The Vegas Golden Knights Downfall Has Already Begun…
I’ll be completely transparent and honest: I hated the Knights and it isn’t why most people do. When the Golden Knights were first introduced, I’ll admit it…I thought it was going to be awesome to have a team play in the desert of Sin City. Think about the possible attractions they could bring pre-, during, and post-game??
They nailed it too. Their pregame events at the rink are second-to-none. It get’s insanely loud, even at the preseason games.
The players they chose (in the most one-sided expansion draft…ever) were all pretty decent players; some past their primes or what could seem like the tail-end (Marc-Andre Fleury, Deryk Engelland), but others with great promise and needed the opportunity (William Karlsson, Reilly Smith). They had the right coach in Gerard Gallant because he loves a four-line squad and that is especially helpful for a team that didn’t have any stars like your Connor McDavid’s or Alex Ovechkin’s. This team had promise and the media through them in the dirt because “all expansion teams are bad”.
(Man did Vice not know what they were talking about)
But the one problem Vegas had is almost incurable, like an addicted gambler who cannot leave the blackjack table even though it is obviously in his best interest to do so: They chose George McPhee as General Manager (GMGM).
Why in the world would Vegas get this guy? Because he was the GM of the Washington Capitals and “developed” a star in Alex Ovechkin? Did the ownership group of the Knights really give this guy that much credit? GMGM has a history of messing everything up for “now” results. Just look at his trade history, he loses almost every single one! The worst one I can think of, even at the time was a real head scratcher, was when he traded away Filip Forsberg for Martin Erat.
Filip Forsberg was the Capitals pick in the first round in 2012 at number 11. He was traded at the 2012–2013 trade deadline to Nashville for Erat who was a -7, only played 36 games, at that point, and only had four (4) goals. So are you trying to tell me that your scouts were so bad at picking Forsberg that a -7, 21-point, 31 year aging veteran was worth the trade?
Imagine Forsberg setting up Ovechkin…or a powerplay of Marcus Johansson, T.J. Oshie, Forsberg, Ovechkin, and John Carlson…my god, you think their powerplay was good now. What could have been.
At any rate, GMGM let his past run his future instead of learning from his mistakes. No, he just had to trade the future picks to get Tomas Tatar (2018 first, 2019 second, and 2021 third, of which became Joe Veleno, Robert Mastrosimone, and Alex Nedelijkovic; two of three having plenty of NHL experience already).
The fun doesn’t stop there though. Max Pacioretty gets traded to Vegas from Montreal for Nick Suzuki (you know…the new captain of Montreal), Tatar (seriously?) and a 2019 second round pick.
What else does this guy have up his sleeve? Oh oh wait, lets not forget FLEURY who has been beloved by these terrible Knights fans. I don’t want to mention the five (5) year contract Vegas ended up giving Fleury that made no sense because he is on the back-9 of his 30’s, but they didn’t even tell the guy he was getting traded? He let’s management know that he was unsure of his future and wanted to think about it, and they trade him to a wasteland of a team in Chicago who were becoming bottom-feeders? They must have gotten an amazing return…Mikael Hakkarainen…well I guess not.
Their downfall has begun. I predicted in 2018 after the playoffs that they will not make it into the playoffs in five (5) years and look where we are. In a hole that keeps getting bigger because GMGM just cannot fathom himself to stop digging.
Gerard Gallant, the premier coach that drove this team upwards and thrive? Fired. So they brought in a coach from your new-found rival, the San Jose Sharks…smart. But that’s okay, he was let-go too. Makes sense.
Pacioretty was traded again and to the New Jersey Devils…for future considerations. Yikes
Now, it’s kind of difficult to see where this team is going to be at other than bottom-five in the league because the goalie they chose over Fleury, Robin Lehner (who I actually think is good, but was in the wrong system they were playing at the time), is out for the year because of his hips. I don’t see a full roster other than spare parts and AHL level talent plaguing through the lineup.
But hey…they have an amazing entertainment team that can keep the fans happy…until they see the product they just paid $300, nose-bleed seats for. I’m sure that will go over really, really well with these soon-to-be fair-weather fans.