NHL IN SLC Utah 2024/25

[UNLV2001]

On 4/18/2024 at 10:32 AM, utenation said:

Downtown was a huge party. They temporarily looked the other way on some laws too during this time. I was walking around downtown outside double fisting going from bar to bar and venue to venue. Pretty cool times. 

Outstanding display of those Wyoming roots Sir !!!! 

[SharkTanked]

On 4/18/2024 at 10:34 AM, utenation said:

I get that some people are mad about this but the situation on Phx became somewhat toxic.  They had their chance.  It wasn't just Smith looking to jump on this. Looks like the NHL was pushing this as well. 

 

The situation in Phoenix has been toxic for decades. Hell, the league had to take over ownership of the team at one point. The rest of the hockey world has marveled at how many opportunities PHX has been given despite other legitimate markets going without.

The stigma against PHX is so bad, that everyone in hockey believed VGK was destined to fail because it was in the desert like PHX. The Yotes have been the biggest joke in hockey since inception.

I think the move to SLC is brilliant and will be wildly successful. The NHL has a problem with being far too parochial and getting in its own way, but Vegas, Seattle, and now SLC shows it is starting to turn some winners finally.

[utenation]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:40 AM, SharkTanked said:

The situation in Phoenix has been toxic for decades. Hell, the league had to take over ownership of the team at one point. The rest of the hockey world has marveled at how many opportunities PHX has been given despite other legitimate markets going without.

The stigma against PHX is so bad, that everyone in hockey believed VGK was destined to fail because it was in the desert like PHX. The Yotes have been the biggest joke in hockey since inception.

I think the move to SLC is brilliant and will be wildly successful. The NHL has a problem with being far too parochial and getting in its own way, but Vegas, Seattle, and now SLC shows it is starting to turn some winners finally.

Smith has mentioned the VGK business model several times throughout this. You can't argue the success of your team in such a short time,  Some fans are frustrated with Smith and how bad the Jazz are right now but we clearly tanked for draft picks this year. We have the right Admin in place for this. I have confidence Smith knows what he's doing.   

[masterfrog]

I’m not sure that draft picks mean as much as they used to in the NBA. The best way to build your franchise now is free agency and the sign and trade. 

[Iam4wyo]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:48 AM, utenation said:

Smith has mentioned the VGK business model several times throughout this. You can't argue the success of your team in such a short time,  Some fans are frustrated with Smith and how bad the Jazz are right now but we clearly tanked for draft picks this year. We have the right Admin in place for this. I have confidence Smith knows what he's doing.   

The thing he is missing from that equation (VGK), is that his team will not be afforded the option to cherry pick the NHL's best, and essentially have an all-star caliber team, right out of the gate.  And as such, that process is still reaping benefits for the VGK.  

[retrofade]

On 4/18/2024 at 1:32 PM, SharkTanked said:

Seems to me that the Yotes were given more opportunity than maybe any other sports franchise in history to get this thing off the ground, and they have shit the bed for 30 yrs. Have they hung a banner for best farm system? It sure as hell hasn't produced any modicum of success.

Also sounds to me like your post here just proves the guy is a good businessman with the acumen to pull this off. 

It seems to me that you're a fucking idiot who doesn't understand a single thing and is supporting another billionaire's efforts to take a team away from their home. Fuck you. 

[UNLV2001]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:26 AM, Iam4wyo said:

The thing he is missing from that equation (VGK), is that his team will not be afforded the option to cherry pick the NHL's best, and essentially have an all-star caliber team, right out of the gate.  And as such, that process is still reaping benefits for the VGK.  

Outside of Marc-Andre Fleury, name the all-star caliber players the VGK landed in their expansion draft 

[utenation]

On 4/18/2024 at 12:26 PM, Iam4wyo said:

The thing he is missing from that equation (VGK), is that his team will not be afforded the option to cherry pick the NHL's best, and essentially have an all-star caliber team, right out of the gate.  And as such, that process is still reaping benefits for the VGK.  

I think he was referring to the way Vegas is ran. Not roster.  Obviously each situation is different but I think the team has some draft capital. 

[retrofade]

On 4/18/2024 at 1:34 PM, utenation said:

I get that some people are mad about this but the situation in Phx became somewhat toxic.  They had their chance.  It wasn't just Smith looking to jump on this. Looks like the NHL was pushing this as well. 

 

 I always love it when idiots claim to know things that they have no concept of. 

Get fucked. 

[utenation]

On 4/18/2024 at 12:15 PM, masterfrog said:

I’m not sure that draft picks mean as much as they used to in the NBA. The best way to build your franchise now is free agency and the sign and trade. 

The draft is hit and miss.  Utah isn't exactly a place NBA All Stars flock to. We can get free agents but we aren't LA, Boston, NY, Miami etc. 

[utenation]

On 4/18/2024 at 12:43 PM, retrofade said:

 I always love it when idiots claim to know things that they have no concept of. 

Get +++++ed. 

Instead of getting pissed, educate me then. You're the one blowing a fuse here. 

[Iam4wyo]

On 4/18/2024 at 12:42 PM, utenation said:

I think he was referring to the way Vegas is ran. Not roster.  Obviously each situation is different but I think the team has some draft capital. 

Likely correct.  But part of that (how they are run) they benefitted (and still do somewhat) with having that original roster and staff.  Trade chips galore, for years.

[Iam4wyo]

On 4/18/2024 at 12:42 PM, UNLV2001 said:

Outside of Marc-Andre Fleury, name the all-star caliber players the VGK landed in their expansion draft 

That is a neat list, but surely you remember the process, and how the NHL forced teams to protect certain players, and let others be selected.  Year one, VGK finishes first in their division, and makes the cup finals against the scumbag Caps.  In fact, VGK have made the playoffs in 5 of 6 seasons...some of which is certainly attributed to that first "draft", not only for what they accomplished that year, but the trades and moves years after.  

With the original roster - outside of the obvious, Fleury, most teams would have loved to have Neal, Perron, Hunt, Matteau, Haula, Eakin, not to mention, Smith, Karlsson, Reaves, and Marchessault.  

[UNLV2001]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:58 AM, Iam4wyo said:

That is a neat list, but surely you remember the process, and how the NHL forced teams to protect certain players, and let others be selected.  Year one, VGK finishes first in their division, and make the cup finals against the scumbag Caps.  In fact, VGK have made the playoffs in 5 of 6 seasons...some of which is certainly attributed to that first "draft", not only for what they accomplished that year, but the trades and moves years after.  

WIth the original roster - outside of the obvious, Fleury, most teams would have loved to have Neal, Perron, Hunt, Matteau, Haula, Eakin, not to mention, Smith, Karlsson, Reaves, and Marchessault.  

Never heard of the two highlighted names ?!!? Some guys had career seasons, but the first season was more fluke than some NHL driven all-star team - otherwise some of those initial players might have stuck around longer 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/30-players-taken-vegas-expansion-draft-now/

There were other moves being made around the draft, of course. For instance, the Blue Jackets sent Vegas David Clarkson plus first- and second-round picks to ensure they took William Karlsson in the expansion draft. Safe to say Columbus would like a do-over on that one.

Columbus Blue Jackets: William Karlsson, C
As mentioned above, Columbus traded their first-round pick to Vegas to make sure they didn’t take the likes of forward Josh Anderson or goalie Joonas Korpisalo. Anderson just had a breakout season, scoring 27 goals, and Korpisalo will be a featured piece of Columbus’ next season — but would they take a do-over on this considering Karlsson has emerged as a top-six centre with an excellent two-way game? The 26-year-old Karlsson just re-upped with Vegas last month for eight years and a $5.9-million cap hit.

Minnesota Wild: Erik Haula, C
An RFA at the time, Vegas took Haula and then immediately signed him to a three-year deal with a $2.75-million cap hit. Haula was great in Year 1 for Vegas, scoring 29 goals and 55 points, which were starkly more than the 15 and 26 he posted the year prior. But the Golden Knights had to be persuaded to take Haula because the Wild were going to have to leave a core player unprotected — and that ended up being Matt Dumba. So to effectively protect Dumba, Minnesota also sent Alex Tuch to Vegas — he just broke out with 52 points as a 23-year-old last season. Vegas signed Tuch last October for the long term (seven years) and a very manageable $4.75-million cap hit as he figures to be a prominent power forward for the franchise. Haula, who was limited to just 15 games in 2018-19 by injury, was a cap casualty and traded to Carolina for prospect Nicolas Roy and a fifth-round pick in June.

Nashville Predators: James Neal, LW
At the time, we were having a hard time seeing how Vegas would acquire enough scoring in the expansion draft — defencemen were going to be easy enough to come by, but forwards? Nashville had to protect a number of core players, including four defencemen, so when it became clear Neal would be exposed, that was one of the few choices everyone knew Vegas was going to make. Neal had one year left on his contract when Vegas scooped him up, and he scored 25 goals for them. But when free agency hit, Neal signed on with Calgary — and we all know how much of a disaster that turned into. The Flames traded Neal and his $5.75-million cap hit to Edmonton this summer.

St. Louis Blues: David Perron, LW
While the Karlsson-Marchessault-Smith line got all the hype in Year 1 for Vegas, Perron put up a career season on the second line. He scored 66 points in 70 games, hit free agency on July 1, 2018 and signed back with St. Louis for four years and a $4-million cap hit. Good move, considering he’s now a Stanley Cup champion.

 

[SharkTanked]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:41 AM, retrofade said:

It seems to me that you're a +++++ing idiot who doesn't understand a single thing and is supporting another billionaire's efforts to take a team away from their home. +++++ you. 

What "home?' Their home that wanted them so badly they would never give them an arena? 

5k collage barn? 

[SharkTanked]

On 4/18/2024 at 11:58 AM, Iam4wyo said:

That is a neat list, but surely you remember the process, and how the NHL forced teams to protect certain players, and let others be selected.  Year one, VGK finishes first in their division, and makes the cup finals against the scumbag Caps.  In fact, VGK have made the playoffs in 5 of 6 seasons...some of which is certainly attributed to that first "draft", not only for what they accomplished that year, but the trades and moves years after.  

With the original roster - outside of the obvious, Fleury, most teams would have loved to have Neal, Perron, Hunt, Matteau, Haula, Eakin, not to mention, Smith, Karlsson, Reaves, and Marchessault.  

I mean ya gotta ice a team somehow and Seattle had the same rules...

Many of those players you listed, their teams gave us draft picks to take them.

The issues wasn't the process, the issue was how badly GM's mismanaged their rosters against the salary cap. Not to mention some had really bad talent evaluation. VGK actually provided a cap relief for many teams to dump middling players. And yes, Karlsson, Smith, Marchy, Perron, Hunt (lol), Eakin (lol), and Haula (lol) were considered very middling players on unfriendly contracts. Not sure Eakin or Hunt are even in the league, and Haula has been on like 3 teams in the last 4 yrs. The only legit prospect/steal was Theodore, possibly Tuch.

Marchy was thrown in as a sweetner so we would take Smith. Pens gave us picks to take Fleury and Minny threw in Tuch so we would take Haula.

The advantage Vegas had was a few GM's who shit the bed to protect the wrong players and gave us all kinds of draft picks which we then used to trade for legit players. 

You can't really say there was some inherent advantage in the process when that's what went down.

[Iam4wyo]

Whoa, the Vegas types sure are sensitive when it comes to their hockey "expansion" team.  6 years in existence, 5 playoffs made.  Definitely nothing to do with the draft.  

[SharkTanked]

On 4/18/2024 at 12:31 PM, Iam4wyo said:

Whoa, the Vegas types sure are sensitive when it comes to their hockey "expansion" team.  6 years in existence, 5 playoffs made.  Definitely nothing to do with the draft.  

Not sensitive, just pointing out that there is a lot more to it than just the draft.

Superior management. Inferior division. It wasn't really the draft rules, it was the idiot GM's panicking and giving us much more than they had to, to protect players that they probably shouldn't have been protecting. Our only advantage was going first and alone. Notice GM's didn't make the same idiot moves when Seattle rolled around. GM's were anxious for a cap dump of middling contracts, and Vegas took them. That they made a winner out of them is superior management. That we have been able to land pretty much every big name free agent since is superior management and superior environment while using the assets that the idiot GM's dumped on us from the draft.

[UNLV2001]

 

[CKS007]

And it's official.

 

https://www.fox13now.com/sports/nhl-in-slc/its-official-nhl-approves-coyotes-relocation-to-salt-lake-city