Quote:
Originally Posted by RchW
The success of LVGK is unprecedented in all of sports. If I were the developer I'd resist just responding to a once in a lifetime thing. Just my  |
Still, it should be possible, if very unlikely, to have this kind of thing to happen in the game. My best working theory right now is that the biggest factor (outside of excellent leadership and management in Vegas) is a much closer competitive balance in the league that there used to be.
Why, though? Part of it's probably due to a combination of expansion and new roster rules, particularly the cap, that makes it much more likely to get an even distribution of talent. If you assume the number of really elite players is relatively constant over the last several decades, or at least growing much more slowly than the league, they're getting spread more and more thinly, diluting their influence.
But at the same time, player development is more efficient than it's ever been. So that's probably inflating the ranks of guys who can play competently (but not superbly) in the NHL. Salaries, though, haven't really taken that into account. If you assume this model's correct, second-line scorers should be a lot more dime-a-dozen now, but you still see that type of guy getting long-term contracts for 5-10% of the team's overall cap hit. Hand out a few of those, and what once was a successful team turns into one that's hamstrung by cap problems that can get left behind by one that's been built/rebuilt on the cheap. Leaguewide, that's probably a pretty good thing, no fans should have to experience their team being sub-.500 for decades at a time. But it's going to take some getting used to.
So, for the game, the direction I think we'll head in is maybe changing the shape of the talent pool slightly to expand the number of NHL-capable guys (just the starting one, player generation already does something like that over time.) And we're also looking at expanding the role of stats/production in player valuation. If we get that working right, it should do a better job of reflecting how a season or two of big production from an average player (who was in the right place at the right time) gets him an outsized contract that burdens his team in the long run, and makes teams assembled out of cheap (but still high-quality) talent more upwardly mobile.