How much less talented or different was Gallant's Golden Knights 1st year expansion team?

[JMan74]

I ask this question as many of us know that Gallant has had a very big positive effect for this team. And also that I dont really know much about that Golden Knight team either. What was their identity under Gallant? I think the mental toughness of this team is strongly attributable to Gallant and the way he has pushed the right buttons all year. Valiquette has pretty much said from early on this isnt just a Hockey club but they truly play as one as a team. This Gallant led team seems extremely resilient and has the ability to self correct quickly and therefore generally avoid long slumps in play.

How does that compare to that Golden Knight team? I mean from a surface level getting a 1st year expansion team to the Cup one would imagine the coaching and ability to get the team to play at a high level and buy into the system so quickly is a very impressive feat.

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[WojtekWolski86]

Elite Goaltender with Cup Pedigree
Grinders with a chip on their shoulder. Most of the guys never got a fair shake and took getting exposed for the expansion draft as a slight.
Couple of top 6 players that were used as drug deals in order for cap relief. So Vegas got guys like O'Reilly and Marchessault and took on bad contracts for draft relief than flipped the draft capital for more high level grinders.

Give a players coach a bunch of guys wanting to prove everyone else wrong and this led to a 4 line high speed forechecking team that put a lot of pucks on net, crashed the net and grinded their opponents down. After the Cup run, management got greedy and thought what was missing was high end talent so they started trading futures (like Suzuki) and 1st for Patches and then kept doubling down on this decisions (Stone, Eichel) until they put themselves in Cap hell.

 

[Fitzy]

Gallant said himself in a recent interview his Vegas team was less talented.

 

[JMan74]

Good stuff Woj.

Are the teams the Rangers playing/have played right now (Pens, Canes, TB) more talented than the teams that Knight team played on the way to the finals?

Another reason I am pondering the original question is it doesn't seem that Panarin and his 11M salary might be an ideal fit for Gallants system. Gallant has gotten elite play and or maximized many players this year but Panarin is not one of them.

The overall net effect of him coaching is an overwhelmingly positive one though no doubt.

 

[hackeyman]

The Golden misfits were certainly less talented than this team . A lot of hard working character guys with something to prove though. Some of them were under utilized by their previous teams so 3rd liners really did turn into top 6 players. I would say their defense was their weakest area but they had a lot of solid 2 way forwards and of course a future HOF goaltender to help offset that. Although not full of high end talent that Vegas team was overall fast and faster than these Rangers although the trade deadline helped us.. Gallant has never coached a team as talented as this New York team. He has basically said so from the get go and his strategy with this team has been to praise their talent and raise their confidence.

 

[hackeyman]

I mean from a surface level getting a 1st year expansion team to the Cup one would imagine the coaching and ability to get the team to play at a high level and buy into the system so quickly is a very impressive feat.

It's amazing how ho hum people regard this now. It was nothing short of another Miracle on Ice. One of the greatest coaching performances in the history of the sport.

Elite Goaltender with Cup Pedigree
Grinders with a chip on their shoulder. Most of the guys never got a fair shake and took getting exposed for the expansion draft as a slight.
Couple of top 6 players that were used as drug deals in order for cap relief. So Vegas got guys like O'Reilly and Marchessault and took on bad contracts for draft relief than flipped the draft capital for more high level grinders.

Give a players coach a bunch of guys wanting to prove everyone else wrong and this led to a 4 line high speed forechecking team that put a lot of pucks on net, crashed the net and grinded their opponents down. After the Cup run, management got greedy and thought what was missing was high end talent so they started trading futures (like Suzuki) and 1st for Patches and then kept doubling down on this decisions (Stone, Eichel) until they put themselves in Cap hell.

Excellent points.

 

[hackeyman]

Another reason I am pondering the original question is it doesn't seem that Panarin and his 11M salary might be an ideal fit for Gallants system. Gallant has gotten elite play and or maximized many players this year but Panarin is not one of them.

The overall net effect of him coaching is an overwhelmingly positive one though no doubt.

That's a very interesting discussion. No Panarin is not the natural type of player for Gallant's style but in pressers he has doubled down on his praise for him . He says he doesn't expect him to be the same player Zibby is and he has made the most of using Panarin's talent. I personally think the Breadman has bought in for the most part at least mentally and emotionally but physically struggles at times with the follow through. We have seen him backcheck and forcheck some games and it's created excellent opportunities but for some reason he is not steady with it. Panarin has some crazy talent but I wonder too if you could get better returns for him that suit the direction the team is taking.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

a lot of guys had career years with them and they also got quite lucky, watching that playoff run it seemed like every soft wrister from the point went in. They were just feeling it.

 

[cheech70]

apples and oranges

 

[Platano King]

Significantly less talented. I don't think that team had anywhere near as good as Fox/Zib/Panarin.

 

[bobbop]

Less talented.

Gallant’s great strength as a coach is bringing players together and getting them to run through walls. Culture over strategy.

He reminds me of some of the great coaches I crossed paths with years ago in minor league hockey.

 

[Lays]

What kind of dumb question is this

 

[LoveGoons]

The Golden misfits were certainly less talented than this team . A lot of hard working character guys with something to prove though. Some of them were under utilized by their previous teams so 3rd liners really did turn into top 6 players. I would say their defense was their weakest area but they had a lot of solid 2 way forwards and of course a future HOF goaltender to help offset that. Although not full of high end talent that Vegas team was overall fast and faster than these Rangers although the trade deadline helped us.. Gallant has never coached a team as talented as this New York team. He has basically said so from the get go and his strategy with this team has been to praise their talent and raise their confidence.

They had a 10 players that worked their asses off, played grinder style and where very good skaters for the most part.. even reeves skates better back then..

 

[Savant]

Less talented. Easier path.