They were handed a team...by a number of GMs who didn't figure it out until it was too late. And sometimes not even then. George McPhee found a huge flaw in the "common knowledge" of what won in the NHL six years ago and came up with a plan to build a team that could take advantage of that flaw. The real problem is that most of the other GMs didn't realize what he was doing and played right into his hands as a result. Florida handed them what ended up being 2/3rds of Vegas's top line with Smith and Marchessault so they wouldn't take Alex Petrovic. Columbus handed them Karlsson, a first-round, and a second-round pick to take David Clarkson's LTIR contract, which was an obscene overpay. Other GMs made mistakes which allowed the Knights to craft their roster the way they wanted. It was a masterclass in roster building from McPhee, and that allowed Vegas to be competitive out of the gate. Whenever I hear that "handed a team" line, I go, "Yeah, because the other GMs handed it to them. Not Vegas's fault the rest of the league acted stupid."

@michaelpagnotta7059 you can't argue that they were handed a team when #1 everyone said they would suck. Great teams are great teams even on paper. #2 if all GMs in the league are idiots except 1 then why are they GMs in the first place? #3 you aren't handed a great player because one year he got 9 goals and the next he got 40+. He was dumped on them. If you draft a player that literally nobody is talking about thats not being handed anything. Literally. Those players were nothing before Vegas. If McPhee looked at all these guys and thought this would make a good team and the majority of all of them were 3rd line or less, that's not being handed a great team. If you mean they were handed a team because they literally picked players from other teams then yes. Like literally every draft before that they were handed players but people need to stop acting like they knew this was a quality team year 1. Not a single anylist, announcer, yourube personality, betting line, or fan said oh hey, Vegas drafted Brad Hunt and Jon Merrill, that will surely be one of the best defenses in the league.

@@slasher1087 Yeah, I probably overstated things. And you're absolutely right that nobody thought the Knights would be any good. But with hindsight, we can see that McPhee put on a masterclass of roster building and that there were some (not all) GMs who made some questionable-to-idiotic decisions (Columbus and Florida are at the forefront of making stupid decisions. Pittsburgh giving a second-rounder to the Knights to guarantee they'd take Marc-Andre Fleury is one of the questionable moves). McPhee knew what he wanted, recognized that speed was greatly undervalued at the time, and built a team that based itself on speed and relentless pressure, in the process finding players that fit the mold of what he wanted like Smith, Marchessault, and Karlsson. Yes, those guys didn't appear to be top-tier players, but they just weren't in a place where their talents could flourish, and McPhee recognized that and acted accordingly. As for being "given" the roster, I mean it in the sense that some (again, not all) of the GMs in the NHL played right into McPhee's hands and allowed him to acquire enough talent and depth to be immediately competitive. I don't mean it in the sense that the NHL rigged everything in Vegas's favor.

Honestly, both VGK and Seattle were handed teams. The previous expansion teams did not get anywhere near that level of talent.

@Drakkar_Noir none of the previous expansion teams paid as much, Vegas didn't get any of the expansion money for the Seattle expansion, and they didn't choose any of the "best" players from any of the teams. There really are people on here saying Vegas had a full team of 1st and 2nd line players when it's verifiably false. And how can you say Seattle was handed a team when they sucked in year 1? Just like how everyone thought Vegas would. The "they were handed a team" argument onky came about because they won games with thr players that nobody else wanted.

How they failed miserably?

Failed miserably?! They're a baby team who's only 6 years old but was able to make playoffs every season except last year and capture many fans around world and their fan base is still growing each seasons! They have fan base all the way to the Philippines and Japan! Vegas loves them and they're very involved in the community, they have a TV shows in Vegas and Hawaii. Those are accomplishments of people loving, winning the hearts of many, nothing failure about that!!!

@Wikoli-Kulolo Niele-Kapalama You taking to me? I didn't say they fail...the OP did, I was asking how

​@@rainydays516I edited my response my bad

​@@rainydays516 op said he THOUGHT they would fail.....THOUGHT....never said they did.

Vegas born!! Love them!

Dam dude that would be narly

I am

Well, the NHL is the first of the "Big Four" sports leagues to expand to Vegas.

Most here in Vegas DO NOT WANT an NBA team. Why you ask? Just look up damages incurred during the 2007 NBA all star weekend and you will know why.

@@CONSOLETRUTH2 That was in 2007 though. Vegas nowadays hosts the NBA Summer League and even a WNBA team that won the championship last season. Although it has potential, I still doubt of an NBA team coming to Vegas.

God i can't wait for an NBA team

😂😂😂😂 right! Periodt!!!

With the Cup now, even more!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

One win away

Vegas is simply a popular nickname, and while it wasn't mentioned, "Las Vegas Golden Knights" would've been a pretty long team name.

Wrong....

Lol, no, we don't. There's a difference between locals and natives. Natives rarely call it Las Vegas. We say Vegas

@@jackoats4911probably just depends on the group, belong up my friends family and I said Las Vegas When asked I say Las Vegas, but in conversation I say “Vegas”

There is much more competition now than in the 60s. Vegas' road to the Finals is just more difficult yet more impressive.

You just answered your own question. They were in an entire division of expansion. They made it to the cup and lost because all the teams in that conference were losers when it mattered. The entire division was a case of who sucks a little less.

Not remotely the same. Expansion vs Expansion until the finals. In your attempt to be smart you proved your ignorance

They’re going to become one of the most hated teams in the NHL while the Kraken become one of the most loved

@@KoDawgg hope so. I would love it if it's Kraken vs Knights next year. And it would be a sweep for the Kraken!!

You mean sports teams doing sports things? It happens. Players get traded. Some decisions could be handled better but that's how things go. They thought fleury would show his age and decided to move off him. Obviously it was a bad thought. And it was handled poorly. But the organization isn't bad as a whole.

They have garnered an addiction. Im telling you if they had an ordinary first year like Seattle they wouldn't be where they are now.

@@alex_rides7858 Yeah, every team make mistakes like that.

Ironically, even after they made their picks, they were still expected to suck. And every step of the way everyone was wrong.

Joe Pavelski dived

I think picking the name comes first before designing the logo.

This is the dumbest take... Nobody thought this at the time of the draft. They were 200-1 to win the cup. If you knew so much more than the oddsmakers at Caeser's Palace then you could've made a fortune. (Yes i know they didn't win, but a 200-1 ticket leaves a lot of room to hedge). You are only saying this because they did well.

Yet, after the expansion draft, every so called "expert" said that the Knights would be horrible and laughed at anyone who suggested a .500 season, much less the playoffs. Take a seat.

lol, tell your owner to spend money.