Christian Renzi
I’m not sure if the general population is aware of this but Las Vegas is in the desert. It’s hot and dry year round. It’s not exactly the prime location for a hockey team. Weirdly enough the NHL did host an outdoor game there in in 1991 right outside Caesars Palace. Seriously look it up. It’s wild. But still, when they announced that a team would be expanding to Vegas I, along with a lot of other people were perplexed. First of all there is already a hockey team that plays in the desert. They’re called the Arizona Coyotes and they’re not exactly filling seats. It also doesn’t help that they’ve barely made the playoffs since they relocated from Winnipeg to Arizona in 1996.
When a new team pops up in the NHL they obviously need to fill the roster with NHL caliber players. In order to do this they put on an “expansion draft.” Basically each team can either protect seven forwards, three defensmen and one goaltender or they can chose to protect eight skaters (forwards and defensmen) and one goaltender. In addition to that all players with “No Movement” clauses built into their contracts are protected, unless they chose to waive that clause.
What this means is that teams are obviously protecting their best players causing the Vegas Golden Knights to essentially draft players that NHL teams are at least moderately comfortable parting with. It’s only natural that one would assume that the Knights wouldn’t really be competitive and I, like a lot of other people figured they would be a disaster.
..And then the season started.
One thing they do have is a strong goaltender. Marc Andre Fleury is a three time Stanley Cup Champion, formerly with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The team started off winning. Fleury ended up going down with an injury, forcing the Knights to start their backup goaltender, Malcolm Subban, who had been traded to them from my Boston Bruins. You can count Subban's starts with Boston on one hand, all of them were pretty abysmal. The bulk of the beginning of his career was played with my home state, Providence Bruins, where at best he played average. When he had to start for Vegas I figured it would be the beginning of their losing streak.
...But it wasn’t.
They kept winning. Eventually Subban went down and they were forced to start their third backup. I don’t even know what his name was but insanely enough he also found himself injured, putting the starting job in the hands of their FOURTH backup, who I think came from the ECHL.
Vegas kept rolling.
Maybe there is something to be said about a bunch of guys who have a chip on their shoulder. They feel like they have something to prove because all of their old clubs didn’t protect them because they felt like they could afford to lose them. My personal theory, and it’s not an original thought by any means, is that teams are coming into Vegas, partying way too hard the night before a game, and then losing. My evidence for that is the Knight’s incredible home record at 19-3-2.
As I write this article the Vegas Golden Knights are in first place in the Western Conference and second place in the NHL. The only other team with a better record than them is the Tampa Bay Lightning. Logic tells me that this team isn’t going to win a Stanley Cup. Their roster is full of guys with little to no playoff experience. But if there is one thing that this team has been consistent at it’s proving people wrong and winning games.
So I ask again. What the hell is happening in Vegas?
My dream scenario is a Boston/Vegas Cup final with Boston winning in a four game sweep. To prepare for that here’s a picture of me flipping off the Golden Knights sign outside of their arena.
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