Defying Expectations: Vegas Golden Knights 2017/18

Flashback to 2018 as Ovechkin lifted the Stanley Cup after the Washington Capitals defeated the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. 

But how did Vegas, a year 1 expansion team, make the final? Sure, St Louis made the final in each of their first 3 seasons from 1967/68 to 1969/70. But, once the league expanded to 12 teams, the playoffs were designed so that one of the Expansion teams would meet an Original Six team in the final. Therefore, Vegas making the final as the only expansion team in 2017/18 was really something special. 

The 2018 Stanley Cup Final would have been an incredible story whatever way it had gone, whether that being Ovechkin getting that Stanley Cup title, or Vegas winning in their first year. In the end, Ovechkin and the Capitals did it. Still, the Vegas story would make a pretty good movie. 

So, what made this Vegas team so different from previous NHL expansion teams? Because they did defy expectations for an expansion team, even one with a more favourable draft.

Expansion Draft Rules

Part of the reason for their success was the more favourable draft. Vegas had to choose a player from each of the 30 other NHL teams who could each protect 7 forwards, 3 defensemen and 1 goaltender or 8 skaters and 1 goaltender. Teams not being able to protect as many players as in previous expansion drafts meant that a number of star players were available for Vegas to select. Therefore, Vegas could in theory put together a team consisting of more top players than previous expansion teams. And they certainly picked well by selecting players such as Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury and Florida’s Jonathan Marchessault. 

2017/18

Despite having more top players, Vegas weren’t expected to do well in their first season. However, they wasted no time in proving others wrong and within their opening 10 games had 8 wins. They qualified for the postseason while winning their division with 109 points. 

The 3rd best goalscorer in the league that year, William Karlsson had a tremendous season, leading the team in goals (43) and points (78). He was followed by Jonathan Marchessault with 75 points and David Perron with 66. Their goalie situation became a worry early on as in only the 10th game of the season the Golden Knights had to send on a fourth goalie, Maxime Lagace, to replace the injured Oscar Dansk. So, the Knights had lost Fleury, Subban and Dansk, and it was still October. However, when the star Fleury did return, he tied for the second lowest GAA in the league (2.24) with Arizona’s Raanta, and ranked inside the top 10 for save percentage. 

Vegas recorded an 8-game win streak from December 14th to January 2nd and Neal, Fleury and Head Coach Gerrard Gallant had the opportunity to represent the Golden Knights at the NHL All-Star weekend in Tampa Bay. Vegas just had a great year. As a team and individually. But not just one year either. They have qualified for the playoffs every season since entering the league. Individual success that season included Karlsson, Marchessault, Perron, Smith and Haula, who collected the 5 highest point totals, having career-high points totals that year. Fleury even had his best career numbers in terms of save percentage and GAA. So, not only did this team pick well, but those players performed well and that helped give them success.

In the 2018 postseason they beat the 2012 and 2014 champions LA in a 4-game series sweep in the first round. They bettered the Sharks 4 games to 2 in the second round and Winnipeg 4 games to 1 in the Western Conference Final to set up a Washington-Vegas Final which Washington won in the end 4-1.

So, Vegas were 3 games off winning the Stanley Cup. Individually and as a team, they performed above expectations and proved people wrong. Their level of play helped them achieve so much. The Expansion Draft rules partly helped make them such a competitive team. They had many top players available to them compared to other drafts and so could have a more competitive team from the start, and certainly did so as these top players performed well. The Seattle expansion draft set for 2021 will follow the same favourable conditions. Perhaps Seattle will have a good shot at making the playoffs too. Perhaps Vegas were just an exception. This isn’t what expansion teams are supposed to do. Are they not supposed to start off near the bottom and work their way to the top as they develop? Even with the favourable draft rules, such success couldn’t have been expected in the first year, could it? Perhaps that’s why Vegas were so fun to watch. They didn’t do what they were ‘supposed to’.