When should we expect the Vegas Golden Knights to make the playoffs?
If recent expansion history means anything, it might take a while -- but there's nothing wrong with that. Here's when post-1990 expansion teams first qualified for the postseason:
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The relatively quick success of the Panthers, Wild, Sharks, Lightning, and Mighty Ducks seems promising at first for the Golden Knights. But consider that most of those squads skated their early years in an NHL with fewer teams, and therefore, less competition to make the playoffs.
The last four expansion franchises, save Minnesota, have taken their time to make their second-season debut.
There's something to be said about that necessary struggle to build a perennial winner. Both the Sens and Preds lost more than they won in the beginning, accumulated lottery picks for their trouble, then found their way. Predictably, both drafted well during the lean times:
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For Ottawa, it helped that Berard didn't want to play there, so they were able to flip him shortly thereafter for Wade Redden, 1995's second-overall selection. For Nashville, the sting of drafting Finley in 1999 was alleviated by unearthing Martin Erat in the seventh round. Erat, of course, became Filip Forsberg.
Finally, a striking coincidence on the first list is the resounding success of its "prodigies" -- Florida lost the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals to Colorado, Minnesota lost the 2003 Western Conference Finals to Anaheim, and eighth-seed San Jose upset Detroit in the first round in 1994.
Such immediate playoff fortune would surely be welcome in a win-driven city like Las Vegas, though it may not be the path to consistent contention.
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On multiple occasions, Owner Bill Foley has proclaimed that he wants the Vegas Golden Knights to be the "Team of the Rockies." Which begs the question: Do the Rocky Mountains even go through Las Vegas?
Thankfully, Yahoo! Answers has...
the answer:
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Lest there's any further confusion -- the Rockies don't even approach the state of Nevada:
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I imagine Foley knows all this, so what is he thinking? He's marketing his product, of course. In the same vein as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Anaheim is in Orange County, not LA County) and the New York Giants/Jets (who both play in a different state), the Golden Knights are hoping to tap into something larger.
So we can credit Foley for his ingenuity, if not his geography. Whether "Team of the Rockies" sticks or not, we'll see -- but it's an approach that the actual teams of the Rockies, such as the Avalanche, Flames, and Oilers, haven't tried.
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