Vegas will be ready to Pounce in 2017 Free Agency
- Thread starter LastWordArmy
- Start date
While getting a top cog like Burns or Bishop could be beneficial for LV, they may be better off just tanking for the first 2-3 seasons and getting high picks. Giving the ice time to younger players they will get in the expansion draft would be good for their development too. Sure, McPhee will have a lot of cap space, but building a team through free agency does not equal success.
The novelty of having a hockey team in Las Vegas will carry the team at the gates early on even if they suck. People visiting from all over North America will go see the arena and watch their own favorite team play. The rink will likely be full on most nights.
Then, once their top-5 picks start getting NHL experience and making noise, Las Vegas will still have enough cap space to make trades or sign players to fill holes and become a playoff contender. That's how they should build the team. 4 or 5 years in they could be a top team in the league, depending on the quality of prospects they draft. The more they suck, the more chances they have at landing the #1 pick.
The novelty of having a hockey team in Las Vegas will carry the team at the gates early on even if they suck. People visiting from all over North America will go see the arena and watch their own favorite team play. The rink will likely be full on most nights.
Then, once their top-5 picks start getting NHL experience and making noise, Las Vegas will still have enough cap space to make trades or sign players to fill holes and become a playoff contender. That's how they should build the team. 4 or 5 years in they could be a top team in the league, depending on the quality of prospects they draft. The more they suck, the more chances they have at landing the #1 pick.
Man Bear Pig
Registered User
Problem is, what are the actual chances that all those guys hitting free agency? Every year we look at the next crop and every year most sign extensions prior to July 1. The only name I see that I honestly think hits the market it Bishop.
Empoleon8771
Registered User
They're going to be getting high picks for their first 3 seasons regardless of where they finish, so it's not even worth it to do that.
Vegas going after Bishop would be a bold strategy. They have to draft 3 goalies, so they'd either need to pick 3 cheap, non starting goalies or waive a goalie once they signed Bishop. I don't think either of those are great ideas. The first is banking on signing Bishop (and if they don't, they're in a lot of trouble) and the second will give them a bunch of dead capspace from spending too much on goalies. What Vegas could do is trade for Bishop's rights before the expansion draft, figure out what his intentions are and then plan accordingly.
I think one of Oshie and Marchand will but not both.
I am surprised Burns and MAF hand are t already signed
I'd like some clarification of this too but if I understand this part of the expansion process correctly it looks like Vegas will be guaranteed the third overall position in the next three draft lotteries regardless of their place in the standings.
Probably an anti-tanking measure.
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Finnish your Czech
J'aime Les offres hostiles
Not really. First of all, they're not guaranteed third overall in 2017; they will have the same lottery odds as the 3rd place team, so they can pick anywhere from 1-6.
I've also read before that they are only guaranteed a spot in the lottery for the next three seasons, but not guaranteed the third pick. But I can't find the source for that
hi
Sell sell sell
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https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-expansion-draft-rules/c-281010592
There is no mention of the 2018 and 2019 drafts. They will have a guaranteed top 6 pick in the 2017 draft. For every subsequent draft, their draft pick will be determined by how the team performs on the ice.
One would assume they'd grab a few extra picks that teams will offer up in excghange for them not selecting certain players at the draft.
Number1RedWingsFan52
Registered User
Marchand will be resigning back with Boston, And the odds that Bishop were to sign with Vegas i put those odds at nil.
Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
and over looking the fact they may have 30 nhlers under contract after the expansion?
Yeah. They obviously shouldn't do nothing but spending up the cap right away kills your flexibility unless they're all short term deals. And elite talent at forward and d is needed to build a contender. They have an outside shot at getting a dman who breaks out for them in the expansion draft. No real chance at a forward doing that. Suck for a bit, draft well, and be upfront with building a contender not a "competitive" team
Number1RedWingsFan52
Registered User
If it were me, I would love to play in Vegas. But reality is Vegas isn't a contending team even with Bishop in net. He will want to play for a team that he knows can win the cup that wont be Vegas yet.
Cup contenders don't tend to have huge amounts of cap space I honestly have no idea where he could go,
As much as I have been blown away by the Bruins FO decisions in recent years past I highly doubt Marchand hits FA. If anything this WC run with Bergy and Crosby is probably gonna get him an extra $500k/year on his next deal.
BStinson
Registered User
- Nov 11, 2013
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They haven't even had the expansion draft... we don't know what type of team they are going to ice.
zar
Bleed Blue
I'm not sold this 'bribing' is going to be happening, this isn't 2000. In order to look past a certain player you are going to have to trade away very high picks... think first 3 rounds. Most teams are reluctant to trade these picks away as they understand the importance of balancing your team salary cap with ELCs or lower end 2nd contracts.
This is the first expansion draft with a salary cap in place. I don't expect past strategies to be used.... but I could be wrong.
48g90a138pts
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I could see a few of these type of trades happening. For example if Davidson has another good year and Las Vegas is going to pick him, it wouldn't be too far fetched to imagine Chiarelli working out a deal to keep him. Doesn't have to be just draft picks Las Vegas has to accept.
If I was in the position of Las Vegas I wouldn't just be concentrating on the NHL team, but building the AHL team also. Having a good farm team is important to building a successful franchise.
glovesave_35
Name
I imagine a lot of players that end up exposed and taken in the expansion draft will be guys on the last year of their contracts. My guess is that Las Vegas will be adding a ton of draft picks and prospects as they sell off these soon to be UFA's.
48g90a138pts
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Considering they only have to spend upto 43,800,000 mil minimum after the expansion draft they could go bonkers signing players. They potentially have 30 mil+ to spend on free agents next year. That may make a few of the better players want to test free agency instead of resigning with their own team.
