The expansion Vegas Golden Knights will take the next step in building their team when general manager George McPhee and director of amateur scouting Scott Luce attend the 2017 NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo from May 29-June 3.

The combine will give the League's first new team since the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild joined the NHL in 2000 the opportunity to determine which players might best fit its needs. The Golden Knights have the No. 6 pick in the first round, as determined by the NHL Draft Lottery, and have the third pick in Rounds 2-7.

It was the end of my first season coaching the Washington Capitals. We weren't very good. We came in last place.

I came in there and the team had struggled before I got there. I think they played 35-40 games and won maybe once. When I got there, Mr. Pollin, who owned the team, told me he mainly wanted us to be a hard-working team. Where even if we didn't win much, he wanted us to be tough as hell to play against.

We weren't going to be the Montreal Canadiens or the Boston Bruins. But boy did we work hard.

Although we didn't win much after I got there, they appreciated the hard work there in Washington. At the end of my first season, they had a big jamboree in the parking lot at the Capital Centre.

We hadn't won much, but we were competitive, so we had this big ole' jamboree in the parking lot and Mr. Pollin was there. We were up on stage and the crowd was screaming my name. Chanting my name.

"We love you, coach."

I had been with a lot of hockey teams, both as a player and a coach. It wasn't until I coached the new Washington Capitals that I had a crowd chant for me like this.

The crowd was chanting my name at the end of a season where we came in last place.

I look over at Mr. Pollin and he was clapping, too.

Mr. Pollin mouthed over to me: "I love you also, coach."

Me being a clown, I said: "Will you still love me, Mr. Pollin, when we don't make the playoffs again next year?"

He said: "sure, I'll miss you, too."

Las Vegas isn't like other NHL cities.

As we learned on Tuesday, neither will its broadcasts.

This morning, the team announced a partnership with ROOT SPORTS Rocky Mountain, which becomes the official local television partner of the team. This came after Lotus Broadcasting became the team's official radio partner in April.

RELATED: ROOT SPORTS Rocky Mountain becomes Golden Knights' TV partner

Through the Golden Knights' partnership with Lotus, all of the team's games will be broadcast on 98.9 FM/1340AM throughout the region, with occasional games being broadcast in Spanish on ESPN Deportes 1460 AM.

With the team's broadcast partnerships now in place, the next stage in developing the team's broadcasts will be deciding on broadcasters.

Team president Kerry Bubolz shared some insight on where the process is at in terms of hiring both the Golden Knights' TV and radio broadcast teams.

When the Nashville Predators defeated the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in team history.

After all, of the four franchises to be granted expansion status in 1997 - Atlanta Thrashers, Minnesota Wild, Columbus Blue Jackets - the Predators were the first one to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

To date, the Predators will be the newest NHL team to advance this far in the playoffs.

RELATED: ROOT SPORTS Rocky Mountain to become Golden Knights' TV home

With the Golden Knights set to debut in the NHL this fall, we examine the league's other 30 franchises and how long it took them to reach the playoffs' final round.

It took the Predators 18 years. Of the 27 teams that have reached the Stanley Cup Final - Arizona, Winnipeg, Columbus and Minnesota are the four that haven't - the average time it's taken expansion teams is 11.9 years.

Do you know how long it took the other teams?

VEGAS (May 23, 2017) - Vegas Golden Knights Chairman and CEO Bill Foley and President of AT&T Sports Networks Patrick Crumb announced today May 23, a television rights agreement making AT&T Sports Networks and its ROOT SPORTS-branded regional sports network the official television home of the Vegas Golden Knights.

Under the agreement, ROOT SPORTS Rocky Mountain will be the exclusive television rightsholder for Golden Knights regional telecasts of regular-season games, beginning with the 2017-18 NHL season, for the length of the agreement. The network will have the opportunity to carry preseason and playoff games as well. All games will be produced in high definition and contain a pregame show and postgame show, subject to live event conflicts.

Broadcast talent for Golden Knights telecasts on ROOT SPORTS Rocky Mountain will be announced at a later date.

It's been a colorful month for Vadim Shipachyov.

Gold and bronze, more specifically.

After signing as the second player in Golden Knights history on May 4, Shipachyov finished a dominant performance with Russia at the World Championships by taking home a bronze medal on Sunday.

In total, Shipachyov finished the tournament sixth in scoring with 13 points (2g, 11a) in 10 games.

Behind every great hockey player are great hockey parents, and on Saturday, more 800 kids got to play hockey for the first time in front of their soon-to-be hockey parents at the second Vegas Golden Knights Sticks for Kids clinic at Desert Breeze Park.

The second of three clinics taught kids ages 5 to 15 the fundamentals of street hockey, as well as the values of the game. All participants received a free street hockey stick and ball.

RELATED: Sticks For Kids a success during its Saturday debut

Parents can sign their kids up for the third clinic on June 3^rd at Anthem Hills park here.

As the kids learned the basics of hockey and fell in love with the game, their parents looked on from the sidelines. Mark Rivas, whose son David, 11, played hockey for the first time on Saturday, was thrilled to see so many kids come out and give the game a try.

"I love that they are bringing this to the community to learn how to play hockey and the game of hockey and to meet other kids who are interested in hockey," Rivas said. 

Hockey fans and players remember the first time they fell in love with the game, and often it starts with just picking up a hockey stick.

On Saturday, a few hundred kids had their first hockey experiences, and started to develop a love for the sport, at the Vegas Golden Knights' first Sticks for Kids street hockey clinic at Paradise Park.

More than 500 kids came out to learn the fundamentals of hockey, many of whom were playing the game for the first time. More than 800 more local children are signed up for the next clinic tomorrow, May 21st, at Desert Breeze Park. The third Sticks for Kids clinic will be held on Saturday, June 3rd at Anthem Hills Park.

Parents can sign their kids up for FREE for the second and third clinics here

Hockey is a superstitious sport. 

Everyone from players to coaches to fans have different good luck charms that they use from time to time. Some may have a lucky rabbit's foot, some may have a secret handshake, or even a certain warmup routine.

For the Vegas Golden Knights, their draft lottery charm was a rooster.

Yes, a rooster.

Tweet from @GoldenKnights: A few minutes before our first NHL Draft Lottery and Stanley The Rooster is at @TMobileArena to hopefully deliver us some good luck. pic.twitter.com/FIa3ssFYv7

In Episode Five of Behind the Vegas Ice, which aired Wednesday evening on Cox 96, we saw fans try to bring some good luck to the Golden Knights in the 2017 NHL Draft Lottery.

At the lottery watch party at T-Mobile Arena, a lucky rooster statue makes an appearance, as it is the "Year of the Rooster" in the Chinese Zodiac calendar. Fans have the chance to rub its head prior to the lottery announcement.

Unfortunately, the rooster could not swing the ping pong balls in Vegas' direction, as the Golden Knights were awarded the sixth overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. Vegas had a 10.3% chance of getting the first overall pick. 

As the NHL's Vice President of Learn To Play and Growth Fund Initiatives, Rob Knesaurek hasn't made too many trips to Vegas over the years.

Sure, as one of the NHL's leaders in developing the game at the youth hockey level, he's familiar with the Vegas area and its hockey community.

But in terms of coming to Vegas, it hasn't been a frequent stop on his travel itinerary.

That is until the process leading up to and after the birth of the Golden Knights, which has dictated that Knesarek become much more intimately familiar with the region.

On a recent trip to Vegas, he admitted being pleasantly surprised by what he saw.

"When we actually visited the market, there is an appetite for hockey," Knesaurek said. "We went to the available rinks and saw a tournament. I think we saw that there's going to be a contagious energy for hockey.

RELATED: Golden Knights tickets on sale now

"We look at the area as having so much potential."

That potential, of course, may take an entire generation to fully realize.

Although the efforts, some of which will pay immediate dividends while others will take years to quantify, have already started in the months following the Golden Knights' entry into the NHL last June.

The next step in these efforts begin this Saturday, when the first of the team's three "Sticks For Kids" events is held at Paradise Park.