A Knights Tale: From Sabre to Knight; one man’s failure to make the playoffs AND how it benefits the Sabres draft position

[Marvin]

Can you find evidence?  According to Sharks fans:

The LVGK announcers mispronounced "Bordeleau" as "Bordello."

Timo Meier said that Sharks players were getting texts from all over the league rooting for them.  

[LGR4GM]

[sweetlou]

so just watched the last 5 minutes of Vegas collapse.  How come no one is talking about Stone's poor performance.  He doesn't get the puck out on Sharks 3rd goal and then misses an open net from treble line with 45 seconds left. 

[thewookie1]

Just now, sweetlou said:

so just watched the last 5 minutes of Vegas collapse.  How come no one is talking about Stone's poor performance.  He doesn't get the puck out on Sharks 3rd goal and then misses an open net from treble line with 45 seconds left. 

He's playing through a back injury; plus Stone has no connection to Buffalo 

[sweetlou]

52 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

He's playing through a back injury; plus Stone has no connection to Buffalo 

Just making a point that two simple mistakes by Captain Stone cost his team a point.  

Stopping a chipping a puck out of the zone and hitting an empty net from the blue line cost Vegas a point.  As a Sabres fan I'm glad, as a John hater I'm glad. 

[Doohicksie]

3 hours ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

Timo Meier said that Sharks players were getting texts from all over the league rooting for them.  

Oh, and

 

 

[French Collection]

38 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Oh, and

 

 

Sounds like a lot of people don’t want Vegas in the playoffs.

Probably a combination of  jealousy from their early success, cap issues and trying to amass an all star team.

[Doohicksie]

9 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Sounds like a lot of people don’t want Vegas in the playoffs.

Probably a combination of  jealousy from their early success, cap issues and trying to amass an all star team.

I can't speak for the rest, but I know that does it for me.

[SDS]

so I can’t go back on ESPN plus and watch the last five minutes of the game?

[kas23]

20 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Sounds like a lot of people don’t want Vegas in the playoffs.

Probably a combination of  jealousy from their early success, cap issues and trying to amass an all star team.

Sounds like a lot of people on here want a better draft pick. It’s a simple as that. 

[MBD]

1 minute ago, kas23 said:

Sounds like a lot of people on here want a better draft pick. It’s a simple as that. 

He meant a lot of people nationally.  And yeah, I think the prevailing sentiment is they were unfairly stocked when they entered the league.

[Buffalonill]

rutger McGroarty welcome to buffalo ?

[Taro T]

38 minutes ago, SDS said:

so I can’t go back on ESPN plus and watch the last five minutes of the game?

Don't see why not.  Working in our household.

[SDS]

5 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Don't see why not.  Working in our household.

It told me it was not available

[SDS]

Apparently, there’s nowhere to select replays on an Apple TV but you can do it on your phone. WTF.

[Curt]

1 hour ago, French Collection said:

Sounds like a lot of people don’t want Vegas in the playoffs.

Probably a combination of  jealousy from their early success, cap issues and trying to amass an all star team.

I don’t think it’s so much jealousy or feelings that they were unfairly stacked in the expansion draft.

No one thought that team was going to be good before their first season and everyone loved their plucky underdog Cinderella journey.

People dislike them now because they disloyally ripped the giant heart out of that lovable underdog (Gallant, Fleury, Schmidt, few other key player) and built a team of high priced superstars instead, while also “cheating” the salary cap.

They transformed something lovable and successful into something distasteful and underachieving.  People feel that the Golden Knights are collecting their karmic justice.

[Pimlach]

23 minutes ago, Curt said:

I don’t think it’s so much jealousy or feelings that they were unfairly stacked in the expansion draft.

No one thought that team was going to be good before their first season and everyone loved their plucky underdog Cinderella journey.

People dislike them now because they disloyally ripped the giant heart out of that lovable underdog (Gallant, Fleury, Schmidt, few other key player) and built a team of high priced superstars instead, while also “cheating” the salary cap.

They transformed something lovable and successful into something distasteful and underachieving.  People feel that the Golden Knights are collecting their karmic justice.

The salary cap "cheat" is what bothers me, but I blame the league for that.  

I just don't like the entitled fan base and the rapid fire changes they made from their original team.  

Edited April 25, 2022 by Pimlach

[Marvin]

9 minutes ago, Curt said:

I don’t think it’s so much jealousy or feelings that they were unfairly stacked in the expansion draft.

No one thought that team was going to be good before their first season and everyone loved their plucky underdog Cinderella journey.

People dislike them now because they disloyally ripped the giant heart out of that lovable underdog (Gallant, Fleury, Schmidt, few other key player) and built a team of high priced superstars instead, while also “cheating” the salary cap.

They transformed something lovable and successful into something distasteful and underachieving.  People feel that the Golden Knights are collecting their karmic justice.

 

6 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

The salary cap "cheat" is what bothers me, but I blame the league for that.  

O just don't like the entitled fan base and the rapid fire changes they made from their original team.  

Thanks, guys, for being more eloquent than I am.

[dudacek]

47 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

The salary cap "cheat" is what bothers me, but I blame the league for that.  

I just don't like the entitled fan base and the rapid fire changes they made from their original team.  

The bold is particularly interesting to me.

I'm thinking of Adams comments about rebuilding the connection between the players and the fans, and Granato's about the benefits of bringing back the same players next year.

Vegas built a team that was easy to bond with and tossed a lot of its key parts to the curb in favour of "better" but less-lovable players.

That whole talent versus team debate creates an interesting thought exercise in terms of what wins and what the fan base wants.

[mjd1001]

7 hours ago, SABRES 0311 said:

Eichel is close to his top form IMO. He has resumed giving the puck away trying to enter the O-zone with little effort from the opposing team. He hasn’t missed a step holding onto and losing the puck along the boards during the PP. Money can’t buy that level of contribution. Oh wait, it costs 10mil.

Hope he invested that money in sunscreen. He’ll need it playing golf in the desert this time of year. If not he should call Evander Kane for some tips on how to invest wisely. 

 

There is a chance Eichel has one more 'career' year in him...and for him I mean a 40 goal, 90-100 point year.  There is a CHANCE we see that in the next year or two.  What is more likely is that he keeps on being exactly what he always has been...a 30-35 goal scorer, 80-90 point guy who finishes 10th-20th in the league in scoring.

The Troubling thing for Vegas is....UNLESS he is still suffering big time discomfort post surgery, the realization the league may be coming to is that he never was or will be what Buffalo and Vegas thought.  Vegas has clearly been a worse team since he started playing for them. Buffalo is clearly a better team since he was moved and replaced with Tuch. Players that Jack spent a lot of time with in Buffalo are having bounce-back or career years after he left (Reinhart, Okposo, Skinner).  These things are no longer small one-time things fans in Buffalo are looking for to take shots at him...they are now front and center and obvious.  Vegas is in their most important stretch of games this season and as others have said, no goals, no points for Jack in over a week.

A lot of people here accepted Jack needed to be traded but said all along "the team that gets the best player (jack) is going to win the trade".  That really may not be the case here.  The Sabres may end up being much better and Vegas worse with Jack and  there and his cap hit taking up 1/8th of the cap room.

If I'm in Vegas, I need Jack to produce the last few games in wins to get them into the playoffs, be a point-per-game guy in these playoffs with the team winning at least a round, AND follow up next year with a season taking them to the playoffs and leading at least the team in scoring.  Anything less than that, and I end up thinking Vegas lost that trade by a lot.

[Marvin]

8 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

There is a chance Eichel has one more 'career' year in him...and for him I mean a 40 goal, 90-100 point year.  There is a CHANCE we see that in the next year or two.  What is more likely is that he keeps on being exactly what he always has been...a 30-35 goal scorer, 80-90 point guy who finishes 10th-20th in the league in scoring.

The Troubling thing for Vegas is....UNLESS he is still suffering big time discomfort post surgery, the realization the league may be coming to is that he never was or will be what Buffalo and Vegas thought.  Vegas has clearly been a worse team since he started playing for them. Buffalo is clearly a better team since he was moved and replaced with Tuch. Players that Jack spent a lot of time with in Buffalo are having bounce-back or career years after he left (Reinhart, Okposo, Skinner).  These things are no longer small one-time things fans in Buffalo are looking for to take shots at him...they are now front and center and obvious.  Vegas is in their most important stretch of games this season and as others have said, no goals, no points for Jack in over a week.

A lot of people here accepted Jack needed to be traded but said all along "the team that gets the best player (jack) is going to win the trade".  That really may not be the case here.  The Sabres may end up being much better and Vegas worse with Jack and  there and his cap hit taking up 1/8th of the cap room.

If I'm in Vegas, I need Jack to produce the last few games in wins to get them into the playoffs, be a point-per-game guy in these playoffs with the team winning at least a round, AND follow up next year with a season taking them to the playoffs and leading at least the team in scoring.  Anything less than that, and I end up thinking Vegas lost that trade by a lot.

They still have not settled on wingers for Eichel.  Mark Stone is clearly still injured.  But, far more importantly, their ensemble defence is often horrible -- it seems like defencive responsibilities are not well-defined and/or understood.  The defencemen turn the puck over in their zone leading to scrambling on defence while trying to recover and minimise a potentially glorious scoring chance.  Their 4th line currently looks like Bjork-Eakin-Hayden quality.  Lastly, they don't play like a team.  That is all that matters.

[Taro T]

2 minutes ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

They still have not settled on wingers for Eichel.  Mark Stone is clearly still injured.  But, far more importantly, their ensemble defence is often horrible -- it seems like defencive responsibilities are not well-defined and/or understood.  The defencemen turn the puck over in their zone leading to scrambling on defence while trying to recover and minimise a potentially glorious scoring chance.  Their 4th line currently looks like Bjork-Eakin-Hayden quality.  Lastly, they don't play like a team.  That is all that matters.

Yeah.  Expecting they'll blame DeBoer if they miss the playoffs, but maybe they'll hang it on injuries.  No way the GM hangs it on himself.

[Weave]

1 hour ago, Curt said:

I don’t think it’s so much jealousy or feelings that they were unfairly stacked in the expansion draft.

No one thought that team was going to be good before their first season and everyone loved their plucky underdog Cinderella journey.

People dislike them now because they disloyally ripped the giant heart out of that lovable underdog (Gallant, Fleury, Schmidt, few other key player) and built a team of high priced superstars instead, while also “cheating” the salary cap.

They transformed something lovable and successful into something distasteful and underachieving.  People feel that the Golden Knights are collecting their karmic justice.

I get why this all would be meaningful for fans that are rooting against Vegas.  But I get the sense that players around the league are also rooting against Vegas.  I find this interesting, and I don’t think what you’ve described explains it.

Would love to hear from someone with current player contacts regarding what the motivations are for players to he rooting against Vegas.

[That Aud Smell]

21 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

< > Anything less than that, and I end up thinking Vegas lost that trade by a lot.

Good post.

A thought that's been kicking around in my head over the past couple of weeks: Las Vegas -- and, by the way, it's effing LAS Vegas, they don't get to jettison-by-branding the Spanish article that's part of their city's name -- is a franchise located in a town that's founded on the glitzy, glimmering shine of fool's gold, the vain hopes of get-rich-quick wanderers, and entertainment nightly performed by the permanently famous. Until recently, I looked at the pre-game theatrics of the Las Vegas Knights and envied them (maybe I still do, a bit). More recently, though, I see that stuff as being of a piece with a franchise that may be unduly influenced by an urge to entertain with the biggest, splashiest show that can be assembled. Trading for Eichel seems emblematic of that. That big casino on the strip might not be the only mirage in town.   

[Taro T]

Just now, Weave said:

I get why this all would be meaningful for fans that are rooting against Vegas.  But I get the sense that players around the league are also rooting against Vegas.  I find this interesting, and I don’t think what you’ve described explains it.

Would love to hear from someone with current player contacts regarding what the motivations are for players to he rooting against Vegas.

Great question.

The reason should be that when the players will get a set amount of money to split between themselves league wide (like NHL players do under the terms of the CBA & MOU), if Vegas is over the cap by $10-20MM that's an extra $10-20MM in the denominator that everybody's individual share get divided by.

Expecting though that isn't the reason.  (But, darn it, it should be.)