Wednesday, June 21, 2017

The Vegas Golden Knights

The Golden Knights actually have a team now, after selecting a player from each 30 teams. The expansion rules were set up for Vegas to be competitive right from the get go. However, they forgo any thought of any immediate success, making trades for a bunch of draft picks, including several first round picks, in order to steer away from certain players.

I believe that the Golden Knights need to be good right away in order to build up their fan base, especially with the NFL's Oakland Raiders moving to Sin City in a couple of years. With the team that they selected in the expansion draft, they will won't be winning too many games, not even with Marc-Andre Fleury as their starting goalie.  And some of the players, including top players like Marc Methot, might only be a Golden Knight for a couple of days before they are traded to another team.

A few of the players were in Vegas and introduced to the Vegas crowd at the T-Mobile Arena where the NHL Awards were being handed out and the Golden Knights expansion picks were announced.

Brayden McNabb, Jason Garrison, and Marc-Andre Fleury were there wearing the Golden Knights very first jersey.  For Marc-Andre Fleury, who received the loudest ovation of the new players, June 21 will be memorable.  Fourteen years ago, he was selected 1st overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL Entry Draft and now he becomes the face of a brand new franchise.



Here is the team:

Goalies: Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT), Calvin Pickard (COL), Jean-Francois Beruke (NYI)

Defencemen: Luca Sbisa (VAN), Jon Merrill (NJ), Brayden McNabb (LA), Jason Garrison (TB), Deryk Engelland (CGY), Colin Miller (BOS), Marc Methot (OTT),
David Schlemko (SJ), Griffen Reinhart (EDM), Alexi Emelin (MTL), Clayton Stoner (ANA),
Trevor van Riemsdyk (CHI), Nate Schmidt (WAS)

Forwards: Teemu Pulkkinen (ARI), William Carrier (BUF), Tomas Nosek (DET), Cody Eakins (DAL), Jonathan Marchessault (FLA), Connor Brickley (CAR), Chris Thorburn (WPG), Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (PHI), James Neal (NAS), Brendan Leipsic (TOR), David Perron (STL), Oscar Lindberg (NYR), Erik Huala (MIN), William Karlsson (CBJ)

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