from Damien Cox of the Toronto Star,

Those writing or embracing the narrative of why their team didn’t go as far as Vegas are more than happy to grasp the final explanation, because then they don’t have to question the geniuses running their favourite squad. But if Vegas did get the core of a competitive team in the expansion draft, they certainly didn’t get the core of a Stanley Cup finalist. Which means the true explanation, if someone can ever figure it out, is what happened to that group of athletes once they were assembled and organized under the watchful eyes of Gerard Gallant.

Now, it’s what magic trick McPhee and Gallant can conjure up next.

They’ve got a fan base that now believes this is how it works and is what they’ll get every year. The most significant obstacle stopping that from happening is that the NHL rewards lousiness rather than success, so Vegas is extremely unlikely to get a franchise player in the draft this month because they don’t have a first-round pick. In the past, that’s where new teams would get the high-end talent they needed to build a contender. But Vegas traded its first-rounder, and two other picks, to Detroit to get Tomas Tatar. Given Tatar often couldn’t crack the lineup, that was a sizeable mistake.

The Knights will draft in the second round this month, but not in the third. So that’s one pick in the top 93, and none in the top 25. In terms of developing organization, that’s a punch to the solar plexus. Vegas had three of last year’s top 15 picks Cody Glass (sixth), Nick Suzuki (13th) and Erik Brannstrom (15th) so that lessens the blow to some degree.

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