from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

The feel-good narrative about Vegas’ success on the ice in their first year has another side to it, of course, though you’ll not read much about it.

And that is, that the Golden Knights (who may have to change their name if they lose the trademark lawsuit brought against them this week by the Department of the Army) have benefited at the expense of the NHL’s other 30 teams, all of whom were weakened by the exceedingly generous rules attached to the expansion draft.

So even as remarkably talented teenagers enter the NHL on an annual basis, the product already harmed by the hard cap is further diluted. And just wait until Seattle, which will pay $650 million to enter the league as opposed to Vegas’ $500 million ante and is thus likely to benefit from even more liberal expansion draft regulations, gets its hooks into everyone else’s roster.

Gary Bettman and the folks on Sixth Avenue love the fact the NHL’s 31 teams are largely indistinguishable. That’s been the objective since the 2004-05 Owners’ Lockout II proposal that the league office be a central clearing house to disperse players to the then-30 clubs. They forever confuse parity with mediocrity, forever conflate close games with good games and tight standings with exciting races.

continued with more topics...