Golden Knights Enter 10th Season Having Made Massive Impact

LAS VEGAS -- "X" marks the spot.

The Roman numeral is frozen at center ice at T-Mobile Arena and stitched onto the Vegas Golden Knights jerseys to celebrate their 10th season in the NHL, which opens against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday (10:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, TVAS2).

Las Vegas' first major league pro sports team has been a spectacular success.

Since their debut in 2017-18, the Golden Knights rank fifth in wins (401) and first in Stanley Cup Playoff wins (76). They have made the playoffs eight times in nine seasons, reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2018, winning the Stanley Cup in 2023 and returning to the Cup Final last season.

But their impact goes far beyond that.

The Golden Knights have built rinks, packed them with people, put their American Hockey League affiliate in suburban Henderson and helped the Professional Women's Hockey League expand here.

The Women's National Basketball Association and National Football League have moved teams here, Major League Baseball will move one here soon, and the National Basketball Association is exploring expansion here too.

The NHL has added teams in Seattle and Utah. NHL revenues have skyrocketed over the past decade.

The Golden Knights have made Las Vegas a favorite of NHL players and inspired other NHL teams to change the way they operate.

"It's been tremendous," NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. "Obviously incredible things that the organization has accomplished."

NHL.com spoke to several executives and coaches to tell the story in depth. Perhaps the most striking compliments come from opposing players, especially the one at the end.
 
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Las Vegas once was taboo for major league sports due to gambling. That changed June 22, 2016, when the NHL awarded the city an expansion team. Owner Bill Foley convinced the League that the team would be supported by locals, not just casinos and tourists, and that the team would give the city an identity beyond The Strip.

The Golden Knights bonded with the community by helping after the mass shooting on The Strip on Oct. 1, 2017, five days before their first game, and by involving first responders in a moving pregame ceremony before their home opener. Then they got off to a hot start. Suddenly, a town of natives and transplants had one team around which to rally together. The bond was cemented by a magical run to the Stanley Cup Final.

T-Mobile Arena has been sold out regularly and become one of the loudest, liveliest environments in the NHL, with fans wearing Elvis costumes, gold sequins and Golden Knights gear.

"I thought it was going to be a tourist (attraction)," said forward Filip Forsberg, who has played for the Nashville Predators since 2012-13, giving him a perspective on the NHL before and after Vegas' arrival. "Preds play, all the Nashville fans go to Vegas. Next night, it's all (Toronto Maple Leafs) fans. They've built an incredible fanbase and done a great job."

The NHL made two key moves: one, being the first to put a team in Las Vegas, and two, giving the team a chance to be competitive immediately with expansion draft rules more favorable than in the past. George McPhee, then-general manager, and Kelly McCrimmon, then-assistant GM, took advantage of those rules wisely. The team ended up being far better than they anticipated.

"Everything came together the right way, and for a team to make a march all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in their initial season is probably something you'll never see in professional sports again," Daly said. "I think really since Day 1, what Bill Foley and George McPhee and Kelly McCrimmon have done, it's nothing short of amazing."

Once the NHL broke the taboo in Las Vegas, other pro sports leagues started to follow, and as the Golden Knights kept winning, the momentum grew.

The NFL announced March 27, 2017, that the Oakland Raiders would move here. They became the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020 and have acknowledged the Golden Knights as "one of the catalysts in helping transform Las Vegas into the Sports and Entertainment Capital of the World."

The WNBA announced Oct. 17, 2017, that the San Antonio Stars would move here; they became the Las Vegas Aces in 2018.

The Las Vegas Aviators, the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics, began playing in a new ballpark next to City National Arena in 2019. MLB announced Nov. 16, 2023, that the A's would move here; they are scheduled to arrive in 2028.

"I'm very excited about the opportunity in Vegas," A's owner John Fisher told MLB.com. "The fans there are terrific, and the success of the Raiders and the Golden Knights as well as our own Triple-A team, the Aviators, has shown just how successful professional sports can be in that market."

The PWHL announced May 13 that it would expand here. The Mark Walter Group owns all PWHL teams, including Las Vegas, but Foley Entertainment Group played a significant role in bringing the team here and will support it locally. The team will begin playing at T-Mobile Arena this season.

The NBA announced March 26 that it would explore expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle. Foley is one of the bidders for the Las Vegas franchise, and T-Mobile Arena is a potential venue.

"Let’s face it," said McPhee, who is now president of hockey operations of the Golden Knights. "There were a lot of naysayers who said it wouldn't even work here, and the franchise has become more successful than anyone could have ever imagined. It was important to be here first and put our stake in the ground, but it was also important to be really, really successful, and we have been.

"The other sports have decided to come, too. The good news is, it hasn't had any effect on our following. We just have a tremendous following here, and I think we’ll always be favorites in this town because we're 'Vegas Born.' We're not a relocation."

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman called it "gratifying" to see the NHL succeed in Las Vegas and other sports follow. Daly said he feels "pride" when he sees Allegiant Stadium, home of the Raiders, and the new ballpark under construction for the A's.

"At the end of the day, (Foley) and his people have done everything that you would want to do in Las Vegas for the creation of the first major league professional team there," Commissioner Bettman said. "It's worked well. The fans have been great, and you know, I think it's given Las Vegas an identity beyond The Strip.

"And while there's talk about other franchises coming, I don't worry for a second, because they've got a loyal, firm fan base that started on Day 1."
 
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The Golden Knights have fueled the growth of local hockey, the NHL's footprint and NHL revenues.

Not only has Vegas shown it can support one team, but it has shown it can support two. The Golden Knights announced Feb. 6, 2020, they had bought San Antonio of the American Hockey League with the intention of moving the team to the Las Vegas area. The Henderson Silver Knights began play a year later.

The Golden Knights built three local rinks in their first five years: City National Arena, their training facility; America First Center, their AHL training facility, which the PWHL team will also use; and Lee's Family Forum, the AHL game arena. The first two have two ice sheets each; Lee's Family Forum has one ice sheet. All house youth programming.

Nevada now has about 6,000 registered players, a six-fold increase for male and female players alike since the NHL's arrival, according to Golden Knights senior vice president of hockey programming and facility operations Darren Eliot.

"It's been really gratifying to see a steady stream of people coming through here to play hockey all winter long and even in the summer," said McPhee, whose office overlooks the entrance to City National Arena. "It's what you would have hoped for when we first got here, and it's become an exceptional hockey market with NHL, AHL, PWHL, all the kids tournaments, adult tournaments. It's a remarkable hockey town now.”

There are plans for more rinks.

"We need more," Ryan Craig said.

Craig would know. He has been with the Golden Knights from the beginning, serving as a Vegas assistant for six seasons and the Henderson head coach for three seasons before taking over as the Vegas head coach this season. His son, Carson, played for the Junior Golden Knights up to U16 and is now an 18-year-old defenseman for Fargo of the United States Hockey League.

"The game has taken off here," Craig said. "It's booming here. The hockey community has continuously grown."

The NHL awarded an expansion team to Seattle on Dec. 4, 2018. The fee was $650 million, $150 million more than Vegas paid. People immediately worried about the high bar the Golden Knights set in everything from game presentation to roster construction to on-ice performance.

“Anyone who would ever resent someone else's success because you're worried if you can replicate it, shame on you," Seattle CEO Tod Leiweke said at the time. "I'm inspired by what they did. I think it's cool."

The Golden Knights became famous for their quintessentially Vegas pregame show and in-arena experience. The Seattle Kraken hired Jonny Greco, then the Golden Knights vice president and chief experience officer, to be their senior vice president of entertainment experience and production. He used the same principles to give them their own quintessentially Seattle pregame show and in-arena experience when they debuted in 2021-22.

Utah was more of a relocation than an expansion. When the Arizona Coyotes arena situation became untenable, the NHL established a new franchise in Utah on April 18, 2024. The team acquired Arizona's hockey assets, began playing as the Utah Hockey Club in 2024-25 and took on their permanent brand identity as the Utah Mammoth last season.

Still, Vegas inspired Utah too.

Salt Lake City was part of the Golden Knights TV territory when they entered the NHL. Gerard Gallant, their first coach, participated in a public skate at the University of Utah during a promotional bus tour before their first season. They created a lot of fans and helped lay a foundation.

When the Mammoth reached the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time last season, they faced the Golden Knights in the Western Conference First Round. Before their first home playoff game on April 24, they invited fans to trade Vegas jerseys for Utah jerseys. Hundreds lined up outside Delta Center; the Mammoth ran out of jerseys in about 90 minutes.

Mammoth owner Ryan Smith said in a press conference afterward he had "nothing but respect" for the Golden Knights for how they'd grown the game and slid over to make room for Utah. He also said this about Vegas: "It was probably uncommon sense that it worked, but watching it succeed there gave me a ton of confidence it would work here."

Commissioner Bettman also said Tuesday the NHL is projecting revenues to reach $8.1 billion in local currency this season. That would be almost double what revenues were in 2016-17, the season before the Golden Knights debut.

"Who would have known that it would turn into this?" said center Mark Scheifele, who is entering his 16th season with the Winnipeg Jets and has lost to the Golden Knights in five games in the Western Conference Final in 2018 and five games in the first round in 2023. "It started off their first year. They go to the Stanley Cup Final, and they create such a buzz, and that just leads to the growth of the game.

"You see a place like Vegas take off as a hockey city. It's a testament to how they've grown the game here, how the NHL has grown the game from that point on, and I think that was a big start of the NHL game going up and up and up."
 
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The Golden Knights players nicknamed themselves the "Golden Misfits" in their inaugural season, because they were castoffs from other teams. Fans around the world embraced them as lovable underdogs on their run to the Stanley Cup Final.

"We didn’t anticipate that," said McCrimmon, who is now the GM. "We thought we'd be drafting and developing a team to win at some point in our history. It all changed after Year 1, because we had the success that we did, and we've had a different mindset ever since."

Management became bold and aggressive, parting with beloved coaches and players, trading prospects and picks, acquiring big names, pushing the limits of the salary cap. As the Golden Knights kept winning, they remained beloved by fans at home but became villains to others around the League.

"We've been unconventional in lots of things we've done," McPhee said. "Some people don’t like it. Outside of Vegas our first year, we were everybody's second-favorite team, it seemed, and as a result of our success, there's been some envy and so on. But we're never going to apologize for being unconventional and taking a really bold approach.

"And why should we when it's been so successful?"

Yes, the Golden Knights benefitted from the expansion draft rules. But again, they took advantage of them wisely, and that was a decade ago. The way they have turned over the roster since then has affected some other teams' approaches.

"I'm not saying every other team is doing it wrong, but they're aggressive," Forsberg said. "The draft doesn't mean much to them. They go for what they want, and the future, they just put that on hold. And it's been working. You build up a good program, you've got a good fanbase, you get the facilities, players are going to come.

"I think a lot of teams have kind of watched that happen and have been like, 'OK, we need to rethink our positions a little bit,' which has made the League interesting. It's a copycat league at the end of the day."

Las Vegas has become a favorite destination for NHL players, both as a place to visit on the road – even though the Golden Knights rank fifth in home wins (219) since 2017-18 – and a place to call home. 

Forward Brock Boeser has played for the Vancouver Canucks since 2016-17 and has been visiting Vegas since the beginning.

"It's one of the coolest places to play in the NHL now," Boeser said. "The building is rocking, and they're always a tough team to compete against. Just getting them in the hockey market has been huge for the whole NHL.

"The people of Vegas are so supportive. Every single game we play here is sold out. It's impressive, and they're rowdy, and like I said, it's one of my favorite places to play."

Forward Mitch Marner wanted a change after playing in his hometown of Toronto from 2016-17. As he was about to hit unrestricted free agency after last season, the Maple Leafs traded him to the Golden Knights on July 1, 2025, and he signed an eight-year, $96 million contract ($12 million average annual value).

In nine playoff appearances with Toronto, Marner never advanced past the Eastern Conference Second Round. In his first playoff appearance with Vegas, he made the Cup Final. He led the playoffs with 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists) in 22 games last season.

"I think the great thing about Vegas is obviously the passionate fanbase, the team you get to play for," Marner said. "You know the ownership and the team want to be as aggressive as possible to make your team the best team possible every year. They have high standards for everyone.

"And then I think it also helps that the living style is amazing. You live 10 minutes away from the rink. You live in a community with a lot of the guys, and you live in an area where you can take your kids out in shorts or T-shirts for six to seven months of a year. I think there’s a lot of things that really make Vegas a great spot to play."

When they look at the big picture, even fierce competitors who have had a lot to lose to the Golden Knights cannot deny what they have brought to the NHL.

Forward Gabriel Landeskog has played for the Colorado Avalanche since 2011-12. The Avalanche made the playoffs only once in his first six seasons. They finally started to become a perennial playoff team in 2017-18, the same season the Golden Knights became an instant success.

In 2020-21, Colorado and Vegas tied for first in the NHL in the regular season, and the Avalanche lost to the Golden Knights in the second round. Colorado won the Cup in 2022; Vegas won it in 2023. Last season, the Avalanche finished first in the NHL in the regular season and went 9-1 through the first two rounds of the playoffs, only to get swept by the Golden Knights in the conference final.

"Listen, I'd be lying if I said they didn't make this league a better place," the Colorado captain said. "We'd all be lying if we tried to deny that. They're trying to win. Every year, they're trying to win.

"I think the Golden Knights, you speak to the players, you hear a lot of good things about the organization, the people, and it's a great place. All you ever ask of an organization in this league is that they're trying their best to win, because we're all competitive. We all want to win.

"It makes our league and the Stanley Cup that much harder to win because Vegas is in it, so that's what you want."

NHL.com senior director of editorial Shawn P. Roarke and staff writer Mike Zeisberger contributed to this report