Vegas Golden Knights

The Las Vegas Golden Knights, stylized as the Vegas Golden Knights, is a professional ice hockey team located in Las Vegas, Nevada. The team came into existence as an expansion team when the board of NHL owners voted to expand to thirty-one teams in the league in June 2016, and its debut NHL season was 2017-2018. Vegas plays in the Pacific Division of the NHL's Western Conference. The team has won the Pacific Division title several times, and it has twice won the conference final and crowned the best team in the NHL Western Conference. In 2023, The Vegas Golden Knights won its first Stanley Cup title. The team has become known for elaborate pre-game displays, which evoke the city's personality and being a consistently competitive team.

The name, Vegas Golden Knights, came from owner Bill Foley's desire to have a powerful warrior to represent Las Vegas. The image of the knight was considered by Foley to be the epitome of the warrior class. Foley wanted the team to be named simply the "Knights," but that name came into copyright trouble, as the London Knights owned the name in Canada, and Foley found acquiring the name from the OHL club was not economically feasible. This led to reports that Foley considered naming the team the Silver Knights or Desert Knights before deciding on the Golden Knights. The team's AHL farm team took on the name Silver Knights.

Example of the Vegas Golden Knight's elaborate opening ceremonies.

The T-Mobile arena and home of the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Vegas Golden Knights play at the T-Mobile Arena, a multi-purpose indoor arena on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The Golden Knights were also distinguished as the first professional major-league team in Las Vegas. Previously, Las Vegas had been considered to be a poor market for professional major-league teams, based on previous expansions of lower-level franchises that often folded a year after. Similarly, the city was considered to have odd hours for much of the city's labor force, and the city had too many other competing entertainment options. Those other entertainment options could lead to scandals that could potentially tarnish the family-friendly appearance professional sports leagues strive for.

The Vegas Golden Knights three uniforms.

The expansion fee for the team in Las Vegas was USD $500 million, which was spread equally among the other thirty NHL teams. For that price, the Vegas Golden Knights entered the league with a special mechanism known as an Expansion Draft, in which the new franchise is able to select one player from each of the existing NHL franchises. In the 2017 Expansion Draft, existing NHL clubs had two options for players they wished to protect: either they could protect seven forwards, three defensemen, and one goaltender; or they could protect eight skaters (forwards or defensemen) and one goaltender. With this expansion, there were fewer protected players than previous expansions. Under the rules, Vegas had to select at least fourteen forwards, nine defensemen, and three goaltenders, with a minimum number of twenty players under contract for the 2017-2018 season.

The 2017 Expansion Draft rules were changed from previous expansion draft rules, due to the NHL struggling with expansion teams. Previous expansions, beginning in the early 1990s, saw new teams in Tampa Bay, Anaheim, Ottawa, Atlanta, and Nashville struggle for years to be competitive in the league. In the case of a team like Atlanta, these struggles lent to the team's eventual move to Winnipeg. The previous expansion rules were considered, in hindsight, to be a major roadblock to further NHL expansion.

Vegas took an aggressive approach to the expansion draft. The teams they were picking players from worked to make side deals to keep players they could not protect and ensure Vegas would not pick them. These deals gave Vegas extra picks in the upcoming NHL Rookie Draft and extra roster players, allowing Vegas to pick thirty-seven players (from thirty-one teams) and enabling Vegas to bundle these players and draft picks to acquire players they were interested in but had been protected. As a result, Vegas was able to develop a stronger roster than any previous expansion team.

The first Vegas Golden Knights season led to the monicker of the "Misfits," which captured the feeling of many of the unprotected players that their previous franchises did not want them. This helped to bond the players together. On October 1, 2017, a mass shooting in Las Vegas claimed the lives of 58 people and injured 700 more. The new team was front and center in the mourning of the city and in trying to help the community begin to heal. This has been credited by many in helping bond the team with the community and with the community embracing the team.

The expectations for the first season in the wider NHL were low, as most NHL expansion clubs posted losing seasons. However, inside the club, General Manager George McPhee (who later moved to club president with Kelly McCrimmon taking over the General Manager role) and majority owner Bill Foley set high standards, with the expectation that the Golden Knights would make the playoffs in three seasons and win the Stanley Cup (the highest award in the NHL) in six.

Those expectations were met and exceeded. The first season was unprecedented, with the team not only winning in the regular season to enter the playoffs but reaching the Stanley Cup Final. This was the first time an expansion team reached the Stanley Cup Finals. The team topped the Pacific Division and got the first sweep in a round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a first-time expansion team, but eventually fell short in the finals and lost to the Washington Capitals.

The loss in the Stanley Cup Finals changed the expectations of the ownership and front office of the Golden Knights. They were expected to be a top team in the NHL and expected to continue to make the playoffs on deep runs. This led to an approach to building and improving the team that left many in the NHL critical, as the franchise was considered to be unloyal to its players. For example, after six seasons in the NHL, only six of the franchise's original players were left on the roster.

Further, many of their top draft picks were traded out for established, big-name players. This included the likes of Alex Pietrangelo, Mark Stone, and Jack Eichel. It included the departure of goaltender Marc Andre-Fleury, who had become a darling of the city, and his departure was criticized throughout the league.

They took a similar approach with coaches, leading to the firing of the inaugural head coach, Gerard Gallant, after two seasons. He was replaced by Peter Deboer, who survived two seasons and was fired after the 2021-22 season, the first season the Vegas Golden Knights failed to make the NHL playoffs. He would eventually be replaced by Bruce Cassidy.

These decisions led to strong play over the next few seasons. The team finished third in the Western Conference in the 2018-19 NHL season and disappointingly lost in the first round of the playoffs. The next season, the 2019-20 season, was a shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Vegas finished the season first in its division and advanced to the conference finals in the playoffs, losing to the Dallas Stars. The next season was another shortened season and was limited to divisional play due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This season saw the Golden Knights get into the playoffs and advance once again to the semi-finals, where, due to the pandemic-related changes, they were defeated by the Montreal Canadiens. In the 2021-2022 season, the Golden Knights missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

Vegas Golden Knights celebrate a goal.

Regardless of the opinions about how the Vegas Golden Knights built their roster and managed their personnel, the team was excellent in the 2022-23 NHL season, tying a team record with fifty-one wins, setting a new team record for regular season points with 111, and winning first in the division again. The team's approach to building its roster resulted in a strong group of forwards, which allowed the team to have goal scorers on all four forward lines and absorb injuries to top forwards without losing position throughout the year. Similarly, the group of defensemen they had built was a strong group capable of nullifying offensive attacks and being capable of moving the puck to their forwards to begin their own attack.

This defense also allowed the team to absorb the loss of their starting goaltender and additional injuries to their other goaltenders (often considered one of the most important positions in the playoffs) before Adin Hill would eventually take over in the playoffs.

Laurent Brossoit helped off the ice after injury.

Adin Hill, despite his strong play through the remainder of the playoffs, was not the starting goaltender for Vegas at the beginning of the playoffs. Instead, Laurent Brossoit started the playoffs for the Golden Knights, defeating his previous team, the Winnipeg Jets, in the first round. Brossoit took the lead after rookie goaltender Logan Thompson went down with an injury during the season, a season in which Thompson was named to the All-Star team. Unsure of their goaltending position heading into the playoffs, Vegas traded for previous Stanley Cup-winning goaltender Jonathan Quick.

Adin Hill makes incredible stop during Stanley Cup playoffs.

But following an injury to Laurent Brossoit, Adin Hill was given a chance over the experienced Jonathan Quick, and Hill went on to offer a dominant performance through the rest of the playoffs, leading his team to a Stanley Cup Championship.

The final round of the Stanley Cup playoffs saw the Vegas Golden Knights face off against the Florida Panthers. The Panthers were sold as a team of destiny after beating the Boston Bruins when they were on the brink of elimination, and then defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round and the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference final, and overcoming one of the largest points differences to reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Vegas Golden Knight's captain Mark Stone raises the Stanley Cup after beating the Panthers 9-3.

However, the Golden Knights proved to be the better team. They went through their own difficult road to the finals, defeating the Winnipeg Jets in the first round, Stanley Cup odds favorite Edmonton Oilers in the second round, and a strong Dallas Stars team in the conference finals. The series between the two teams lasted five games in the best-of-seven series. Vegas beat the Panthers 5–2 in game one, and they won again 7–2 in game two. The Panthers then clawed a win in overtime of game three, before the Golden Knights defeated the Panthers 3–2 to take game four and won again 9–3 to take the Stanley Cup.