“It’s like the New England Patriots playing their fourth-string quarterback,” said George McPhee, the Golden Knights’ general manager. What has happened to their goalies has been incredibly tough and would be difficult for any organization to overcome, let alone an expansion team. They could also be the first expansion team to make the playoffs since the Hartford Whalers and Edmonton Oilers, refugees from the folded WHA, in 1980. The club had a bigger pool of players to choose from, with each existing NHL team allowed to protect one fewer player for the expansion draft. That is an example, McPhee said, of the type of coach he wanted to guide his young team.

Source: Wall Street Journal November 09, 2017 16:41 UTC