Stanley Cup Final: Vegas Golden Knights vs. Florida Panthers

[Bender]

So it was basically, "We'll expose Marchessault for you, if you take Smith off our hands"

It's also just genuinely possible they didn't value Marchessault very highly and just preferred to keep their defence in tact. Marchessault was due for a massive raise at that point after scoring 30 goals for the first time in a breakout season for him. Maybe they thought it was a fluke season.

Either way, the expansion draft rules certainly didn't force them into a dumb decision there. They could have just exposed one of Petrovic/Psyk and protected Marchessault. Smith, even if he had to go, could have been traded elsewhere as a cap dump.

I mean for the love of god they took Brendan Leipsic from the Leafs. In just two years they only had 8 players remaining from their original expansion draft. They made a lot of shrewd moves to get to where they are.

[Nik]

I mean for the love of god they took Brendan Leipsic from the Leafs. In just two years they only had 8 players remaining from their original expansion draft. They made a lot of shrewd moves to get to where they are.

That said, it's a lot easier to be shrewd when you have the cap flexibility they did.

[Deebo]

I mean for the love of god they took Brendan Leipsic from the Leafs. In just two years they only had 8 players remaining from their original expansion draft. They made a lot of shrewd moves to get to where they are.

That said, it's a lot easier to be shrewd when you have the cap flexibility they did.

A pile of extra picks from expansion draft deals helped too.

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/miketgould/status/1668846386702598145

[Nik]

I mean for the love of god they took Brendan Leipsic from the Leafs. In just two years they only had 8 players remaining from their original expansion draft. They made a lot of shrewd moves to get to where they are.

That said, it's a lot easier to be shrewd when you have the cap flexibility they did.

A pile of extra picks from expansion draft deals helped too.

I could be wrong but those seem to be hand in hand here. Like at least some of those deals were the Knights taking on sketchy contracts for picks, right?

I'm not trying to knock what they did or anything but putting a team down in a league with a super restrictive hard cap and give them a blank slate is a huge boost.

[Bender]

I mean for the love of god they took Brendan Leipsic from the Leafs. In just two years they only had 8 players remaining from their original expansion draft. They made a lot of shrewd moves to get to where they are.

That said, it's a lot easier to be shrewd when you have the cap flexibility they did.

A pile of extra picks from expansion draft deals helped too.

I could be wrong but those seem to be hand in hand here. Like at least some of those deals were the Knights taking on sketchy contracts for picks, right?

I'm not trying to knock what they did or anything but putting a team down in a league with a super restrictive hard cap and give them a blank slate is a huge boost.

At the same time the difference between the cap floor and the ceiling is $22m. Nothing is stopping teams from crapping out for a number of years, hit the cap floor and take a bunch of cap dump deals etc. It doesn't change the fact that their opening night roster was really pretty bad.

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/frank_seravalli/status/1669029255475339288

Two weeks ago people thought Bobrovsky could win the Conn Smythe even if the Panthers lost in the finals. Didn't end up getting a single vote (Tkachuk got a lone 3rd place vote from the Panthers).

[Bender]

https://twitter.com/frank_seravalli/status/1669029255475339288

Two weeks ago people thought Bobrovsky could win the Conn Smythe even if the Panthers lost in the finals. Didn't end up getting a single vote (Tkachuk got a lone 3rd place vote from the Panthers).

He might have if he didn't completely implode for 3 of 5 games.

[Zee]

Did Gudas scream in Hill's face last night or no bro?

[herman]

https://twitter.com/miketgould/status/1668846109907886080
harsh. harsh but fair.

[Deebo]

https://twitter.com/miketgould/status/1668846109907886080
harsh. harsh but fair.

Old news, man

https://twitter.com/miketgould/status/1668846386702598145

[herman]

:o I am not as online as I thought

[Joe]

Cap circumvention champions!

You know the problem with the leafs isn't the "core 4" or whatever else is troubling them. It's that they have been way too honourable with the cap.

That being said, if the leafs did anything like what Vegas did, they'd be fined and new rules would be put in place.

[Arn]

Yeh we put Muzzin on LTIR then didn't bring him back for the playoffs. Useless.

[herman]

https://twitter.com/br_openice/status/1670487453147312128