Gerard Gallant took the inaugural Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup Final. Bruce Cassidy won a Cup with Vegas. John Tortorella was hired with eight games left in the regular season last spring and took the team to the Final, coming up just two wins short of Lord Stanley.
The architects have proven to have a deft touch when bringing in a foreman. Craig was developed by the organization. He joined the team immediately after his playing career ended and spent six seasons as an assistant coach with the Golden Knights before working for three as the top knock with the Henderson Silver Knights. Nine years with the organization before McCrimmon hired him this past off-season.
The record is one thing but the respect within the organization and, in particular, the dressing is another. Players have uniformly praised Craig and his approach.
Even though we're early on, it’s already apparent the 44-year-old bench boss has significant chops. He’s made subtle in game changes, been patient with his lines and goalies and remained poised.
There’s no bluster or politicking in Craig’s approach. He’s direct and open. The players know the standard and whether they are meeting it. Honesty from a boss is the best thing. One should never be surprised when they are under-performing or exceeding expectations.
Craig showed in the AHL that he could connect and relate with his players while holding them accountable at the same time. He’s secure enough in his own tactical abilities to empower his assistants. There’s clear oversight but no micro-managing. It’s a healthy functioning staff.
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The Golden Knights did not announce sellouts for the last two home games. This will likely happen on a few occasions this season.
No one wants to see empty seats at their games. And while some have concluded this is a negative, there is a positive perspective for both the fans and the organization.
The Golden Knights have made a change in their business plan regarding who will sell their tickets and set the price of their tickets.
The team conducted an extensive off-season ticket audit, identifying and removing unauthorized re-sellers. The goals of this strategy are to ensure price integrity for season ticket members, support long-term pricing stability and reinforce a fan-first ticketing strategy.
But bringing those tickets back in house will allow the Golden Knights to restructure pricing and give fans the ability to attend games at a more affordable price. Having this inventory has also made possible the creation of flexible, fan-friendly partial plan options to provide varied membership opportunities, including half-season and 10-game options.
“So, we started listening to fans,” VGK President of Business Operations John Penhollow told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We started asking more questions than we ever had before in an effort to try to create more flexible, more fan-friendly partial plan options as an example that wasn’t really available before. We introduced them this time. We introduced half seasons, we introduced 10-game plans. This was all in an effort because when we heard fans say, ‘I love the team, I just can’t go 40, 45 times plus postseason.’”
Full season memberships are sold out for this season, with new sales to verified fans up more than 19 percent year-over-year.
The organization took tickets away from brokers. It will take time to sell the seats reclaimed from unauthorized re-sellers.
“The re-sellers represented a pretty significant part of the business,” Penhollow said. “So, by taking those back, you then have to sell them to our actual fans who are here. They’re local, they just have never had a chance to go. It wasn’t a money thing; they just never had access. So, we’ve been providing that access and the team’s done a heck of a job, it just takes time.”
There’s going to be a lag while the organization and the market adjust.
But if it allows the team to have better control of ticketing revenue and to offer fans more options and entry points to attend games, it will eventually be a major win for the Golden Knights and their fans.
