AIDAN POLLARD
Assistant Sports Editor
This NHL season has felt like a cheesy ‘80s movie where the Vegas Golden Knights are the protagonists.
When the NHL announced a new expansion team, almost no one thought anything would come of the Golden Knights. The team was drafted by choice, but each team could “protect” players, meaning that big name players like Sidney Crosby, Henrik Lundqvist or Alex Ovechkin couldn’t be drafted to the Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights didn’t enter the season empty-handed, though. The team managed to get Marc-Andre Fleury and Malcolm Subban. Aside from that, the team was mostly a ragtag group of A- and B-listers who were only supposed to set the foundation for a franchise.
Instead, Vegas brought a team that dominated right from the start and started shattering records as soon as they possibly could. The previous record for wins in a first season was by the Florida Panthers with 34. The Golden Knights have 51 as of April 7.
Vegas is leading the Pacific Division with 109 points, followed by the San Jose Sharks with 100. They are fifth overall in points in the NHL. They trail the Predators, the Bruins, the Lightning and the Jets.
Despite not being the highest scoring team, Vegas has a winning record against all the other division-leading teams. The only teams they haven’t beaten are the Minnesota Wild and the New York Islanders.
On paper, Vegas isn’t the strongest team in the NHL. But there’s no telling what the motivation of a Cinderella story can do.
It would be completely unprecedented for a modern NHL expansion team to make the playoffs, let alone win the Stanley Cup. According to FiveThirtyEight “Vegas is … lapping the field of expansion teams across every major pro sport.”
Even when accounting for how the way other pro sports’ records are distributed, Vegas’ inaugural season is unprecedented.
Vegas’ success can probably be attributed to coaching more than anything. With a team that started off with no huge name or elite skaters, the Golden Knights were able to focus on working together as a team rather than relying on one or two studs to do all the work.
This is a problem that can be seen with a lot of the low tier teams in the NHL. Teams like Buffalo, the Islanders and even the Rangers now aren’t gelling as a whole. They’re relying on players like Eichel, Tavares and Lundqvist to carry the programs.
Vegas may even come out of this season with the NHL MVP. William Karlsson is third in the NHL for goals scored, trailing only Patrick Laine and Alex Ovechkin. Obviously, the MVP spot will have a lot to do with how the playoffs work out, but Karlsson is certainly not out of the question. Not to mention, Marc-Andre Fleury has the most wins and has tied Carter Hutton of the Blues for a .931 save percentage.
More than any of this, I want them to do it. I believe they can. And with both the Sabres and my hometown Islanders out of the playoffs, I have no other horse in this race.
Vegas may not be the statistics’ perfect choice, but neither were the Mighty Ducks.