Question of the Day - 10 September 2018

Given the fact that our 356-page book Vegas Golden Knights—How a First-Year Expansion Team Healed Las Vegas and Shocked the Hockey World, by Joe Pane and QoD’s own Deke Castleman, is now out, we suppose we qualify as at least one of the “pundits.” Here’s an excerpt from the Epilogue that addresses what many analysts and fans believe about the Knights’ prospects for season two:

          In Sports Illustrated, Charlotte Wilder wrote about “sports innocence, a false sense of normal,” the kind of easy-money inaugural season that spoiled or even blinded Las Vegas fans. It was a common refrain, from the sadder but wiser hockey mavens offering a gentle reality check to the doubters who were back in force after the Finals.

          They said, “They’re marked now. They won’t sneak up on anyone next year. No team in the league will underestimate the lowly expansion club.”

          They said, “The Knights will end up victims of their own success. They came in and gave the fans a great run, but they can’t repeat it.”

          They said, “It’ll be interesting to see how rabid the Vegas fan base is on a cold and rainy Tuesday in February if the Knights are mired in a losing streak and out of the playoffs.”

          They even said, “The fact that so many season-ticket holders sold their seats to Washington Capitals fans for Game Five in the Finals was exactly why the Golden Knights had such a sweet set-up. The arena was new. The draft was rigged. The refs were lenient with them and stringent with their rivals. It was all so they’d win and be a shiny new marketing tool for the league and the game.”

On the other hand, Joe Pane, in his Knights on Ice blog post “What Can We Expect in 2018-2019?” wrote, “The Golden Knights are built for continued success and deep runs in the playoffs over the next five years, if not longer. They’re a blend of veterans and leaders who still have a few seasons left in their legs, the surprisingly unrecognized talent in their top six forwards, and the hardest-working and perhaps best fourth line in the league. Add to that a world-class goaltender coming off a career year and five prospects who appear poised to crack the VGK this season or next.”

The sports books fall on Joe's side of the equation, giving the VGK a lot more respect for season two than they did for season one when they opened as high as 500-1. For the opening lines to win the Stanley Cup, the Tampa Bay Lightning were an 8-1 favorite to win this year’s Cup. They were followed by the Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Winnipeg Jets, Boston Bruins, and Vegas Golden Knights all at 10-1 Last year’s winner, the Washington Capitals, were 12-1.

Since then, things have shifted a little. As of this writing, Tampa Bay and the Toronto Maple Leafs are the favorites at 7.5-1, Winnipeg is 9.5-1, and Nashville, Washington, and Vegas are 11-1.

The Vegas Golden Knights are definitely in the running as far as the sports books are concerned, though they’re certainly not the favorite to win the Cup.