We’ve been telling you for a while now, but it appears the time is nearly here for the league to finally make it officially official. Las Vegas is about to be awarded an NHL franchise… but, then what?
There is a lot that needs to be done between June 22nd and October 2017 when the Las Vegas Black Knights, Knights, Rat Pack, Aces, etc hit the ice for real. Here’s an outline of what will happen and a guess or two at when each may occur. (Note: My guesses are just that, guesses. Unless I say specifically otherwise, it’s speculation)
- Organization installs President/General Manager
- We’ve thrown a few names around, but there really can’t be anything concrete on who it will be until after the team is formally announced.
- Expect the GM to be named very quickly after the team is awarded. Nothing hockey related can happen before this person is put in place, so I’d guess this could happen before June is over.
- Ground breaking on Practice Facility
- Far Hills and the 215 is still the planned location on the practice facility.
- It will likely break ground within days of the announcement.
- The facility is expected to take approximately 18 months to complete.
- Team name, logo, and jersey announcement
- Every day that goes by without a team name is a day The Creator and his new organization are not making money selling gear.
- The team name could come as soon as June 22nd, but I’d expect to see it shortly after.
- It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the name is Black Knights or Knights that the logo is unveiled at the same time.
- Jerseys will take a bit longer, but I’d expect we see someone wearing a Las Vegas sweater by October at the latest.
- Hopefully they take my idea and put a massive one on Bliss Dance, and unveil it by pulling a curtain off our favorite naked lady statue.
- New website for ticket purchases
- Ticket operations guru Todd Pollock said the new site will “offer specifics on the next steps on season ticket selection, pricing, benefits and more.”
- He’s also mentioned they are planning open houses at T-Mobile Arena for season ticket holders to pick their seats. No specifics have been set on this though.
- Expect the website to roll out almost instantly with all the information being passed along to season ticket holders over the next month or two.
- Hiring a full staff
- Obviously this must come after the President/GM is hired, but the organization will need bodies… and lots of them… and quickly.
- I have no connection to the team, so no I cannot help you get a job. I will be in contact with them to offer assistance for anyone who is looking to apply. All the links will be on the site.
- Minor league affiliates
- Eventually the team will need to have a full minor league affiliate in both the AHL and the ECHL.
- The only real piece of information we have on the affiliates is The Creator prefers they are close to Las Vegas so players can be sent up and down easily.
- Can’t even begin to formulate a guess on when this may happen as AHL affiliates bounce around so often. It’s possible Las Vegas shares a minor league affiliate with a team or two at the beginning as well.
- TV/Radio networks
- There’s going to have to be a place for Las Vegas games to be televised and broadcasted on the radio.
- The only rumblings we’ve heard is there’s a chance the team uses Fox Sports (West or Prime Ticket) as a temporary home while they attempt to formulate their own network.
- This will likely take quite some time to all take shape as there’s really nothing to broadcast until the first preseason games. Wouldn’t expect to hear anything on TV or radio until at least early next year.
- For those asking, the expansion draft is almost certainly NOT going to be televised. In the past it’s been people sitting in a board room speaking to the Deputy Commissioner. How they’ll unveil the 30 players selected, that’s something to keep an eye on.
If you have questions about anything else and when it may happen, post it in the comments, I’ll do my best to answer them all.
sparky chewbarky
I certainly hope that you and the others at SinBin, “BattleBorn” over at HFBoards, and a few others, get some props, acknowledgement, kudos, etc. from the Vegas group, for keeping the conversation and interest flowing through a stupidly long process.
Ken Boehlke
We really appreciate that, but all the credit for this goes to one man Bill Foley.
Daoloth
On bright side if they get a minor league team in Vegas those other names or designs might fit them well… So even if have heart on being the Aces or some other names like the Knights… At least if they don’t make the top team it will probably become some expansion option. I follow the AHL, the Western teams play less than 76 games right now which really hurts the progress of players and teams. So maybe they knew they would add in a team for Vegas which can play at the main arena or the smaller one already in town. Pretty sure with teams moving to West along with likely expansion it will fix the issue. I’m glad Manchester won the Calder in final year before becoming ONtario then banishing Monarchs to ECHL.
Vegas would probably take over a franchise that isn’t already owned if they don’t expand ECHL and AHL. I don’t think its fair to not give an expansion team the 1st overall pick forcing them into lottery. Look at a team like Oilers who have picked 1st overall several times only to not even make Post Season since Cup loss to Carolina’s Cam Ward… Who won 15 games, which Matt Murray would have to do to win Cup. I’d rather see Jones win 16 games to make the Sharks Champions :).
I wonder who they would hire as GM/Coach along with draft as the goalies. I read that teams can only protect 3 D-men so that will make it interesting. I don’t like that personally, Kings would protect Drew, Martinez, and Muzzin… Jets probably would move Trouba since they would have a tough time deciding who to keep or lose. Team like San Jose would likely protect Burns, Vlasic, and Braun.
I hope they have a TeamVegas shop like the Kings have the TeamLA to buy merchandise without paying tax :). I wonder if they will have some AHL or ECHL drafts if they get expansion teams.
patricw
If I can’t follow the expansion draft live I really look forward to an extensive mock draft during next spring, when no substantial amount of trading is bound to scramble everything to pieces. A mock draft at that point, mentioning maybe 3 possible picks per team, would probably be mostly correct in the end.
Ken Boehlke
We’ve got some cool stuff planned for that. Hang in there.
TG
Plenty of time to do all that and have a vote on team name…only reason we do not vote is because the creator doesn’t want ACES to win.
Daoloth
They have a pretty elaborate video including a dog for the Aces name :). I just hope he keeps it simple calling them Knights instead of this Black Knights… I been to West Point so not even sure its legal to use the Army Black Knights exact name and colors. Guy spending 500M, probably end up close to 1 billion if add in contracts other expenses 10-20 years… So he really should be able to name it anything he wants. Sharks were the 2nd choice, Blades won the votes but they worried it would be a negative view relating to weapons etc. Carolina could be split if they were to move then players allocated to Vegas and Quebec/Seattle etc. Remember when Sharks were created they came in with Stars who both had expansion draft while splitting up the Minnesota North Stars… Who had just lost the Cup Final to Penguins… Who swept the Oakland Seals last time they were in Post season now are playing the replacing team Sharks in SCF :).