I don’t think the expansion draft rules were all that favorable, at least not in the sense that they would have a Cup contender right out of the gate simply by plucking a player from each team. At worst, teams were losing their 5th or 8th best forward and 4th or 5th best defenseman or their backup goalie. I’ve said if numerous times, but some teams panicked over the thought of losing 1 good player and ultimately sent 2 or more good players/assets to Vegas to keep the player they were afraid to lose. Then there was Florida who, needlessly handed over Smith and Marchessault. They had no reason to do so, but did it anyways. VGK looks a lot different without those 2. So that was 1 reason the Knights were good quick. Florida is a big culprit.
Additionally, the Knights got insanely lucky that their entire roster had career years. William Karlsson has 18 goals in 180+ career NHL games prior to this season. Then he goes out and rides a 23% shooting percentage to a 43 goal season. Eric Haula’s best year was a 16 goal season. 29 this year. David Perron set a career high in points. Fleury posted a .927 in the regular season, his previous career high was .921. He’s at an absurd .947 in the playoffs. Tim Thomas’ 2011 heroic effort was a .940. The list goes on and on. It’s crazy. Nobody had a down year for Vegas.
The interesting thing for me is the defense. They picked a bunch of skilled guys who were perceived to be poor defensively. Colin Miller, Nate Schmidt, to some extent Shea Theodore (who was a trade). Engellend and to a lesser extent Luca Sbisa turning into useful was an unforeseen development. They don’t have a #1 but turned this group into an above average unit. I used to think you needed a workhorse #1 to win, but the Pens won last year with a crappy D (no Letang) and now Vegas has steamrolled through with a collection of 3’s and 4’s. Maybe it’s something that is changing. Still, imagine if they pulled off the Karlsson deal at the deadline.