NHL season 2017/2018

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Found out my sister's friend put $400USD on Vegas at the 500-1. They called last week wanting to settle at 80k.

They were calling people at the start of the playoffs looking to settle some 500-1 bets from the start of the season.

Judging from last night's game I don't know if i'd walk with the $80K or risk the $200K.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

The Knights now have more Stanley Cup finals appearances in the last 50 years than the Leafs. That's depressing.

Should disband the Leafs, then get a new expansion franchise for Toronto and hire whoever just assembled the Vegas team to build it. Then you'd have a chance

[suburbanite]

Vegas is actually ridiculously fun to watch. The team basically took a bunch of fringe top 6 forwards who now probably have the narrowest spread in terms of talent from top-to-bottom out of any team in the league. This allows them to roll out 4 lines who basically all play the same style and can wear teams down in the first 5 minutes of a game.

Not many teams have that ability given they tend to be a bit top heavier. The Oilers obviously can't play the same way when Strome and Lucic are on the ice as they do when Mcdavid is on. This lets opponents gameplan accordingly. You can't really do much in terms of matchups to get an advantage against Vegas. You send your checking line against their top line? Their fourth line will come out and keep an intensity that your other groups can't keep up with. They basically send out wave after wave to keep up constant pressure and grind down any opponent.

Gerard Gallant deserves all the praise in the world.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

The team basically took a bunch of fringe top 6 forwards who now probably have the narrowest spread in terms of talent from top-to-bottom out of any team in the league. This allows them to roll out 4 lines who basically all play the same style and can wear teams down in the first 5 minutes of a game.

Exactly this. They have a legit #1 line and three #3 lines.

Top line playing 20 mins a night. 4th line getting about 12 mins.

All 6 D are around 20 mins a night.

Pretty balanced utilization.

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Gerard Gallant deserves all the praise in the world.

100%

[esquire]

^ How will any coach ever top what Gallant is pulling off here? If VGK wins the cup it will probably stand alongside the Billy Mosienko hat trick in the annals of virtually unbreakable records.

[suburbanite]

Apparently 44% of televisions in Vegas were tuned into the game last night as well. I really hope their early success can solidify a solid fanbase that sticks around when things aren't going as well or when the NFL arrives.

[esquire]

^ I don't think they need to worry too much about the NFL anymore... the Golden Knights have quite likely locked down a solid local fanbase for some time to come.

It would be interesting to hear about the reckoning this event will surely trigger in team boardrooms across the NHL.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by esquire

It would be interesting to hear about the reckoning this event will surely trigger in team boardrooms across the NHL.

Indeed. Maybe you don't need superstars to have a Stanley Cup winning franchise. Maybe it's better to have a solid even team with good quality middle of the road talent willing to buy into the "system". You could save oodles of money and not even get near the salary cap with such a team.

Maybe the era of prima donnas is over..........

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Indeed. Maybe you don't need superstars to have a Stanley Cup winning franchise. Maybe it's better to have a solid even team with good quality middle of the road talent willing to buy into the "system". You could save oodles of money and not even get near the salary cap with such a team.

Maybe the era of prima donnas is over..........

That's not really how it works. Vegas is a unique situation in that they acquired either underappreciated players or ones that everyone knew were good but just couldn't be fit in a teams protection list. You don't just pluck William Karlsson's and Jonathan Marchessault's off of the free agency tree or everyone would. Those two are not going to be making a combined $1.75 Million for much longer. If you're lucky you get maybe one or two seasons of over-performance relative to someones contract before it corrects itself. Vegas is just unique in the sense that all of those out-performers are aligned in one year given the expansion.

[JHikka]

Vegas was able to hand pick every player on their roster with both a GM and coach in place. Only expansion teams can do that. The lesson to be learned for current/future GMs is to value their players better or to be smarter in their valuations and asset management. Some teams are absolutely dreadful at this. The more young guys and more fancy stats guys we get into front offices the less likely a Vegas scenario is to happen again.

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Apparently 44% of televisions in Vegas were tuned into the game last night as well.

But I was told the arena was mostly tourists and the local market didn't care!1!!1one

Originally Posted by suburbanite

I really hope their early success can solidify a solid fanbase that sticks around when things aren't going as well or when the NFL arrives.

I don't think the NFL has a whole lot of goodwill lately. People either really like the NFL or really hate it, it seems. It's the epitome of entertainment sports for better or worse, and the NFL is the epitome of the big fatcat sports owner taking cities hostage for stadiums. It'll be interesting to see how well Vegas latches on to the NFL...it hasn't exactly been a fairy tale in their return to LA.

Originally Posted by esquire

How will any coach ever top what Gallant is pulling off here?

I can't think of a scenario where a coach more overwhelmingly deserves the Jack Adams than this year with Gallant. He's arguably the best coach in the league at this point.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Vegas was able to hand pick every player on their roster with both a GM and coach in place. Only expansion teams can do that. The lesson to be learned for current/future GMs is to value their players better or to be smarter in their valuations and asset management. Some teams are absolutely dreadful at this. The more young guys and more fancy stats guys we get into front offices the less likely a Vegas scenario is to happen again.

People can talk about the advantage Vegas had as much as they want. Fact is, even after their special draft the vast majority of people and even players in the league thought they were going to be garbage and projected to finish dead last. not really fair to retrospectively call them lucky to be an expansion team.

[HomeInMyShoes]

^Yep. No one from NHL.com had them making the playoffs. Then again, two of those writers had Dallas hoisting the cup and one of them had Edmonton hoisting the cup. I only saw one prediction that was showing Vegas topping 70 regular season points and that was
EA Sports in their simulate the season. They predicted a Tampa Bay / Edmonton Stanley Cup.

[khabibulin]

Originally Posted by lio45

Should disband the Leafs, then get a new expansion franchise for Toronto and hire whoever just assembled the Vegas team to build it. Then you'd have a chance

Interesting enough, it was the same GM who literally assembled the current rosters of the Capitals and the Golden Knights. George McPhee.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

That's not really how it works. Vegas is a unique situation in that they acquired either underappreciated players or ones that everyone knew were good but just couldn't be fit in a teams protection list. You don't just pluck William Karlsson's and Jonathan Marchessault's off of the free agency tree or everyone would. Those two are not going to be making a combined $1.75 Million for much longer. If you're lucky you get maybe one or two seasons of over-performance relative to someones contract before it corrects itself. Vegas is just unique in the sense that all of those out-performers are aligned in one year given the expansion.

Vegas will not be able to sign all of their players next year, half of them are at the end of their contracts.

Karlsson, Perron, Nash, Miller and Theodore are among the players who need contracts.

[MonctonRad]

Holtby!!!!!

[suburbanite]

If Washington wins the cup that save will go down as one of the best plays in franchise history for sure.

[DoubleK]

Did Alex Tuch get any sleep last night?

[DoubleK]

Anyone think we will see a game 6?

I'm thinking no. Lots of the series were won on the road so far this year. And it's bizarre how little overtime there has been. Last one was game 7 in the WAS/PIT series.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Yep, not much OT for sure. 10/83 games. It was 27/87 games for last season's playoffs.

I really have no clue what might happen tonight. I would lean to there will be a game six because the exta day off will make Washington tighter for the potential clinch game.

[MonctonRad]

I'm hoping for a game 6 too. It would be nice to see the Caps win at home.

Of course it would be dangerous if Vegas won this game. It might energize them enough for a comeback.