***OFFICIAL NHL PLAYOFFS THREAD***

[JWolf74]

You Clemson folks big hockey fans? I'm a Blues fan but Vegas is my #2. Always great to see the Avs lose, and in absolute dumpster fire fashion. I was living in STL when Kroenke tried to extort the taxpayers into building him a new stadium for the Rams, when he never intended on keeping them there. F**k that guy.

@St. Louis Hawk

 

[Aardvark86]

You Clemson folks big hockey fans? I'm a Blues fan but Vegas is my #2. Always great to see the Avs lose, and in absolute dumpster fire fashion. I was living in STL when Kroenke tried to extort the taxpayers into building him a new stadium for the Rams, when he never intended on keeping them there. F**k that guy.

@St. Louis Hawk

Not a particular Vegas fan, but definitely a torts fan and coach salty liquid of love is a whiner. So I'll be cheering for Vegas, and especially for Nick Dowd who deserves a Cup.

 

[St. Louis Hawk]

You Clemson folks big hockey fans? I'm a Blues fan but Vegas is my #2. Always great to see the Avs lose, and in absolute dumpster fire fashion. I was living in STL when Kroenke tried to extort the taxpayers into building him a new stadium for the Rams, when he never intended on keeping them there. F**k that guy.

@St. Louis Hawk

F the NFL. F Roger Goodell. F Jerry Jones. And most of all, F Stan Kroenke.

 

[SeventhSon]

I don't want to root for Vegas with all of the built in advantages they were handed in expansion, but the players on that team are hard not to root for when my team has already been eliminated.

 

[Aardvark86]

I don't want to root for Vegas with all of the built in advantages they were handed in expansion, but the players on that team are hard not to root for when my team has already been eliminated.

I had that same qualm in their earlier years, but they've graduated from that imo.

honestly though, in retrospect, in the end it was probably a really smart thing to do for a league that is behind other major sports, with a spotty record in sun belt locales -- provide a new franchise a quick path to success to drive fan loyalty and stability and let the sport take root in a town that has otherwise has limited sports history. That said, I also don't think it was intuitively obvious for Vegas to have pursued the strategy they did in expansion -- the idea of a roster of guys at the median beating a team comprised of the typical "normal range" of guys is not something I think i'd ever really seen tried before in sports. So Kudos to George McPhee on that one.

 

[SeventhSon]

I had that same qualm in their earlier years, but they've graduated from that imo.

honestly though, in retrospect, in the end it was probably a really smart thing to do for a league that is behind other major sports, with a spotty record in sun belt locales -- provide a new franchise a quick path to success to drive fan loyalty and stability and let the sport take root in a town that has otherwise has limited sports history. That said, I also don't think it was intuitively obvious for Vegas to have pursued the strategy they did in expansion -- the idea of a roster of guys at the median beating a team comprised of the typical "normal range" of guys is not something I think i'd ever really seen tried before in sports. So Kudos to George McPhee on that one.

That front office did an incredible job of identifying players left unprotected that had more value than their existing contracts indicated, for sure.

I would also agree that 9(?) years is time enough for that scenario to have run it's course.

 

[Aardvark86]

That front office did an incredible job of identifying players left unprotected that had more value than their existing contracts indicated, for sure.

I would also agree that 9(?) years is time enough for that scenario to have run it's course.

Indeed, most of the guys driving the team now are trade acquisitions. Notably, McPhee hasn’t been the gm for that. Drafting, rather than trading, has always been his superpower.

 

[JWolf74]

I don't want to root for Vegas with all of the built in advantages they were handed in expansion, but the players on that team are hard not to root for when my team has already been eliminated.

I tend to agree, but tip of the cap to the front office for keeping it going.

My Blues were part of the next 6 went 0-3 in the finals before the league started expanding again. The miracle run in '19 was just that, and I'll love it forever. But we're no where close to getting back to the finals. I'd love to have a front office like Vegas. We'll see how Steener does after taking the reigns.

 

[Hawkedup]

Incredibly furious and frustrated Avs fan here. I am not even sure why I am so pissed today as I knew this series was over when Vegas tied the game up Sunday night. It's depressing here in Colorado today. Mackinnon is a prick and I am about tired of his bull ****. I would be ok if the Avs parted ways with Nate. I do like Bednar a lot but I think it may be time for him to go as well.

 

[SeventhSon]

Incredibly furious and frustrated Avs fan here. I am not even sure why I am so pissed today as I knew this series was over when Vegas tied the game up Sunday night. It's depressing here in Colorado today. Mackinnon is a prick and I am about tired of his bull ****. I would be ok if the Avs parted ways with Nate. I do like Bednar a lot but I think it may be time for him to go as well.

People that are saying this is an "upset of the century" situation based on regular season records are discounting the fact that Vegas was missing their goaltender for more than 1/3 of the season.

I'm not saying that this wasn't an upset, but maybe that softens the blow a little bit for folks like you.

Side note: My brother-in-law is an Avs fan and his son(who has played for Team USA in Prague, Czech Republic on a U14 team as goaltender) is a Vegas fan. I'll see them this weekend and am curious to see how uncomfortable their house will have been this week lol.

 

[Mufasa94]

I had that same qualm in their earlier years, but they've graduated from that imo.

I don’t think it can definitively be said that the favorable expansion rules have run their course. Vegas also stockpiled a good number of additional draft picks from deals related to their original player selections.

…That said, I also don't think it was intuitively obvious for Vegas to have pursued the strategy they did in expansion -- the idea of a roster of guys at the median beating a team comprised of the typical "normal range" of guys is not something I think i'd ever really seen tried before in sports. So Kudos to George McPhee on that one.

Agree that their GMs, decision makers, and players deserve credit for the success the team has had.