The Vegas Golden Knights took the world of hockey by storm. The first modern-era expansion team throughout North America’s four major professional sports leagues marked their inaugural season in style with an admirable showing.
Far from favourites, the Golden Knights finished top of the Pacific Division, ahead of second placed Ducks, resulting in a Stanley Cup chance many experts and fans alike felt was never in the reckoning. Sadly, the rest is history as they say, and the Golden Knights went on to lose to the Washington Capitals in a thrilling encounter. In fact, the Golden Knights themselves will be looking to replicate the history of a team like the Capitals, who won the Stanley Cup for the first time in their 44 years of existence.
The Golden Knights will be keen to build on their debut season and with a squad made largely up of discarded, rejected players from elsewhere, they really are a beautiful underdog story in the making. Winning the Stanley Cup against The Washington Capitals would have capped off an incredibly unlikely first season for the team, but making the final was proof enough that they’re here to stay and here to mount a serious challenge moving forward.
A city together
Las Vegas Golden Knights Celebration after the game winning goal in overtime. Photo by Jack Lima
Not a traditional hockey city, Las Vegas and their team will always struggle to win over some. In the face of tragedy, though, the team and the city came together. Following a sickening act of violence in Vegas where a gunman opened fire on a crowd at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, leaving fifty-eight people dead and 851 injured, the team were desperate to help their local community and offer aid in any way that they could. As a result, a $300,000 donation was made from the team to the victims and their families and the players went out into their communities to show their support. Such acts of kindness, support and togetherness enabled the community and the team to come together in the face of adversity and, as a result, their remarkable debut season unfolded.
Deryk Engelland, one of the team’s key men, said: “That helped to bring guys together on a personal level, instead of just going to the rink. We weren’t winning for ourselves. We were winning for everyone in the city that was affected by that tragedy.”
Tall Order
With a bond formed and an identity somewhat created further, the team thrived. But what does this season hold for the Vegas Golden Knights and can they be a dangerous proposition once again? Put bluntly, of course they can, although it will be tough.
File photo courtesy of Jack Lima
A number of NHL Betting, Odds & Tips are offering fantastic value on the Golden Knights to go one better than they did in their inaugural season and deliver the Stanley Cup, with bet365 rating them as 10/1 favourites. A big ask perhaps, but the Vegas Golden Knights love to prove their doubters wrong it seems. The spirit and togetherness formed with their city could also help them in their quest too, especially if attendances keep growing and more and more fans get behind them.
Other contenders for the Stanley Cup crown are Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins at 9/1 (bet365), Nashville Predators priced at 10/1, the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7/1, with Pittsburgh Penguins and the Winnipeg Jets rated as being in with a 12/1 shout of winning it. Holders and surely the team to beat, the Washington Capitals, are priced at an incredibly tempting 10/1 also.
The Vegas Golden Knights are here to stay and the NHL is better off for it. This season could be one of the best yet.
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