Quoting: yikes
I get what youre saying 100% and youre right honestly. But my opinion is; look at Vegas they got so damn close and they still are so close. They may even win this year. But Vegas also got very lucky. Some poor expansion choices (were looking at your ducks and florida), and some real good trades (were looking at stone). I dont think theres gonna be as many good looks as Vegas had. I mean I dont see Seattle getting all of Tuch, March, Karlsson, Smith, Theodore like Vegas did from expansion ALONE. I think theyll put together a decent team but nothing like Vegas.
plus this; everything went prefect for vegas, which i doubt repeats for seattle.
If Im Seattle's GM i say this:
**** eh we did spend 650m but look at this, COVID Cap till atleast 2022 probably 23 or 24. You got 25% or more of the league needing CAP help by the time Seattle joins. Colordao, Tampa, Vegas, Vancouver, Philly, NYI, Toronto, EDM, Montreal, PIT ; all teams who could use some help if Seattle offers a hand. On top of this 2021 is a real good draft were sleeping on and 2022 should be the next "superstar" draft.
VAN: picks for Eriksson
NYI: theres a ton of choices to help them get some relief
Tampa: no explanation needed they will want help
Vegas: would love seeing patches 7 mil gone
NJD: i could see subban being taken
SJS: hey you want burns
and so on.
Seattle could easily have as deep of a prospect pool as Ottawa or LA by the end of 2022. If they choose to be a middling team and go big in 2022 draft - I argue theyll be better than Vegas and most of the league by 2022/23.
Thats my opinion atleast. Stock up on D in 2021/ and load up on star power in 2022 and youll be an elite team in 2022 or by 2023. Thats just my "take" but Id prefer to load up with Powers/Hughes/Lambos + other picks acquired for 21 debut draft and grab Wright, Lambert, Lavoie + others in 2022 than hoping to put together a rag tag team that could be Vegas 2.0. Because I dont think there will be another vegas run for Seattle.
Quoting: Brian2016
I think the expectations for Seattle will be high based on what Vegas has accomplished since their inception. They set the bar really high. Everything went perfect for them, but the flat cap could be really advantageous for Seattle as they build assets from around the league. I wouldn't be shocked if they were a playoff contender right from the jump.
First of all, Seattle is expansion exempt so only way Patches gets moved is through trade. Secondly, I've gone through potential expansion teams numerous times and every single time I end up with a stacked defense core and solid goaltending. The forward core is usually questionable but that is also fixable too.
Goalies to choose from - Holtby, Allen, Khudobin, Kuemper/Hill, Talbot/Stalock/Kahkonen, Ingram/Saros, Hoberg
Potential Defense - Burns, Giordano/Tanev, Manson/Shattenkirk, Miller/Risto, Skjei/Gardiner/Fleury/Bean, De Haan, Graves, C. Jones, Ekholm(?), Gostisbehere, Matheson, Dunn/Faulk, C. Foote, Holl/Dermott, Schultz/Jensen