Jump to content

Why are people hating on Vegas?


Paparanger

Recommended Posts

I don't dislike them at all. The "always the underdog" part makes me like them. It's just that, once again, I don't want to see them win the Cup in any of the first six years of their existence.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like their style of play, I dig the over-the-top pre-game.

I love that the arena is deafening.

I like their coach, George McFee is a nice man whom, I've met in at Hershey. 

I even think their white sweaters are okay. 

There is a lot to like about VGK. 

 

 

I am on record hating on the name, logo and color scheme.  Those are all a missed opportunity IMO.

I can't really hate on them beyond aesthetics though, they are such a good story.

I can't even hate on GB putting his thumb on the scale, if you expand in a city and tell them okay now suck for 10 years and hope for a generational talent...you're setting the move up for failure.  Icing a competitive team from the jump is smart business. 

The fact that the team and the city embraced each other after that horrible shooting is proof of our better angels in my book. 

Good luck I will look forward to the logo refresh in a couple of years. 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, mojo1917 said:

I like their style of play, I dig the over-the-top pre-game.

I love that the arena is deafening.

I like their coach, George McFee is a nice man whom, I've met in at Hershey. 

I even think their white sweaters are okay. 

There is a lot to like about VGK

I liked your post on general, but yes on all of this. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love it. I love the story. I love that fact that MAF is back in the SCF.

 

I can get the hate - especially from long suffering fans. But to me this is all about the players. This is basically a bunch of cast-offs (for any number of reasons). A bunch of "alleged" has-beens and never-weres that are three games (three f------ games!!) away from hoisting the Cup.  This is the real life hockey version of Major League. Heck, Charlie Sheen (aka Rick Vaughn) should drop the puck at the next game. "Wild Thing" should be played at every stoppage of play. 

 

To anyone who can't get on board, I say f--- you, Jobu. :DancingGrape:

 

 

th?id=OIP.C3LH9T4V0NZJeEaLx_P3GQHaE8&pid=15.1&P=0&w=273&h=183

 

  • Like 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎5‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 12:15 PM, rottenrefs said:

I'm delighted the Vegas Knights have come out and not done what every other expansion team in the country has done... Come out and let teams beat them for a couple decades. They've done well to pick out players nobody else wanted and shoved it in their face.

 

Well done!

Players nobody wanted? Wasn't each team allowed to protect just 9 or 11 players(including 1 goalie), depending on the positions of the players protected? That leaves alot of players available that somebody wanted. The expansion draft rules were setup very favorably for Vegas. The NHL very much wanted to see them be successful immediately.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, sweetshot said:

Players nobody wanted? Wasn't each team allowed to protect just 9 or 11 players(including 1 goalie), depending on the positions of the players protected? That leaves alot of players available that somebody wanted. The expansion draft rules were setup very favorably for Vegas. The NHL very much wanted to see them be successful immediately.

I'm sure each team has had much debate over who to protect and who to leave unprotected. As they do with every new expansion team.

Apparently previous expansion teams were only good for other clubs to rack up easy wins over. Nothing new there.

 

So if by chance a team decided to not protect someone there was a reason for it. They weren't wanted as bad as other players.

In Minnesota for the Wild there were some serious negotiations that took place. The team wanted Eric Staal and couldn't protect him. They negotiated for the Knights Erik Haula. But, the strawberry on top to keep the Knights from taking Staal was to allow them to snatch Alex Tuch too. Many teams did that. So why blame Vegas or the league for such foolish transactions? Nobody bent anybody's arm to wheel and deal players like that and Vegas obviously wasn't intimidated by established teams. They were shrewd and played it out very smart.

 

If there's any blame in those transactions it falls on the very teams who provided Vegas the extra players.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, rottenrefs said:

I'm sure each team has had much debate over who to protect and who to leave unprotected. As they do with every new expansion team.

Apparently previous expansion teams were only good for other clubs to rack up easy wins over. Nothing new there.

 

So if by chance a team decided to not protect someone there was a reason for it. They weren't wanted as bad as other players.

In Minnesota for the Wild there were some serious negotiations that took place. The team wanted Eric Staal and couldn't protect him. They negotiated for the Knights Erik Haula. But, the strawberry on top to keep the Knights from taking Staal was to allow them to snatch Alex Tuch too. Many teams did that. So why blame Vegas or the league for such foolish transactions? Nobody bent anybody's arm to wheel and deal players like that and Vegas obviously wasn't intimidated by established teams. They were shrewd and played it out very smart.

 

If there's any blame in those transactions it falls on the very teams who provided Vegas the extra players.

Not trying to take anything away from Vegas--I'm no great hockey mind but I probably would have taken just about all of the same players that Vegas did. The Haula/Staal/Tuch situation(and others) only came about because the expansion draft rules forced the Wild and other teams to face that predicament when deciding who they could protect.

There is a precedent for NHL expansion teams being successful--the first NHL expansion from 6 to 12 teams saw the expansion St.Louis Blues make it to the finals...The divisions were set-up to ensure that an expansion team would play for the cup--expansion teams were in the West and the original 6 in the East. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, rottenrefs said:

So why blame Vegas or the league for such foolish transactions?

 

Can't blame Vegas or the league, but were they foolish transactions?  Specifically, in the case of Minnesota, they thought they were in "win now" territory (that might have been the part that was foolish) and so did at least a sizeable portion of its fan base.  You cannot possibly allow Staal to leave for nothing to Vegas.    So they gave up what they thought were lesser players.   In the case of Haula--who I really like--they were lesser players.  But they were both still players they otherwise wouldn't have wanted to give up.

 

The Flyers--and 31 other teams--are about to face similar problems when Seattle drafts if they don't change the rules.   The Flyers didn't really have the Minnesota problem last time.  They had so few good players that they basically had what they wanted protected and the rest were "here, take one!"    This time will be different as they have a lot of good, young defensemen and there will be no way to protect all of them.  They'll have issues on the front end this time around, too, but it will likely be one of the kids on defense snatched up.   Everyone is calling the 2 instead of one foolish, but I'd entertain 2 from the "B" list--even though they may still be very good elsewhere--rather than give up an "A-lister."   


It's a hard judgement call.  I have no doubt Minnesota and its fans will end up missing Haula and Tuch in the not too distant future.  Especially because they're not quite as "win now" as thought.  But giving up Staal for absolutely nothing should have gotten Fletcher fired sooner than he was.

 

I quoted your post, but I've seen the "foolish transactions" thing quite a bit.   To you, but also to everyone else, this is just meant as, "What should [insert GM] have done?

 

Why I want to blame the league (specifically whoever agreed to the draft rules) is they cut into teams a bit too far.  It's almost as if they were only thinking of # of protections vs. roster when they actually made the "2-year pro" criteria.  I think teams should be able to better protect assets they've poured time and planning into.

 

Back to Philly:  they've gone out of their way to use high picks on defensemen and have judiciously brought them along slowly.  Just about the time they (and we fans) should be able to see the fruits of that with them all finally up as a unit, we're likely to lose one to Johnny Come Lately.   As a fanbase suffering years of a build and just about to see that change, that really sucks.   

 

It may be one of the reasons I don't like the first year organization winning the Cup:  they didn't do any work to build.  Instead, they were able to pilfer off other's work and pain of building and voila!   Not to say the staff and players didn't do a terrific job and not taking anything away from them individually or as a group.   But it just has the feel of Bob spending his money on a lottery ticket and John taking it just before the numbers are drawn and casting dispersions at Bob just because Bob isn't happy for him that  he just won a million dollars.

 

All that said, because they're playing Washington and because I do like the players and the coach, I'm hoping they beat the crap out of the Caps.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, ruxpin said:

 

Can't blame Vegas or the league, but were they foolish transactions? 

 

Trading away a 30 goal scorer to get them to pick up another pretty good player because he had a 5 million dollar contract (Florida) was foolish. There's really no getting around Tallon's idiocy there. If they win, Dale Tallon would have given them 2/3 of their top line, and set them up with a very good coach whom he almost literally dumped on the side of the road. By all rights, if Vegas wins, Florida should fire Dave Tallon while Marchessault is passing the Cup to Reilly Smith. And after the crap he went through when they canned him, I'd be happiest for Gallant.

 

Also, Pittsburgh giving them a 2nd and a 4th just to ensure they picked Fleury was kind of stupid too, though it didn't really have any effect on the outcome of this season for Vegas. Who else was Vegas really going to take off of that list? Rust? Hagelin? Fleury was if not the best, then among the top 3 available players in that entire draft. I get that there were cap considerations for Pittsburgh, but there's no way McPhee would have passed on Fleury just to spite Pittsburgh because they didn't give in to extortion. What would the benefit have been to him?

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, sweetshot said:

Not trying to take anything away from Vegas--I'm no great hockey mind but I probably would have taken just about all of the same players that Vegas did. The Haula/Staal/Tuch situation(and others) only came about because the expansion draft rules forced the Wild and other teams to face that predicament when deciding who they could protect.

There is a precedent for NHL expansion teams being successful--the first NHL expansion from 6 to 12 teams saw the expansion St.Louis Blues make it to the finals...The divisions were set-up to ensure that an expansion team would play for the cup--expansion teams were in the West and the original 6 in the East. 

As did having No Trade or Movement clauses with some of their players - whether they liked them or not. I think more than anything that created said predicaments for many teams.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@ruxpin believe it or not the talk in Minnesota was whether or not let Vegas grab Erik Haula or Matt Dumba. Haula, the Wild never seemed to find a decent role for him and out of many thousands of fans in Minnesota (more or less) upset they let him go, I was rather happy because I liked Haula a ton and was really frustrated they kept screwing with him by not using him right. IMO he deserved the opportunity and I'm very glad he's done what I pretty much expected he could do.

 

Listening to the radio today they had Lou Nanne there on KFAN (a local sports station.) The announcer was kind of questioning him about how well Vegas is doing, how the expansion draft worked, etc., etc. and when questioned if he thought fans were angry or jealous, he said they're envious. That sums it up huge if you as me. Okay, go ahead and ask me how often I agree with Lou Nanne? Aside from almost never this is one case out of about every hundred I agree with him. lol

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, AJgoal said:

 

Trading away a 30 goal scorer to get them to pick up another pretty good player because he had a 5 million dollar contract (Florida) was foolish. There's really no getting around Tallon's idiocy there. If they win, Dale Tallon would have given them 2/3 of their top line, and set them up with a very good coach whom he almost literally dumped on the side of the road. By all rights, if Vegas wins, Florida should fire Dave Tallon while Marchessault is passing the Cup to Reilly Smith. And after the crap he went through when they canned him, I'd be happiest for Gallant.

 

Also, Pittsburgh giving them a 2nd and a 4th just to ensure they picked Fleury was kind of stupid too, though it didn't really have any effect on the outcome of this season for Vegas. Who else was Vegas really going to take off of that list? Rust? Hagelin? Fleury was if not the best, then among the top 3 available players in that entire draft. I get that there were cap considerations for Pittsburgh, but there's no way McPhee would have passed on Fleury just to spite Pittsburgh because they didn't give in to extortion. What would the benefit have been to him?

I completely agree in the case of Florida. Pittsburgh too. 

 

Some others, including Minny, I'm not so sure. Those are certainly arguable too, though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, rottenrefs said:

Listening to the radio today they had Lou Nanne there on KFAN (a local sports station.) The announcer was kind of questioning him about how well Vegas is doing, how the expansion draft worked, etc., etc. and when questioned if he thought fans were angry or jealous, he said they're envious. That sums it up huge if you as me. Okay, go ahead and ask me how often I agree with Lou Nanne? Aside from almost never this is one case out of about every hundred I agree with him. lol

I think he's largely right, except for in the way I mentioned. 

 

For me, both are a part of it mixed with a general irritation with expansion as a concept when I think contraction is a better idea. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, ruxpin said:

I think he's largely right, except for in the way I mentioned. 

 

For me, both are a part of it mixed with a general irritation with expansion as a concept when I think contraction is a better idea. 

 

 

I heard some great points on this on the local talk show. The host basically said the NHL was scared stiff about Vegas looking like the expansion Ottawa Senators. Not sure if this is accurate but reincarnated the Senators had the worst overall record in their first three years of existence of any team in any sport anywhere.  Then there is the money factor.  The expansion fee back then was $50 million. Vegas cost $500 million. That's a lot of $$ to royally suck right off the bat.  Also - no cap when the Senators were added so teams weren't letting real NHL-caliber talent go because they were on bad contracts or simply couldn't afford them. It was a perfect mix to at least give Vegas a fighting change. Turns out McPhee was smarter than all of us.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/29/2018 at 10:17 AM, Vegas Always Wins said:

That is how it is if you are a true Knights fan.

 

I think it's too early to be able to define which one is a true fan or not, independently of Vegas winning the Cup (which I hope).

 

The true fans will be those who will be still there after a 10-game losing streak, after Vegas would miss the playoffs for a 3rd consecutive year, after a 1-7 rout at home vs the Coyotes... Only hard times will undercover fans and show real ones there.

 

Southern teams, especially new teams, have a more versatile fanbase. See the Ducks: they win a Cup, everybody declares themselves a Ducks fan from day 1. Two losing season in a row and the Arrowhead Pond is 3/4 empty.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, B21 said:

 

I heard some great points on this on the local talk show. The host basically said the NHL was scared stiff about Vegas looking like the expansion Ottawa Senators. Not sure if this is accurate but reincarnated the Senators had the worst overall record in their first three years of existence of any team in any sport anywhere.  Then there is the money factor.  The expansion fee back then was $50 million. Vegas cost $500 million. That's a lot of $$ to royally suck right off the bat.  Also - no cap when the Senators were added so teams weren't letting real NHL-caliber talent go because they were on bad contracts or simply couldn't afford them. It was a perfect mix to at least give Vegas a fighting change. Turns out McPhee was smarter than all of us.

 

And there's another thing that's going to help Vegas long term - Seattle's expansion. Vegas is exempt, so can trade for good players and hoard them. I don't think it will be as rampant with Seattle as it was with Vegas, but Vegas will be an option for teams that don't want to lose players for nothing.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think some of the theatrics are more than a little Disney-on-ice-ish.  However having Michael Buffer announce the starting lineups was great...even the players were enjoying it and I thought it fit perfectly.  

 

As far as Vegas I've kind of done a bit of a 180 over time.  I teased Vegas a lot at the start; but part of it was the naive nature of some of the things they got worked up about.  The roster...well that's what you get for $500 versus the far smaller expansion fees teams like the Wild / Blue Jackets and others paid.  As former Wild Assistant GM Mike Lynn discusses; expansion teams were brought in to be cannon fodder.  When they started to play, I liked their team's speed and youthful energy.  They were a damn fun team to watch and its just been positive energy from the start.  IMO, it made them pretty hard to hate.  They're not cheap, they play hard and fast.  

 

I think the NHL recognized that having expansion teams be cannon fodder isn't really great for developing a fanbase.  The Golden Knights did their homework, but they also had the stars align pretty well too.  They had a pretty easy schedule to start...and started piling up the wins.  But even they will admit that no one saw a lot of the guys having that many career years; yet with the guys they picked...they picked players entering their primes.  You don't have teams like that otherwise...you just can't; and that was to benefit Vegas big time.  Plus GM's made stupid deals to protect other players and ended up giving Vegas picks and more assets they could use.  The Wild are a prime example of that.  We gave up Alex Tuch and Erik Haula so they wouldn't take Dumba or Brodin.  Worth it?  IMO, no...but that's what teams did.  Look at Columbus; letting a talent like William Karlsson go...yikes!  

 

However, would he or Haula or Tuch had the opportunities they had in Vegas.  Probably not.  So that worked out pretty awesome for them.  Haula had 29 goals...Tuch had almost 40 points.  When the Wild were bounced from the 1st round by the Jets; another team built largely through the draft and had been awful for a long time...I began to root for the Golden Knights because I kind of want to stick it to the Wild's face.  I want them to see their mistake loom as large as possible; for not recognizing their potential and understanding how placating overpriced vets past their prime is not a formula for success.   

 

Might they win a cup in their first season.  Very possible...but we'd all be thrilled if that could happen.  The Wild / Blue Jackets and other expansions never had that chance.  But the rules were way different.  Hell there wasn't even a salary cap.  Honestly...look at Minnesota, Columbus, Atlanta (Thrashers) and Nashville's opening night roster during their first seasons.  It was pretty ugly.  However, is that smart?  Start the new clubs and have them just get obliterated and hope the novelty of the new team sells tickets for a club that is likely just hoping to avoid being blown out most nights?  

 

I can be petty and be jealous of that...or just admit its a different situation...and be ok with it.  Go Knights, for now.  

 

Besides...no matter what happens in the Finals, the Golden Knights STILL haven't beaten the Minnesota Wild (or the NY Islanders).  

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Villette/Lavaux said:

 

I think it's too early to be able to define which one is a true fan or not, independently of Vegas winning the Cup (which I hope).

 

The true fans will be those who will be still there after a 10-game losing streak, after Vegas would miss the playoffs for a 3rd consecutive year, after a 1-7 rout at home vs the Coyotes... Only hard times will undercover fans and show real ones there.

 

Southern teams, especially new teams, have a more versatile fanbase. See the Ducks: they win a Cup, everybody declares themselves a Ducks fan from day 1. Two losing season in a row and the Arrowhead Pond is 3/4 empty.

 

Honda Center has a lot of empty seats...they barely are able to fill 3/4ths of them for the playoffs.  Still, way better than Florida (which is a fun team to watch actually) Arizona...and Carolina as clubs who struggle to get butts in the seats.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't really understand the hate either. 

 

Good for Vegas. It's good for hockey and it's good for the NHL.

 

That being said, I feel the frustration of teams having to give up players. In the Flyers' case, it was Bellemare. No great loss. But next time around, it could very likely be a young defenseman that will come and disrupt all the hard work the Flyers have done in scouting, drafting, developing, and planning. This is above and beyond the profit-sharing that is also a bit strange - the Flyers and other profitable teams have to subsidize teams that can't turn a profit and run a successful business. 

 

I know, it's just one player. And in the end, the existing teams' ownership VOTED for expansion and ACCEPTED the expansion draft rules. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/28/2018 at 12:15 PM, rottenrefs said:

I'm delighted the Vegas Knights have come out and not done what every other expansion team in the country has done... Come out and let teams beat them for a couple decades. They've done well to pick out players nobody else wanted and shoved it in their face.

 

Well done!

 

QFT and +1!

 

Unlike the Wild.....

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/29/2018 at 9:05 AM, ruxpin said:

 

If you stop looking at porn, maybe your caps lock won't get stuck so much.

 

Yeah, I really do hate the Caps.  What of it?  I prefer players that don't kiss their sticks and choke.

 

  Instant CLASSIC!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think this group of players that Vegas has assembled were guys that teams didn't want anymore.  I think they still wanted them, but just didn't have the spots to protect them.  Its way different than the expansion drafts of old where you got 4th liners / minor league journey man and old vets waiting to retire and that was it.  

 

The Wild took its first draft and selected a bunch of older Europeans just so they'd have some more talent on their roster.  The guys from those old expansion drafts, they were truly players teams probably didn't really want anymore.  Just sayin'...

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, brelic said:

I know, it's just one player. And in the end, the existing teams' ownership VOTED for expansion and ACCEPTED the expansion draft rules. 

 

Don't forget the cut of those expansion fees, either. :DancingGrape:

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...