Vegas certainly isn't the 4 lines deep machine they used to be, but I don't see an argument that we are deeper than they are. They have 8 guys with 10+ goals while we have 7. They have 13 guys with 5+ goals while we have 11. They have 9 guys with 20+ points while we have 7. Their 4th line center has as many goals as our 3rd and 4th line centers combined. The leading scorer for both teams has 20 goals, but they have 23 more team goals than we do.
By the standards of a top end Cup contender, their depth leaves something to be desired. But I wouldn't trust our depth to win a game right now more than their depth. The lack of a 3C and the rotating door of Saad, Tex, Joseph, Bolduc, and Torpo through 2 wing spots in the top 9 has not provided good depth. Our 3rd line and for large stretches our 2nd line have been well short of good this year.
Is a really good criticism.
I think the one way we have the advantage is that we are quite pokey, just unstable.
From the Birds Eye, they’re able to deliver a more stable product due to having a more complete roster, more maturity, taller defense, way taller goaltending. I’d expect them to have better overall results. Smoother results.
They can’t have an answer for both deploying their offense and defending ours - they don’t have the threats to disperse. They don’t have the dynamic response, unless it’s 6v5 yolo.
I’d bet on them to have more points at the end of the season. They’re going to win more battles than we do. They’re taller, more mature, more complete.
But I’d bet on us to win any given game against them. We match up super well and exploit them where they are weak: the middle.
There are more non-depth teams in the nhl than depth teams.
St. Louis, while we do have peers, is in a minority group in its cap structure. It is outside of the normal that the franchise spends to the cap but does not have a bona-fide all star. Robert Thomas is elite, but McDavid, MacKinnon and others are a different flavor of elite. Where some teams are in a minority of having extreme top heaviness, we live on the other side of the bell.
Other teams are not being designed to handle us. They’re being designed to handle the plurality and the strongest. Vegas is not designed to beat us - to handle a dense group.
We should and will harvest them. Thx 4 the pts. I’ll not regret this.