Vegas Golden Knights' Roster Unveiled:

[samosa4u]

https://www.nhl.com/news/vegas-golde...?tid=289242400

Well, it looks like the Arizona Coyotes will finally have a team they can BEAT! When Marc-Andre Fleury is being called the "face of the franchise," then you're in big trouble! Remember, he spent his whole entire career on a team loaded with talent. What's going to happen now? It's going to be bad, folks.

[irv]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

https://www.nhl.com/news/vegas-golde...?tid=289242400

Well, it looks like the Arizona Coyotes will finally have a team they can BEAT! When Marc-Andre Fleury is being called the "face of the franchise," then you're in big trouble! Remember, he spent his whole entire career on a team loaded with talent. What's going to happen now? It's going to be bad, folks.

With the Knights being a new team, I doubt anyone is expecting anything/much from them for at least 2 yrs.

Imo, it was smart to pick up some marquee players such as Fleury as I have no doubts they will be used as trade bait either next season or the season after that?

In looking at the list, they have a decent team, however and might just surprise a few people this coming season?
Personally, I am disappointed the Leafs lost Brendan Leipsic. I think he was a good player who will definitely only get better. I guess either the Leafs were hoping the Knights wouldn't be interested, or they couldn't protect him?

[mikemb]

I think they have some decent players. They got Lindberg, who is a good player, from my Rangers. I wish them well, except when playing the Rangers.

Mike

[irv]

Originally Posted by mikemb

I think they have some decent players. They got Lindberg, who is a good player, from my Rangers. I wish them well, except when playing the Rangers.

Mike

It surprises me some of the players they got or players that were let unprotected.

Jame Neal comes to mind first, and is one I can't figure out? I thought he fit in well with Nashville and would likely finish his career there.

He worked very well with Fiala and I personally think if Fiala and Johansen were healthy, they may have just beat Pitts?

He was, however, traded from Pitts a few years ago after signing a big contract so maybe there is more there than meets the eye?

[samosa4u]

Originally Posted by irv

It surprises me some of the players they got or players that were let unprotected.

Jame Neal comes to mind first, and is one I can't figure out? I thought he fit in well with Nashville and would likely finish his career there.

Here is what I found:

"This expansion process was painful for the Nashville Predators," Poile said. "We knew it. There was no way of getting out of it. The strength of our team is at defense, so we protected four defensemen. We were only able to protect four forwards, so it didn't line up correctly for us. I tried like a lot of people did, some of them a lot more successful than I was, to make a deal with [Golden Knights GM] George [McPhee]. The price was just too high in my estimation. Whatever assets I didn't give George to retain James or any other player, I still have those assets."

So it looks like if the Preds wanted to keep Neal, then they would have had to give away some of their future picks to Vegas, and they obviously didn't want to do that. Neal is also going to be 30 soon, and a lot of forwards start declining in their early 30s, so I'm pretty sure that was one of the reasons why Nashville didn't want to give away too many picks for him.

Originally Posted by irv

He worked very well with Fiala and I personally think if Fiala and Johansen were healthy, they may have just beat Pitts?

It wouldn't have made much of a difference. Pekka Rinne was letting in so many goals and this just hurt the team a lot.

[irv]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

Here is what I found:

"This expansion process was painful for the Nashville Predators," Poile said. "We knew it. There was no way of getting out of it. The strength of our team is at defense, so we protected four defensemen. We were only able to protect four forwards, so it didn't line up correctly for us. I tried like a lot of people did, some of them a lot more successful than I was, to make a deal with [Golden Knights GM] George [McPhee]. The price was just too high in my estimation. Whatever assets I didn't give George to retain James or any other player, I still have those assets."

So it looks like if the Preds wanted to keep Neal, then they would have had to give away some of their future picks to Vegas, and they obviously didn't want to do that. Neal is also going to be 30 soon, and a lot of forwards start declining in their early 30s, so I'm pretty sure that was one of the reasons why Nashville didn't want to give away too many picks for him.



It wouldn't have made much of a difference. Pekka Rinne was letting in so many goals and this just hurt the team a lot.

Makes sense.

Yeah, Rinne definitely didn't play well at all, especially in Pitts, which he couldn't get out of his head.
It's too bad as I really thought they were going to go all the way.

Hopefully the Preds can recover and make it again next year as they were exciting to watch, for the most part, until the final.

[TUM301]

Love the shirt bye the way, really wish the Bruins hadn`t let there young defenseman Colin Miller out there for Vegas to grab. I thought as the season progressed he was coming along nicely and god knows the B`s a razor thin at that position already. Well, we shall see.