I think they did a great job of scouting talent, but I also think the new expansion draft rules made it relatively easy for them to put together a good team out of the gate (although no one expected them to be this good). Most teams protected one goalie, so basically Vegas could choose any two backup goalies in the league. Teams like Nashville with good defensemen could protect four defensemen and then only four forwards. If you protect your top line (Johanssen, Arvidsson, Forsberg) that leaves only one other forward on the entire roster you can protect. That's how a guy like perennial 30-goal scorer James Neal couldn't be protected and ended up on Vegas. More-or-less every team in the league had to expose a second line forward or a second pair defenseman. McPhee could pick and choose the best of these.
In the 2000 expansion draft, every existing team could protect more players (9 forwards, 5 d-men, 1 goalie). And, the two new teams (Blue Jackets & Wild) split that talent, further watering down their rosters.
I don't think anyone wants an expansion teams to totally suck... but I'm not a fan of loading them up so much they can win the Cup year 1 (although I still think they aren't as good as Nashville or Winnipeg - the Central is really good).