Eichel’s ***** ass is gonna get a Cup

[OpIv37]

All I will say is this: If Buffalo had the crew we do now WITH Eichel, the Cup might well be raised in WNY.

The question I have with the Golden Knights is this: Yes, they have GM's who aren't afraid to wheel & deal. But you also have to build a foundation for a consistent winning team. You have to draft well. Can anyone honestly say that Vegas has a good farm system? What's going to happen when players like Pietrangelo, Marchessault, etc age out or their contracts become untenable? Then what do the Golden Knights do?

Seattle is even more new to the NHL than Vegas and it only took them 2 years to get to the playoffs. They've drafted well and made decent FA signings.

Thing is, that is how the expansion draft was designed.

I hate Bettman, but he was wise to be the first of the major North American sports leagues to put a team in Vegas. The problem was that a middle American desert city isn’t exactly a prime hockey market, so they had to find a way to build a team that could be successful quickly. They did that correctly. The fans bought in.

Looking forward, other teams are better stocked in their farm systems. But they got the cup and hopefully earned the fan base.

[Mike13]

What was even more satisfying than my adopted home city team win, was that ****hole state Florida not only LOST the Stanley Cup but the NBA Championship in the SAME WEEK!!!!

On consecutive days!!! AWESOME!!!


Maybe Florida can become THREE-PEAT LOSER if the Tampa Bay Rays make it to the World Series and LOSE THAT TOO!!!!


Talk about pure Schadenfreude!!!

Ahh go **** yourself.

[ckg927]

Thing is, that is how the expansion draft was designed.

I hate Bettman, but he was wise to be the first of the major North American sports leagues to put a team in Vegas. The problem was that a middle American desert city isn’t exactly a prime hockey market, so they had to find a way to build a team that could be successful quickly. They did that correctly. The fans bought in.

Looking forward, other teams are better stocked in their farm systems. But they got the cup and hopefully earned the fan base.

I'd argue that they succeeded in part because other teams GM's overplayed their hand when it came to the expansion draft. And, as I said, they weren't afraid to wheel and deal. (Neither was Florida's GM, to be honest.) The problem is, you can't keep doing that forever. You have to start drafting well and getting decent FA's. Are fans going to continue seeing the Golden Knights when they inevitably hit bumps in the road? I have a sneaking suspicion we're going to find out inside of a few seasons.

Insofar as Vegas: it's true that it isn't a prime hockey market. But the IHL's Las Vegas Thunder did reasonably well in their short time span, and the ECHL's Las Vegas Wranglers did incredibly well before they called it a career to make way for the Golden Knights.

[OpIv37]

I'd argue that they succeeded in part because other teams GM's overplayed their hand when it came to the expansion draft. And, as I said, they weren't afraid to wheel and deal. (Neither was Florida's GM, to be honest.) The problem is, you can't keep doing that forever. You have to start drafting well and getting decent FA's. Are fans going to continue seeing the Golden Knights when they inevitably hit bumps in the road? I have a sneaking suspicion we're going to find out inside of a few seasons.

Insofar as Vegas: it's true that it isn't a prime hockey market. But the IHL's Las Vegas Thunder did reasonably well in their short time span, and the ECHL's Las Vegas Wranglers did incredibly well before they called it a career to make way for the Golden Knights.

I don’t disagree about other GM’s.

But, my point is that the whole thing wasn’t designed to build a sustained farm system that could build a successful long term franchise. It was designed to build an immediate winner to get fan buy-in. And it worked.

[ckg927]

I don’t disagree about other GM’s.

But, my point is that the whole thing wasn’t designed to build a sustained farm system that could build a successful long term franchise. It was designed to build an immediate winner to get fan buy-in. And it worked.

And I get that. Having said this, they now have to start thinking long-term and build a consistent winner in Vegas. With their own talent, not that traded from other teams.

[notacon]

All I will say is this: If Buffalo had the crew we do now WITH Eichel, the Cup might well be raised in WNY.

The question I have with the Golden Knights is this: Yes, they have GM's who aren't afraid to wheel & deal. But you also have to build a foundation for a consistent winning team. You have to draft well. Can anyone honestly say that Vegas has a good farm system? What's going to happen when players like Pietrangelo, Marchessault, etc age out or their contracts become untenable? Then what do the Golden Knights do?

Seattle is even more new to the NHL than Vegas and it only took them 2 years to get to the playoffs. They've drafted well and made decent FA signings.

Thing is, that is how the expansion draft was designed.

I hate Bettman, but he was wise to be the first of the major North American sports leagues to put a team in Vegas. The problem was that a middle American desert city isn’t exactly a prime hockey market, so they had to find a way to build a team that could be successful quickly. They did that correctly. The fans bought in.

Looking forward, other teams are better stocked in their farm systems. But they got the cup and hopefully earned the fan base.

The interesting phenomena here in Vegas is that they marketed and built the fanbase (or course, first off by getting to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first year....which, as Opi opines is what the expansion draft is designed to do....help ensure new teams to build a fan base with early success) on the idea that the Golden Knights are a “homegrown” team.

Yeah. “Homegrown” It’s repeated on the local media over and over and over again. The blanket coverage of the victory parade saw it not only preached by the media, but fully embraced and parroted by the ‘guy on the street’ interviews.

Of course, “homegrown” means different things to a city not known for “homegrown” residents. Here, the fact that the team started from scratch as an expansion team make them special.

Unlike the Raiders (and soon to be Oakland A’s) that moved their franchise here.

Opi is not so correct and very correct when he says...."The problem was that a middle American desert city isn’t exactly a prime hockey market, so they had to find a way to build a team that could be successful quickly. They did that correctly. The fans bought in.”.

The idea of what a "prime hockey market” was changed forever starting in 1967 when the NHL expanded to California in both Oakland and Los Angeles. Then further changing the idea of "prime hockey market” with Atlanta added in 1972.

Teams that were supposedly in "prime hockey market” failed regularly and moved. 1978 the CA Golden Seals move to Cleveland....then merge with the Minnesota North Stars (what should be the epitome of a "prime hockey market” with many NHL players coming from there) eventually moved to Dallas?!?!?

The 90’s brought Tampa Bay, Florida Panthers, Nashville, re-upped with another team to Atlanta....which moves to Winnipeg for the second incarnation of the previously failed Jets.

With teams today in Florida (two teams), California (THREE teams) Carolina, Dallas, Nashville, Arizona and the first true new expansion team since 2000, Vegas....what the hell does "prime hockey market” even mean?!?!?

It’s pretty clear that being what was considered a "prime hockey market” is irrelevant. What really matters is how that team is run, which leads to success.
The fact is that Vegas was more than stoked to get their first major league team in 2017. The fanbase was excited WELL before there was any success on the ice. I was here and experienced it first hand.

Outsiders only think of the Strip and “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”...but the reality is that the TOURISTS are the only people that make the phenomena of the Strip the Strip.

Here is a great story I found that describes the reality of Vegas as a “prime sports market” in 2017 from The Hockey News....

THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS REAL TARGET MARKET: A CITY OF SPORTS FANS BEYOND THE STRIP
Away from the bright lights and high rollers on The Strip is a good old-fashioned homegrown base of local sports fans champing at the bit for their Knights to suit up.

Don't think about the ending to Casino. Just stop. Speeding down a highway bound for the Nevada desert, though, on a record-tying 117-degree day, the mind wanders to the grisly demise Joe Pesci’s character meets in a freshly dug hole during Martin Scorsese’s crime epic. That’s not a spoiler, by the way. The movie is 22 years old. If you haven’t seen it, it’s your fault.

The truth is that a trip in Las Vegas anywhere off The Strip, the gauntlet of spectacular hotels in the entertainment capital of the world, is a novelty. It invites silly mob stereotypes because, like so many people, I know almost nothing about the real Vegas. I don’t know where this cab is going, only that it’s bound for the offices of Black Knight Financial Services, which is chaired by William ‘Bill’ Foley, proud owner of Sin City’s first NHL franchise. The drive through the desert ends at something I had never previously encountered in the state of Nevada: a real live neighborhood.

Snip…

He’s here to share the story of how a cab ride just like mine changed his perception of Las Vegas. A year ago, Bubolz made the same maiden voyage outside the city grid as I did. He had been to Sin City about 20 times earlier in his life, but quickly realized it was time to view the market through a new lens once he accepted the job. He was blown away by what he saw when he went exploring with his wife: beautiful red-rock mountains and communities filled with schools, churches, playgrounds and salt-of-the-earth people, the same types for which sprawling cities like New York are known and romanticized. As Bubolz explains it, roughly 43 million people visit Las Vegas each year, most of whom don’t stray from The Strip. That’s about 827,000 tourists a week, and the workforce to service all of them didn’t appear out of thin air. These people come from somewhere. They form metropolitan Las Vegas’ population, which is about two million. And they, not the tourists, are the key to the NHL succeeding there.

They’re the blackjack dealers and bellhops and concierges and executive chefs. Virtually every one of them you bump into, old or young, male or female, has something to say about the Golden Knights. Some are enthusiastic without knowing ice hockey from field hockey and clearly have a lot to learn about the game, but some are already hardcore fans. For example, Ryan, an Uber driver, is a hockey nut so knowledgeable you’d swear he was from Toronto or Montreal. He’s a transplanted Detroit Red Wings diehard who rhymes off the team’s entire protected player list for the expansion draft. He laments GM Ken Holland’s decision to keep goaltender Jimmy Howard and expose Petr Mrazek. And Ryan, not a bunch of Canadian dudes cruising in for a bachelor party, is Vegas’ target demographic. The locals are the ones who will fill T-Mobile Arena for games, so the front office hopes.

More…

And the “locals” DID fill T-Mobile Arena. Game after game after game....from day one. In their inaugural season, the VGN "ranked #4 in the NHL in “average arena capacity filled per game (103.9%) due to the amount of standing room only tickets they provide"


The owner, Bill Foley, predicted and promised when the GN started “Playoffs in three years....Stanley Cup in six”. They beat his prediction for the playoffs and met the ST promise.

Opi is right when he writes....”...they had to find a way to build a team that could be successful quickly. They did that correctly. The fans bought in.”

They did what they had to do. 1,000% support to fulfill his promises. Now, he is promising to sustain that success LONG TERM. It’s foolish to doubt him.

With that said, I would love to see the VGN play the Buffalo Sabres in a Stanley Cup final ASAP. I’ll be cheering the Sabres all the way.....but will be a “winner” no matter what happens.