Vegas’ skyrocketing rise from nothing to a great empire is unmatched, ‘s NHL reporter Tommi Seppälä writes from the middle of the Las Vegas championship party.
LAS VEGAS. Playoffs in three years, championship in six.
I saw the club owner Bill Foley your goals in 2017. Foley, whose net worth is estimated to be around one and a half billion dollars, is an American businessman who, in addition to the Golden Knights, owns the Premier League team Bournemouth and the French premier league football club FC Lorient.
After all, Foley knew what he was talking about. It’s amazing how Vegas has been able to build the empire it has in such a short amount of time – and even in the salary cap era. The performance is unmatched even globally in almost any professional ball league.
Straight to the top from absolutely nothing.
Let’s repeat. In the first season, to the Stanley Cup finals, where Vegas paid the tuition with the experienced Washington. One offseason was followed by two trips to the conference finals. So: the first four seasons included one final and two semi-final trips.
A year ago, Vegas missed the playoffs, despite collecting 94 points. It is two points more than Florida, who reached the finals this season, collected in the regular season that ended. After entering the league, Vegas has been the sixth best team in the regular season and the second best team in the playoffs in terms of winning percentage.
Still: the performance is incredible.
So how was the trick done? It would be fair to say that Vegas as a club has been successful on a wide range of fronts. The owners, club management, player monitors and coaching have all done their job brilliantly. As a result, the product on the ice has been at a top level year after year.
On top of all that, Vegas runs the biggest show in the money league in its arena. Top sports and the entertainment business go hand in hand in Vegas in a way that cannot be done anywhere else.
When talking about assembling a team, at least one theme must be brought up: character.
Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon the head coach talked about the topic together Bruce Cassidy with in the media day before the final match series. When players have been recruited to Vegas, the club has wanted to pay special attention to the character quality of the players. The club wanted to acquire winning types.
Let’s create an overview of the player list. Alex Pietrangelo, Alec Martinez and Ivan Barbashev in the lead are already Stanley Cup winners, Martinez double. Those fulfilling the role of deputy With Phil Kessel and With Jonathan Quick there are four rings in total.
In addition, there is Mark Stone, Johathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith, William Karlsson, Brayden McNabb and so on. We are talking about experienced and at the same time really reliable players with a really high need for achievement.
The whole is crowned by a top coach Bruce Cassidy.
Many of the above are united by a huge desire to win. The six original members of Vegas, the so-called misfits, still remember very clearly how the loss to Washington in the summer of 2018 felt. Cassidy remembers well what it felt like to lose a crucial final seven at home with Boston in 2019.
Vegas has managed to assemble a large ensemble of characters. The team has a tremendous amount of leadership and understanding of what it takes to win at this level. This is talked about in all clubs, but how many really want or manage to hire winning types?
Do you hire crooks and virtuosos or players who put the team’s interest above all else.
Some talk, others do. Foley knew what he was talking about.