Kraken's are real
hammer1
Posts: 3,874 ✭✭✭✭✭
The Seattle Kraken officially became part of the NHL on Friday as the league's 32nd team. The announcement came after the team paid the final instalment of its $650 million expansion fee.
What are the chances of playing for the Cup in their first year like Las Vegas did?
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I don't know the odds, but someone in Vegas might.
I think Vegas Knights first season were 500:1.
Their odds are basically zero. Teams learned some lessons from how Vegas fleeced them in that expansion draft and it won't happen again. That said, Seattle will be competitive for sure.
I didn't follow the process, but I remember hearing about the roster they assembled and how they were pretty stacked.
They also got super lucky - they got William Karlsson who had done absolutely nothing in his career. He scored 43 for Vegas. And they got Marc-Andre Fleury, who had fallen off and was struggling as a backup in Pittsburgh. He went to Vegas and stood on his head the entire season.
Vegas was also basically handed 2/3 of what was then, and largely still is, their first line in Marchessault and Reilly Smith from Florida because Florida had signed Smith coming off a 25 goal season, and then the year prior to the Expansion draft he fell off to 15 along with a -19 rating so in order for Florida to dump Smith off on Vegas. they agreed to not protect Marchessault who of course has gone on to bank 90 goals with Vegas as their top goal scorer.
Then a handful of teams like Anaheim and Minnyhaha got jammed (and/or didn't have the foresight to move them earlier) because you're required to protect players who have no trade clauses in an Expansion Draft and they weren't able to find takers for fading slugs like Kevin Bieksa so they were either forced to protect said no-movement clause deadweight players, or else have to burn draft picks or young players to get someone to take those guys.
That's how Vegas nabbed their best defenseman in Shea Theodore (yes it's Theodore, not Pietrangelo). Anaheim had to protect Bieksa because of his no-trade so Vegas got a guy who was then a top end prospect with the Ducks, and who is now a first pair d-man, and the Ducks got to keep a guy who couldn't stop me off of the rush so he turned into a pseudo-goon with his stupid "Superman punch" and was out of the league a year later.
Also, Vegas was really smart in the players they selected. They didn't have the skill to where they should have been anywhere close to a cup final that year, and yes they got a career year out of William Karlsson (he had an unsustainable 23% shooting% so that was never going to be repeated), but every single guy on that team played hard, played defense, and bought into the system. They had no floater types like Ryan Getzlaf or Ryan Johansen on their team. Guys who have a good game here or there and then take the next 2-3 off, floating around the perimeter, playing half-ass defense etc. Vegas has been assembling teams with guys who perpetually hunt the puck Marian Hossa-style from the jump. They're still missing a legit first line center, but bringing in Mark Stone and Pacioretty at least gives them a chance to keep up with Colorado in the west, but they have to smother teams defensively to keep up with top end speed like the Avs.