said for Alex Ovechkin until he woke up and realized that his talent was even better when he worked hard.

[@dallasburgess5329]

And that you can buy a cup for a cool 1/2 Bil

[@IHaveTheSchwartz]

Your sensational delivery nailed it early. Billionaires were tired of spending the money and being perpetual losers. Sorry to break this to everyone, but the League has revenue sharing because the bottom ten don't make money. Arizona has taken dead contracts just to meet the minimum spend. So finally, after seeing Billionaires wonder why a fire pit was a better investment and the team sells four times over in 10 seasons, maybe new rules were a good idea. Vegas, did everything right, but you needed nearly ten minutes when you were done at 1:50. If Seattle wins in 6 (which they may), who cares? You'll make this video again. In retrospect, it only took the Flyers 7 Seasons to win a Cup. They figured out that beating everyone up was the answer. They even went back-to-back. Then Montreal drafted Larry Robinson and Dave Schultz (to this day) lives in fear of Big Bird. Suck it up everyone. Vegas made smart moves and built a solid foundation that took a hit a couple years ago and everyone laughed. Well... buy a ticket to Circus Circus. They won The Cup.

[@Zayloxithe]

still find it hilarious when they had their expansion team picked out everyone said they'd go nowhere and they'd be in the basement of the nhl for years, then immediately after they found success and made the cup final year one the narrative shifted 180% to "oh they were handed a team". year one it was a bunch of 2nd and 3rd line guys at best that kinda just worked together in the new team environment. people are just salty that vegas has had success

[@brianhum8765]

That's what salty losers do; change the narrative even if the situation hasn't changed to explain why their opinion is right or why their team (that's worse) didn't win.

[@Zayloxithe]

@@brianhum8765 exactly

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

@@brianhum8765 Funny, that's exactly what Florida fans did. First, it was the 10 day lay-off. Then it became..are players were injured once their coach made some public statements about it. I haven't seen any Panthers fans dredge up the 10 day layoff since.

[@mikel6090]

Right!? I remember the same thing being said for Seattle as well. I personally learned from the Vegas experience and thought they'd be pretty decent.

[@AlphanumericCharacters]

I’m still a new hockey fan since the first game I ever watched was the Golden Knights first game. However, one of the first things I learned is that most hockey fans are miserable crybabies. They hate the successful teams and bellyache about how their team sucks because of Bettman. Boohoo. Fans of a tough game. You think they wouldn’t be such babies.

[@videogamevalley7523]

Great Video homie and in my opinion Vegas has no issues letting go and it seems brutal but it makes sense at the end. Why kill the future of the franchise by keeping a bad contract? 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@aceassn716]

Lets Go Detroit Red Wings 🐙

[@GusMacGus313]

The only trade Vegas lost was the Nick Suzuki trade.

[@bldypnda]

And Tatar. Yikes. A 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for a player who got 6 points in 20 games and was a -11.

[@alvininthechipmonks]

​@@bldypndagod I hated tartar sauce. He was a BUM

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

Who cares, they won the cup. Nobody alive in Montreal who remembers them last winning a cup.

[@grahamdamberger7130]

Smith wins the Cup with Vegas, and they award him with a trade to Pittsburgh. I believe this is because of cap issues, which means one big name will usually find themselves on the way out to a team with more cap relief to work with. Still, the fact that he and Marchessault won the Cup against the team that basically threw them to the wolves for two players that didn't last with the club anyways is embarrassing and humiliating for the Panthers, but something for the rest of the fan bases to laugh at.

[@Yama-qb8yv]

Smith getting traded was definitely a bummer but a necessary move to allow the Knights to re-sign Barby and Hill. And most free agents except for Brossoit will be back next year. It is very impressive that this team retains what they have and can be contenders for a couple more years at least

[@rileykazama3145]

It still hurts

[@kevinejohnathancueva-llano7076]

Yea, it hurts but Riley gets cold in the playoffs a lot this was his a last year win or lose. The trade rumors have been goin on for riley for what 3 years that i been hearing? So he knew he was getting moved im sure. So i take it as a sweet good bye, finally winning a cup.

[@valitsemllaluokanavahyvaks3556]

Reilly is 32 making 5M AAV, its the right decision to trade him out.

[@alexandergreenwood5121]

If you look at his season by season production, he did less and less each year. He was no longer playing to his cap hit and Barbashev replaced him.

[@thenextguest3230]

I feel like Dallas is going down this path, I feel like their entire team has changed not only a good chunk of players, but new coaching staff, which explains their sudden growth.

[@brianhum8765]

And it's been for the better; like Vegas, the team Dallas had a few years had major problems (oh my god their scoring problems) and if not for a lot of swapping players out of town and being aggressive, they'd have probably gone nowhere. The team Vegas started out with wasn't even that good (it was Fleury standing on his head the first year); it required ALOT of good moves and in Dallas case some insane drafting.

[@Lesevesel]

In the last three years, I think, it was Kelly MacCrimmon making those trades. McPhee only tells his boss, Bill Foley, KMac is doing a good job and be patient, we are getting there, and so on. But yes, McPhee laid down a pattern for KMac to follow. They must have a pro scouting staff that is absolutely ferociously talented if they are able to give up draft picks for young veterans who are on the verge of breakout seasons.

[@nathanstar2000]

The only bad trade was Suzuki for Pacioretty

[@Sincopare]

And it only went bad due to injuries

[@marc-andreviau3560]

Nah, I think it was a great trade ;)

[@kevinalexander6812]

Funny. I remember them trading the greatest player in their franchise history, (who wanted to stay there by the way), to a shit team for an absolute nobody prospect. And not only that, they didn't even have the basic human decency to tell him about it directly. He found out via Twitter. Yes I'm talking about Marc-Andre Fleury. Fuck the golden showers forever.

[@gustoe21]

Either that or the Tatar for a 1st and more in Year 1.

[@dennisschultz9180]

The reason Vegas is disliked is they were given way too much advantage. With no trade contracts and depth, those teams were raked over the coals. Then they act like all the players they got were unwanted cast-offs.Not the case good teams lost good young players and the scales were tipped and only taking five years to win a cup shows it. You cant blame them you can blame the NHL.

[@rickma6363]

Blame the owners, they agreed to it and got their piece of the $500,000,000 expansion pie. Same with Seattle which was $650,000,000.

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

As the great Bobby Clarke stated..."you're not much of an opponent if you're not hated". Through in jealousy, and we have found ground zero for the hate. Vegas should hand out cookies & milk to all the babies out there. Call and give them your address.

[@kallemetsahalme5701]

yea no way around it with how vegas and seattle both went far on first year as opposed to other "recent" newcomers who placed toward the bottom of the pile for years. you cant look at late 2010 newcomers and the 1990-2000 newcomers and not say the situation isnt different. but indeed thats because of league owners wanting to kickstart the franchises (and the new teams not being totally incompetent) though funny is i play nhl with expansion draft in same way. get all the best overall players you can even if you plan to trade them the first second. and sell all the draft rights to stud the team a bit more. win a season or two and by then im bored and quit anyway

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

@@kallemetsahalme5701 I don't think those Vegas fans get bored constantly winning.

[@KH-dm9zm]

6 yrs

[@nathanmalik7056]

And the success of the Golden Knights has turned Las Vegas into the next big sports city on par with Los Angeles and New York.

[@KyleJon]

I was like SOOOOOO nervous when Mark Stone was lifting the Cup. I was like "Dont injure your bad back that miraculously got better day 1 of the NHL playoffs Mark Stone." THANK GOD Marks bad back got miraculously bet ter, and all is well in Vegas. What a miracle.

[@STARPHASE]

It didn't get miraculously better. But we all know how hockey players will play through injuries and pain. He wasn't going to sit out the playoffs if he didn't have to. He, among many other players on every team, was playing through an injury. It's not that hard to grasp. Teams have to have doctor proof of an injury in order to LTIR players, and Stone DOES have a history of back problems. None of that means he can't return to the playoffs before he's 100% recovered. He was recovered enough. And so, he played. And as a Kings fan, I HATE Vegas. But the narrative that Stone wasn't actually injured in ridiculous.

[@MrLuchenkov]

@@STARPHASE It's a weak argument for a weak system. Yes, Vegas used that loophole. Mark Stone should have played earlier in the season or not play at all in the playoffs. With that said, I don't blame the player (in this case, Vegas), I blame the game. Chicago did it first. Then Tampa and 1-2 others. Now Vegas. It's a system that needs to be revamped, that's all. An easy fix would be that for a player to be allowed to participate in the playoffs, he needs to have played at least 15-20 games in the year. If a player doesn't count towards salary cap, then he shouldn't play in the playoffs, period. It's a dumb system that has allowed several teams to go late in the playoffs by exploiting a loophole. It doesn't matter if it's Vegas, Tampa or Chicago: it should be fixed.

[@kallemetsahalme5701]

i agree the system is off but requiring x games played during regular season brings a whole different set of issues. what if some junior recruit or free agent is needed to step up after injuries or whatever. to me it makes more sense that players in playoffs do affect the gap too. so if player x joins the team on first playoff match then the wage gap is counted from that and goes over the limit and the team is not allowed to play until they drop enough guys to get under the limit. ofc in theory it still allows guys to play for free or for nominal fees but if that happened then i think the nhl would be in sewers. just imagine gm of anaheim calling ovi, mcdavid, ekblad, hedman and bunch of others "wanna come play for 1 mil n the playoffs, we are sure to win" it reverts back to the fact regular season is very secondary so it makes no sense for wage gap to focus on regular season. if anything during regular season the gap could be nonexistent to promote some really stacked teams but before playoffs they need to even the playfield (though i dont really want this but it would make more sense than "free playoffs")

[@PxThucydides]

I still find it amazing how Mark got out of that wheelchair on the exact day the playoffs started. But he may have been talking to Kucherov.

[@aceassn716]

Bad back an still didnt drop the most prestigious beautiful trophy im all of sports Lord Stanley Cup Hows the captain doing for the team the that dropped it again?!

[@chrisholm9789]

The expansion teams of today got alot of help from the league compared to those of the past

[@reconsoldier135]

THANK YOU!!!! San Jose and Nashville absolutely agree with you

[@segaboy1773]

Absolutely. And that was the whole point. They wanted to create a fan base and the way to do that is create a winner. Vegas was able to pick from an extraordinary pool of talent with no competition. After the expansion draft, Vegas was already a playoff team on paper and were better than half the teams in the league. To top it off, they were the exempt from the Seattle expansion draft. Give credit to the management for making the right picks, but the environment was in their favor. My question is when they start losing, how loyal will that fan base be? There wasn’t any growth period for the fans and the team. It was just an instant winner and a bunch of bandwagon jumpers.

[@marciimeris503]

​@@segaboy1773that's not what yall said right after the expansion draft. Funny how the narrative changed the moment they started doing good.

[@segaboy1773]

@@marciimeris503 you don’t know me and you don’t know what I said right after the draft.

[@RobTalksHockey]

Interesting point on how the fanbase will respond. Especially with the Raiders in town

[@Vegland]

Been a hockey fan for 32 years and a Vegas fan since they were announced and it has been a befuddling journey.. Still wish Flower and Reaves could of been here for the Dub. Keep up the great content!!

[@colinsellers1143]

Bettman gave you that cup and everyone knows it

[@merksmovies25]

@@colinsellers1143lmao how, sounds like cope. Vegas made all the right moves

[@salleban2717]

It's hard to hear genius and Mcphee in the same sentence. I mean, the guy traded Filip Forsberg back in 2013 to Martin Erat and Michael Latta.

[@atraxisdarkstar]

The modern expansion drafts give such a big leg up to new teams now. I still remember how big of a shock it was that the Panthers made it to the Cup Finals in 96

[@aceassn716]

I do as well.. But they manufactured the other team to win that cup that year Yes upset, bitter, extra salty Detroit Red Wings fan here.. patricia quits on Montreal an gets traded to avs an Mike Keane, also the Lindross Forsberg trade 🤯😡🤬 Rant over

[@merksmovies25]

Good thing only six players from the og team was on the vegas cup team… vegas made all three right moves. They were projected to be terrible as they got a bunch of mediocre players

[@atraxisdarkstar]

@@merksmovies25 Before Vegas, expansions teams had to build from the players they drafted, and whatever other free agents and minor leaguers they could get. It usually took years to build even a competitive team. Not only did Vegas get to poach players from every other team in the league, the GM was smart in making deals acquiring draft picks or prospects in exchange for not poaching players during the expansion draft. Vegas got a huge leg up on other teams, and it's why they were in the cup Final their first year. Note that Florida made the Cup Finals in their second year I believe using the old system. That was impressive.

[@Thorpe741]

Its all balance. Depth pure and simple. The league is mired in the idea that one or two “stars” can carry a team to a cup. It didn’t work in Calgary, its not working in Toronto, and the poor fans in Edmonton are learning it two years running. Seattle is following the Vegas model that has created the new standard for NHL teams. IMO

[@oilersridersbluejays]

Edmonton actually does have depth though, they are literally just a defencemen and a bit more solid goaltending away from winning the cup themselves…

[@brianhum8765]

Too many casual fans get caught up in the idol worshipping/circle jerking that is far too prevalent in the hockey media that apparently they don't realize how you actually win at hockey (this ain't the NBA); depth, depth and more depth with a side of depth dressing. 99% of fans would think it's insane to say Auston Matthews at his cap hit is hurting his team win the cup more than helping except if you compare him to a player like Chandler Stephenson ($11.64M cap hit vs $2.75M), it's 1000% true.

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

@@oilersridersbluejays Sure, that what Oil fans always say.

[@jabello]

It's great that expansion teams like Vegas and Seattle are having early success. It should give more established franchises who haven't won in a while like the Maple Leafs and the Flyers a kick in their asses to run their teams better.

[@shawn191]

if only it were as easy as hand picking top players from every already established nhl teams

[@Yama-qb8yv]

Can't wait for the hollywood movie about this team because they made history with these moves and have a chance to do it again next year. GKG

[@ottomackensen]

I got into hockey because of Urinatingtree, the first year I was set to watch hockey just so happen to be the Knight's first year so I decided to cheer for the new team.

[@arisketch9247]

In terms of the "NHL" being the owners and profit and expansion/business success, Vegas winning the cup is a massive win for the NHL.

[@slasher1087]

I do love that Florida deal. Vegas- Hey Florida, we want that one guy Florida- well the only way you get him is if you take one of our best players for free! Hes small so we dont like him! Vegas- but we only want one player Florida- YOU ARE TAKING TWO!!! Vegas- ok......we will take two..... Florida turns holds the phone away from their mouth- hey guys, i just tricked Vegas into takeing Marchessault 😂😂. Hes only 5'9 😂😂😂

[@rcstl8815]

Now, that's just funny...

[@guymajor7103]

You have to remember when Vegas came in every team was over the cap!the perfect storm!

[@jkelly76]

tldr, GM's in the NHL are the worst qualified GM's in all the major sports. Getting anyone remotely competent in front office will run to quicker success. This is why Canadian teams are 0-30.

[@hbsports1420]

Both Vegas and Florida have been the Kings of take under appreciated and underused players and maximizing their potential

[@trisarahtops202]

Seattle Kraken fan here. Its interesting that we did basically the same thing. Drafted a bunch of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th liners and we almost made it to the western conference final in our second year. Jared McCann and Vince Dunn had amazing seasons, Matty Beniers won the calder, the goaltending is getting better, a lot of our nonheadliners like eeli tolvanen, daniel sprong, and morgan geekie had great seasons as well. I hope that we can accomplish what vegas has. In my opinion, we just have to fix our defense and goaltending. We have a solid top pair in larsson and dunn, oleksiak and borgen are good together but not top, but we have no solid third line defense. The goaltending is getting better. Grubauer really found his groove in the playoffs and Martin Jones is good when he wants to be. I hope this next season, Grubi can carry that confidence he had in the playoffs into our regular season because if he can, I think that will really solve a lot of our goaltending issues. We just really need a reliable backup. Like I said, Jones is good when he wants to be but when hes not, hes REALLY NOT. I'm really upset we shipped Sprong and Geekie because I thought they were great for us, especially Sprong, a solid bottom 6 in my opinion. I hope whoever we get to replace him does well. The Yamamoto acquisition I think will work well for us too. All of this to say I hate the golden knights as division rivals but I can admire what they did and I really hope the team I love so much can follow in their footsteps in the next few years.

[@cohengamertv6548]

You were not good in your first season, which means that most of Canada is on good terms with you, vegas was good right out of the gate, and NEED ATO GO THROUGH A REBUILD to see if they have true fans or bandwagon fans

[@MickeyFi]

I feel like VGK has made hockey war rooms like that scene from moneyball- “any team that isn’t breaking down their roster and following your model is a dinosaur.”

[@ericthomsen9644]

Kinda exposes how bad many NHL GM's have been. Embarrassing.

[@isaacwest276]

This is why I love Vegas. They understand the league better than anybody else. I'm glad they've been my no.2 since day 1 (I live in Edmonton so it has to be the Oilers, but I was born in Utah and Vegas is closest).

[@jakerain2820]

no they just had a clean slate to work with. They have a few contending years, but trading away all your draft picks WILL come back to bite them. See Detroit and ken holland trading all their picks for playoffs. eventually you have to pay the piper when you have no assets left to trade. eventually your only option is to rebuild. But they did win at least. So at least it paid off for them. Many teams do exactly what vegas did and dont (Toronto, New York etc)

[@brianhum8765]

@@jakerain2820 Except they're a far more ideal destination for most players between it being Vegas instead of Detroit, they're as competitive of a team and... they're a no income sales tax state so their salary cap is effectively larger. They're also not stupidly signing finished players like Dan Cleary to "faithful employee" contracts or the Johan Franzen contract and instead keeping guys on short contracts so that if they show signs of decline it's easier to move them. They've also proven to be way better than almost any other team identifying talent others don't see between Karlsson, Whitecloud, Stephenson, etc. If you can continually turn a 5th round pick into Chandler Stephenson or find an undrafted Whitecloud, you don't need remotely as many draft picks as other teams. Ken Holland turned out to be not that great a GM once the salary cap came around and he got canned for it; I have a feeling Detroit's regretting keeping him in power back when it caused Jim Nill and Yzerman to leave.

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

@@jakerain2820 Vegas hasn't traded away all it's draft picks, don't over state it. Speak with honesty. Vegas had a lot of "extra" picks from deals before/during the expansion draft. Why bloviate?

[@jakerain2820]

@@brianhum8765 im not prepared to say vegas has done anything special when theyve only existed 6 years. If they can sustain dominance for 10-15 years then yes but they are litterally doing what numerous other teams have done. Winning a cup also has luck involved. Health, injuries etc. They won so its paid off early but the blue print for multiple championships and long term success has been laid and not by vegas is all im saying.

[@superperfundo8]

We love our Utah friends! Especially St. George and Springdale

[@exiledvanity]

As a capitals fan, McPhee was a god at drafting studs but made such stupid trades with those studs for.. don’t make me say it… Martin erat😖. So vegas was his revenge task, and he did it

[@kevinejohnathancueva-llano7076]

That or they didnt give McPhee time to grow with the studs.

[@itzshade7830]

Was it him that did forsberg for erat?🤣

[@exiledvanity]

@@itzshade7830 yes it was him indeed 😭

[@exiledvanity]

@@kevinejohnathancueva-llano7076 it was McPhee’s decision to trade them before they even played in the NHL… that’s the problem lol

[@sergeboutin4209]

As a Caps fan, I will never forget that Forsberg was traded for some… Erat !!!

[@charlesgallagher1376]

This day one Sabres fan and day one VGK fan has seen how to do it right in Vegas and how to destroy a good team in Buffalo.

[@oblivionsports]

Loved the vid!! As an avid hockey fan from Ireland, I did not know most of this and did wonder how the heck these new teams were so good

[@VW72Hockey]

the knights are like the youngest child that gets everything they want.

[@saadkhanimran8327]

and philly is like the child that gets an A one day and an F the other, until recently where they have just been getting Ds

[@csnide6702]

and BEAT YOUR TEAM WHILE DOING IT

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

Ah, your jealous. How cute.

[@frankym69]

That's not exactly a bad thing. I think Vegas winning the cup is a massive accomplishment in the world of sports.

[@rupertbuzzcock1962]

VGK win the SC in their 6th season because of…The 4 Horsemen of 🇮🇪: Foley, McPhee, McCrimmon & Cassidy 🍀

[@imbeingdanmstraight]

Gotta give some respect to Bob Lowes- Ottawa’s head of scouting and came to vegas before year one. Im sure he helped decide to pick these players up

[@alexandergreenwood5121]

This entire video can be summed up to, "The Golden Knights are really good at scouting players teams don't want, and it's not fair!"

[@ryanyoder8686]

It's not that they didn't want those players, just young prospects that didn't crack the top lines yet. I agree that it wasn't really fair and that it's ruining the league. - bitter CBJ fan lol

[@AlphanumericCharacters]

@@ryanyoder8686there were only six original players left from the first season. So how did they win in six based off of the expansion draft. Mostly new players and a new coach.

[@Tk3997]

@@AlphanumericCharacters They absolutely didn't obviously, at this point the expansion draft is essentially irrelevant to their present success, but haters are irrational and if they admit that the team that won this year is almost entirely new and built under effectively the same constrains and systems as everyone else then they're likewise forced to admit that a team that's been existence for barely more then half a decade is better run and managed then their teams some of which have existed for approaching a century, and that's a bitter pill to swallow for them. It's much easier to come up with some bullshit and claim someone else had some 'unfair' advantage then it is to own up to your own failings, is the long and short of it.

[@joeford5181]

Vegas:RUTHLESS AGGRESSION!!! (With a McMahon voice)

[@justinnzamora5366]

7:00 Make that 12 combined playoff round wins. Who could forget the Kraken's upset series win over the defending champions Avalanche?

[@meeheal]

What happened with Vegas' coaches in those first years? If I recall they made surprising coach change after the first scf run?

[@atpyro7920]

Gerard Gallant got fired after year 2, went to the Rangers (where he was recently fired again, idk where he is right now). They hired Pete DeBoer (fresh off a WCF run with the Sharks... that involved them knocking Vegas out in the first round.... yeah, that game 7.... that was a popular move), then fired him three years later (he went to Dallas- guess who lost in the WCF to Vegas this year). Then they picked up Bruce Cassidy from the Bruins last offseason, and he won the Cup with them.

[@Mo-ix4ov]

This is a great video which provides unequivocal proof for the point that I have been making for sometime about Bettman and the future of NHL: Bettman's incessant push for expansion has finally come home to roost, catalyzed by changing the expansion team's draft and player selection. This has come at the expense of the loyal fan bases in all other cities. Bettman came into the NHL to expand 'South' and he accomplished that at the expense of other teams. This is not to take any credit away from Vegas. They deserve the cup, especially after watching this informative piece covering all their trades and draft picks - great management and a good organization. But this wouldn't have been the case without the latest rule changes, tipping the scale in their favor. As a long-time hockey fan, I am getting less and less interested in hockey and more and more interested in spending my time and money into sports organizations that don't randomly change the rules to favor certain vision of the King (Bettman). I will keep an eye on the NHL, hoping for a future that is more equitable, but will not be going or watching any games in full. Personally, the new NHL is not for me, but it is a game that I love. I hope that this bias will be removed in the future so fans from established teams could also benefit from the game once again, and realize that team building is a long-term investment that is only accomplished through draft picks, player development and a certain level of luck. Now, it is all about how quickly can an expansion team win the cup. Peace....

[@TheEdog37]

The other teams had bad picks & bad hires. They also didn’t have to pay half a billion to join the league.

[@AlphanumericCharacters]

“Draft picks, player development and a certain amount of luck”. You described any team in any sport. I am “new money” for sure. First hockey game I ever watched was the Golden Knights. But I instantly loved the sport. I’ve read a lot of history and watched a lot of KZbin videos on the old days so I could get a sense of the history of the sport. I’m no hockey historian but damn it has never been “fair”. Montreal got the best players for decades and everyone else got their scraps. Talking about teams being in cap hell like it doesn’t apply to all leagues with a cap is crazy too. Don’t sign dumbass long term deals. In the NFL you have the Browns giving Watson a fully guaranteed contract to a dude who hasn’t played in a few years and may be a off field liability. Of course they did though. They are the Browns. Terrible organization; always have been and always will be. If all their moves don’t work out then they will be sentenced to years of sucking no matter the changes they make. I reference NFL because there is one team that has managed the cap better than anyone and they won six super bowls as a reward. The Knights operate with a lot of similarities to the Patriots. Especially with the building through free agency thing instead of the draft. Finding players to fit a system rather than focusing on stars. Easier said than done but that is what they are doing.

[@marciimeris503]

​@@AlphanumericCharacterscan't argue with the haters. They're so mad that their teams suck that they've become delusional

[@marciimeris503]

Cry more. If you want change within your fav team cry to the owner or gm. Tell them to stop hiring stars for 1/10th their salary cap each. Toronto for example has 1 line worth of depth

[@Mo-ix4ov]

@@marciimeris503 First, I am not crying. I am stating facts. Even though the point that you raise is true, what I am saying is also true, if you watch this video all the way. It is what it is; the question is: is this something that I would like to continue to support? and the answer from this hockey fan is no. That's it. nothing about which to get upset or excited.

[@derkaiser420]

I think everyone wanted Florida to win. They have never won before and they were the Cinderella team. No one wanted Vegas to win. At least that is my opinion. The only fans who like Vegas are, of course, those people who live there but I don't really know anyone outside of that area that is a huge fan.

[@kylespratt4072]

You are underestimating the band wagon jumpers... I live no where near Vegas ( in Canada ) where most people go for leafs or wings.. all sudden in the past few years I'm seeing Vegas avalanche and lightning jerseys. Lol

[@epicdogsammy2204]

babe wake up, rob talks hockey just posted

[@everysigleday31]

NIce Vid but the statistic you showed with the draftpicks is misleading. Vegas can only go back ~5-6 Year in drafting so obviously they dont have as many picks plaing for them as the other teams that were selection for 10+ Years.

[@RobTalksHockey]

They traded all of their drafted players away

[@melissaj9504]

One of the Vegas scouts is from my hometown and used to be my freinds hockey coach

[@csnide6702]

totally fabricated..... Just be happy for the team that WON..... Nobody "gave" them anything - they EARNED IT. Sorry your team didn't win , Mr. Sour Grapes.

[@CharlesABelair]

Slight correction there, which makes it even more incredible in a way, is that Vegas only had ONE player they drafted in the team on the team that won the Cup : Nicolas Hague. Not sure who the 3 other players drafted you mentioned are... Logan Thompson and Zach Whitecloud were both undrafted signatures, Paul Cotter, Pavel Dorofyev and Kaeden Korczak didn't play in the playoffs. Every other player wasn't drafted by Vegas, via the expansion draft (6), via signature (5) or via trades (12)

[@officialshort8408]

Everything this man drops is heat, bro has some undeniable skill making these dope videos

[@ohtristan_]

i know people rip on vegas for how they run their team, but it really does fit in with how it is in vegas. rolling the dice and taking that chance

[@brianhum8765]

It's the most competitive way to run a team; with a fixed salary cap you HAVE to be maximizing each assets value/$. How do you go about doing that; don't give your players those stupid albatross contracts so that if they start declining (like Reilly Smith did), it's far easier to move them. You're also a sought after destination, in a state with no income tax and you're better than most teams at identifying undervalued players so you can make huge profits signing FAs/trading for players below their correct cost. Allowing emotions to get in the way of good decision making is what causes managers to do stupid things like handing out "faithful employee" and albatross contracts; you can ask teams like Detroit how that turns out.

[@erikschoff2272]

I love the Original Misfits

[@kylespratt4072]

7:07 even without Seattle involved in those stats..Vegas still wins. What is the 10 wins with the asterisk. It says 8 rounds won for Toronto and Vancouver?

[@cordawg89]

To be fair to Vegas, this was the genius of McPhee and the incompetence of other GMs to recognize what assets they had. Not giving an expansion team an adequate start makes it harder to build a fan base. I had no problem with the expansion draft other than trading to protect players

[@axe2grind244]

Well yea….now everyone knows all you have to do is pay the NHL $500 million and they will pilfer other teams players and give you a Stanley Cup. Did Columbus get the same treatment? What about Ottawa or San Jose? Nashville? Minny? Those expansion teams weren’t given playoff rosters, why was Vegas and Seattle?

[@MrGamman3yt]

Yes, exactly. If I were an owner, I'd be poed. And, nice calls for all the playoffs. Wow.

[@alvininthechipmonks]

"Given playoff rosters" 😂😂😂😂 keep crying loser

[@rickma6363]

@@MrGamman3yt you think the owners are pissed? Haha, they agreed to this and will soak up their tears of joy with their share of the $1,150,000,000 in expansion money.

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

Those teams shouldn't have been so cheap...duh.

[@darius3189]

How is it a problem? It was obviously part of the plan to have Seattle and Las Vegas be competitive from the very start in order to grow those markets so that the owners that bought those franchises get a return on investment.

[@tcbobb1613]

Because they want to grow in the south. Minnesota got rob

[@ChristopherM720]

Look, this was a one-time fluke. There had never been an expansion draft like this and no one understood how they should operate. Vegas had a plan and executed it. Which was pretty amazing, but notice how things changed with Seattle. No one was willing to give away any talent to avoid losing a player. It still took them 6 seasons to get the Cup, about as long as it took the Avs after the implosion of 16-17. I give their talent scouts and GM full marks, but, what happened that year shows how dumb everyone else was. Not repeatable. But enjoy the Cup. Toronto would happily trade a future William Carlson and anyone else to win one!

[@dixonhill1108]

You get the equivalent of 30 middle six players in the expansion draft how could you possibly fail?

[@esharp48]

I mean, he put it there himself, all players were averaging 27 points before playing in Vegas. Even the Kraken had their bumpy start and didn't see the improvement they saw this year until they had their 2OA pick Berniers hit the league and some serious moves over the summer. Everyone said Vegas was going to be trash at the beginning of their season. Everyone.

[@kftc1980]

No one was saying that at the time, that only became popular after they started winning.

[@thenightmaricsenpai524]

Everyone thought they'd suck in 2017-18. Even Foley (yes, their OWNER) expected them to struggle.

[@Seegrump]

Getting close to 100k man! Keep up the good work!

[@joeyisaac9726]

It also helps that free agents would rather play in Las Vegas

[@Navs126]

Vegas is scorching hot! Devils balls hot! No state tax and well run organization sure helps with bringing in players.

[@RagingKinezo]

Subscribed! Thanks for the authentic and genuine content, Rob! I can't stand the amount of AI generated content or AI voice over content (for literally everything!) that's out there. Especially in the hockey content section. Cheers and keep up the great work!

[@RobTalksHockey]

Thanks for the support (:

[@TheMrzero35]

Rangers fan since 1973. But when the Knights were born , I took them as a second team. Loved the reason for the nickname. They almost fell into the NHL trap of bringing names like Paccirety and Tatar. Then letting go of a Tuch for someone with damaged goods physically and mentally. What a great job ! Rangers 53 years 1 cup , Knights 6 years 1 cup. Hmmmmm

[@rileykazama3145]

Give me a break they won fare and square yeah they made big mistakes like trading away marc andre flurry and nate schmidt away and missing the playoffs was karma for doing flurry dirty but the golden knights were not the only team to make the cup final in ther 1st year that goes to the st Louis blues i hope for the next 20 years i hope Vegas wins the cup like it or Vegas is a hockey city they had teams in the past before get used to Vegas being in the playoffs because the Vegas golden knights are here to stay

[@BL00DPILE]

A lot of this doesn’t make sense, the reason they only had 4 drafted players on their team is literally because this team was gifted picking 30 players, most of them middle 6. Pick up a bunch of rejects from teams that don’t want them and throw the rest of your cap at free agents. Their GM predicted them winning within 6 years because this team has had their hand held the whole way through since 2017.

[@Yimvision]

It's not Vegas' fault that the rest of the league made stupid trades. George McPhee was better at scouting other teams rosters than their own GM's. It's that simple. It's one thing to lose a player in an expansion draft. But it's another thing entirely to give away draft picks and other players, in order to entice the Knights to select your best prospects, all so you can save guys who won't be in the NHL in a few seasons.

[@kftc1980]

At the time virtually everyone was saying “wow, this roster is crap.” The story has “evolved” since then.

[@ChristiantrospectiveGamer]

@@kftc1980 It's more memory-hole revisionist bullshit. The year they had their draft, ESPN power rankings pre-season had them 31st with the quote "At least they'll sell a lot of merchadise."

[@alvininthechipmonks]

"Gifted" 😂😂😂 keep crying loser. Seattle had the same opportunity and couldn't make lightning strike twice. So much revisionism

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

Actually, just out owner"d, out GM'd your team. Tell the truth.

[@RedRaiderLobo20]

I’m a Vegas fan, and if it’s not the Knights, I root for the Kraken. I love seeing the new kids on the block outsmart everybody.

[@JustinGreene0224]

Not going to front, I still miss Fluery. But I'll be damned if I can't argue with the results.

[@jlalonde1000]

I think its the Type of player more than the trades all players ready to go to war thats why Max had to go he always got small when he was needed in Montreal

[@melgreier1630]

Gary Bettman is hellbent on destroying the nhl .

[@pluck263]

Idk a lot of the players they picked were already solid or still developing

[@marc-andreviau3560]

They need to make a rule that only 50% of the salary of a player that your team drafter counts in the salary cap. Problem solved. cause it's too much investment for nothing when they are finally ready for nhl standards. (usually just a 2 years payoff).

[@NSco1996]

the 3rd team in 8 years to circumvent the cap to win the cup🙄 im a hawks fan and ill admit 2015 was bs

[@chrisbriault7234]

Since Bettman, no Canadian team has ever won the Stanley Cup

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

Yep, it's his fault for the lousy owners & GM's of Canadian based teams.

[@kashshhds8824]

I just want my my team to win one more cup that’s all I want but they refuse to rebuild

[@oilersridersbluejays]

Sounds like you’re a Flames fan.

[@maqywhaq]

The number of drafted players is probably not a great way to judge a new franchise like Vegas... Give it another 3-4 years, that metric will flesh out a bit better. Right now, that stat is like calling a rookie who scores 2 in his debut game a perennial 160 goal player.

[@MrLuchenkov]

Precisely. Vegas not drafting and making several bad moves of late will bite them. We've heaping praise upon a still very young franchise; in ten years from now, if they're firmly in the gutter because of very few good draft picks and an aging roster, we'll be singing a different tune. It gave them a cup but they are at their peak; it might look very different in ten years from now. We shall see.

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

@@MrLuchenkov Wow, predicting what might happen 10 years from now. Way to go out on a limb.

[@TheNBAfan101]

Well then I guess we’re a problem for the rest of the league 😎

[@freedomcave6127]

I've been waiting my whole life to see the leafs win thr Cup and then Vegas comes and wins in a few years? Not fair, they clearly gave Vegas too much as an expansion team. Screw the NHL for disrespecting all of the long time fans with a hand out to a new city!

[@AlphanumericCharacters]

Your organization sucks. Plain and simple.

[@rcstl8815]

St. Louis enters the chat.... 50 years to the cup.

[@YoungMatt81]

It's like the entire league got together to craft a perennial stanley cup contender

[@MrGamman3yt]

The league gets all the expansion money. I'm amazed the existing teams don't start a riot, or, every expansion team coming there? Let's put our goons on, and injure their stars. No, we wouldn't do that anymore. Ps, if Campbell played like 2021, and got a call or two, the oilers would have done better.

[@Tk3997]

This is stupid, there's literally almost no one left from the expansion draft, acting like that shit has anything to do with their present success is fucking stupid, but keep coping.

[@edward9]

One of your best videos. Great insights.

[@noahgoddard99]

What's up with the audio in this? Anyone else hearing loud random bass throughout?

[@biinja]

Vegas baby

[@tcbobb1613]

If they were in the north they would have got screwed like Minnesota

[@chrisholm9789]

Very interesting video but the chart about how many players Vegas drafted on their championship team is kinda pointless considering there’s been only so many years they’ve been in the league and they have traded a lot of good picks away

[@im.waldo.]

Always look forward towards the videos over the titles but you got some good takes

[@oxymoron7320]

It just baffles me how much NHL GMs were willing to pay to protect depth guys. You will never see anything like this expansion draft in the NHL again

[@ryanyoder8686]

I hope not

[@patrickmcneil9180]

There was a stark difference when Seattle came into the league, teams realised it made more sense to just let them take the best player off the list and go from there.

[@grantk330]

Just a few things. 1: No way u can butcher bjugstad more than u did. 2: McPhee isn’t scouting players or even really finding any of these guys he picks/trades for. He gets deals done, but the players are presented to him by the litany of scouts and ops guys in the organization. He’s not a wizard at finding players, he’s a wizard at finding guys who find players. 3: the island of misfit toys analogy is why this team performs at the level they do, the chip on the shoulder and overall mindset of these guys who teams pay to get rid of is why they’re so successful

[@thiagoprofili4806]

My opinion: the NHL fucked up the expansion drafts. 18 people being protecred was too much, however, 11 is too little. Vegas went to the stanley cup final in 2 years time, it is ridiculous. One thing is for a team to be competitive, another thing us a team to go to the final in 2 years. If nhl had made teams protect 13 or 14 players, vegas could have stayed competitive, but not that successful.

[@slasher1087]

They weren't supposed to be that competitive with the picks they did get. Not a single writer, anylist, youtuber, or betting line chose Vegas to do anything of note. I have actually been seeing a weird new wave of people saying vegas got a top 6 player from every team 😂😂. I'm wondering what draft they watched.

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

@@slasher1087 Too many people on drugs out there.

[@ariccua6101]

One of the most stacked teams to win the Cup. SHEEESH, they're a force.

[@garyclarkbrownjhs1432]

One of the most salient comments in this thread

[@nicehairlinesabrina]

id wanna do an nhl expansion team in game with the og expansion player rules... basically just a whole AHL lineup and literally no ahl team

[@byrd-is-the-word]

Vegas winning the cup is a massive loss for the NHL's future . it reinforces the current majority fan base belief the game is manipulated in a multitude of ways . in simple terms . the game is rigged . & how is it Vegas and Seattle have teams . yet Hamilton and Quebec do not . ?

[@kylespratt4072]

​@@JasonCGuitarOfficialno...Gary Bettman hates Canada..that's how

[@willsee7452]

Maybe I missed it, but who decided to alter the expansion draft rules? Commissioner? Owners? Was there a vote?

[@rickma6363]

The expansion fee for Vegas was $500 million and $650 million for Seattle. For Columbus and Minnesota it was $80 million.the owners all voted on it and made bank!

[@dabootvv]

haha rob, I remember the Vegas Video and it was spot on! BUT we couldn't knwo those guys would double their output together, some genius "look behind the curtain" moves and being a leafs fan: even if they would have the chance to have the same setup as an expansion team I am sure they would fuck up somehow :D

[@WClark-lp9vc]

GM Kelly McCrimmon had a big part of it too.

[@spectresound]

So what you're saying is George McPhee was as good at his job as Jimmy Johnson of the Dallas Cowboys and Greg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs. Maybe the expansion draft rules weren't the issue but lack of talent in the GM position of the other teams.

[@timjummichuck]

The expansion draft is ridiculous. Teams should be assembled before they get to the NHL. There's plenty of players looking for a shot.

[@Raj-ze8eg]

I think even bigger than the GM's picks were 18 angry guys who were abandoned by their teams...when a player gets mad or a contract year magical things can happen...now just imagine a team of guys thinking that way...also the coaches style nobody could solve until they met the Caps

[@jakerain2820]

I would hope most competent GM's could put together a contender starting from a clean slate and being able to pick from already established NHLers. Obviously vegas gambled and won, and theres a lot of fanbases that would love to see their team just win one in their lifetime. However, realistically how long is this sustainable with no farm system? Tampa bay, colorado, pittsburgh, detroit, chicago etc can/have been able to sustain cup contenders for very long periods. Detroit was a legit threat for the cup for at least 20 of their 25 year streak because of drafting and development AND FAs. Happy for vegas fans, truly, and seattle fans for already being playoff teams but the caveat will be, at some point. They will have to draft well. If they change the ltir rules for playoffs and the cap which also seems likely, drafting will become important much quicker. While yes, vegas won a chip and thats awesome for them, at some point in the near future their model will be unsustainable. Theyve basically just flipped expansion teams to have good short term success and suck later, than sucking at the start to be good later.

[@rickma6363]

They will contend for a few more years and will have Eichel to build around but I think they traded all of their 1st round d picks since 2017 except for 1. That will eventually come back to bite them but who cares, the won a cup! Right?!

[@jakerain2820]

@@rickma6363 Right they did win and nobody can take that away. Its very hard for me to be objective sometimes, although i try to be. Being a Redwing fan and seeing them be so good for so long, i also seen what they had to do to get to that point before the streak, and even in the pre salary cap they were able to draft and find gems in late rounds thanks to Jim Nill. It seems yzerman has been able to defy drafting odds so far as well and understands drafting very well and being patient is the key to long term success. Ive seen them win 4 cups, so im a little selfish in hoping they win a few more in my lifetime lol.

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

While some of your statement is true about drafting, Vegas just might have let the cat out of the bag about the fact that drafting may be overrated when it comes to building a winning team. It's what we all thought historically, and what we've been told. But maybe it's more important to build an elite pro scouting staff. I mean, even Florida only had 3 drafted players on their roster these playoffs. What does that tell you? Neither team really was playing with drafted players, yet there they were in the cup finals. Obviously drafting is important, I just think Vegas may have taught all of us that scouting may be an even more important factor once you get past the first round players. Everything after the 1st round is a crap shoot as far as evaluating talent. Evaluating talent of older players who've already made into the league, but are under utilized, may be the better route. The video even stated..."a few players you luck out with, but that many, it sure couldn't be all luck". I think Vegas exposed the league. They exposed the fact that most teams don't have competent GM's, or elite pro scouts, are boring, and aren't thinking outside the traditional box the way GM's are doing. A Connor Bedard is obvious. But past the first round, how easy is it to really evaluate an 18 y/o player vs evaluating players in the 20-24 y/o range(or older) the way McFee is doing. Vegas will have drafted players make their team. But I also think their philosophy is to find under utilized talent, along with making trades, and signing free agents. Vegas understands players want to play for that org, so trades & free agents will be a big part of how they operate going foreword, and likely keep them competitive for years on end. It very well be the new model for teams to catch up to.

[@jakerain2820]

@@Bouncer-id1rh my point is its not just developing but draft picks and prospects are also assets that can be used in trades. All teams have or should have great scouting. They all have the same tape and advanced stats but what happens when you dont actually draft, and dont build those extra assets is you handcuff your team when enough of your moves dont pan out. Theres nothing special about what vegas is doing. It comes down to odds. Vegas just hasnt been around long enough for the odds to hurt them a lot. But it will. Its inevitable and an absolute guarantee. Its vegas. They knew their best chance to gamble was now when the team is new still and have the assets to do so. Eventually EVERY team needs draft assets. Thats not so much an argument on development, but supplementing tradeable assets.

[@Bouncer-id1rh]

@@jakerain2820 Dude, of course drafts assets is important, and who says Vegas doesn't have that now? I see some pretty good young players on their Henderson team, a number of whom came in and played pretty well when they had some injuries this year. They like everyone else have players in the pipeline, plus like everyone else, drafts picks. They just don't have a Bedard in the pipeline, but who does? You act as if they have a bunch of beer league players only at the lower levels. But, Vegas has CLEARLY shown to be an elite org when it comes to their pro scouts evaluating talent, nobody in the league has done a better job in that dept. So when you factor they have talent in the pipeline, have shown they're great at evaluating under utilized talent, AND making the trades for that talent, are able to make trades for high end talent, and have no issues signing free agents, there's nothing currently that tells me that org is going to have issues putting a really good team on the ice for years to come...maybe not a Stanley Cup Champion, but good teams. Your problem is, you compare the rest of the league's incompetence and just assume it's inevitable for Vegas. Had you thought maybe not? I mean, Tampa's mngt is also one of the best in the league, how long has it been since Tampa has put a lousy team on the ice...hell, seems like it's been forever. They've had something like one losing season the last 13-14 years. Vegas is likely going to be the Tampa of the west for a long time. Yeah maybe in 2037 Vegas may be terrible, but don't act like you now they're going to be as bad as the rest of the morons GM's & owners that make up the majority of the league. You just wish that out of jealousy. Be honest.

[@michaelconley7865]

This is why I don’t understand what anyone would pay a billion for Ottawa. Just go the expansion route. I’m sure it’s more complicated than that, but it’s like the man said, you’re not inheriting someone else’s mistakes.

[@almVancouver]

Don't you worry about Leaf's picks. No, really, you don't have to worry. Dubas spent most of them fixing mistakes. Leafs have few high draft picks for the next few years.