Year 1 was a magical one, starting with the Expansion Draft and ending with the Golden Knights appearance in the Stanley Cup Final. Today’s Guest Post from Alex Norwood walks us through the magical season through the eyes of a fan who was there from the beginning.

I, like many others, was very excited to learn who would dawn the Vegas Golden Knights jersey after being taken by the Golden Knights in the 2017 Expansion Draft. During the draft, there was a great amount of excitement to know who exactly, we as fans, would be cheering for during their first season as a team.

As development camp and the preseason came to end, the horrific events of 1 October took place. It was in that moment, that the Knights showed they were not just a team, but that they were a part of the Vegas community.

On Nevada Day the Golden Knights played one of their best games of the year. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

What came next was unexpected for everyone, including fans of the Golden Knights. After great performances and two comeback wins on the road, it was time to play in front of the home fans, for real, for the first time, and it was not really about the game. Being in attendance for the Knights first-ever home game, for what the franchise did before puck drop, might have been the most moving moment of the season. It was not about hockey that night. It was about honoring those who lost their lives and those that put their lives on the line. At that point, everyone knew there was no chance of them losing their first home game.

After winning their third, and record-breaking game, the ride we were all unprepared for never ended. Nobody could have imagined an amazing 8-1-0 start to the season. As shocking as it was for the hockey and sports world, everyone in Vegas was witnessing the start of the most historic first season in sports history. It was already crazy to be a fan of a successful team, but what came next reassured us of what we were seeing.

After suffering three straight losses to Dallas, Minnesota, and Winnipeg, from November 28th to December 1st, the Golden Knights went on an unprecedented 13-game point streak which included six straight home wins. In the middle of that month-long run, I felt they were going to win no matter what. At that point, the team was 27-9-2 and the only thing I was worried about was that I did not want the loss column to go into double digits. And I, along with every Golden Knights fan, had completely lost my mind on how good this team really was.

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With the trade deadline exactly a week away, we get the latest Guest Post from local Las Vegan and fantasy sports guru John Di Bari.

Heading into their inaugural NHL season nobody really knew what to expect from the league’s newest franchise. The consensus was to temper expectations as expansion teams are historically somewhere between horrific on the low-end to mediocre on the high-side. However, once the rules for the expansion draft were put in place and fans and writers started digging through rosters and contracts and began to do their own mock expansion drafts, many started to realize that maybe the new kid on the block might be able to put together a respectable product in year one. Nobody was realistically thinking playoffs, or even a record well above .500. However, that was fine as most expected GM George McPhee to draft a bunch of skill players with a year or two remaining on their contacts with the expectation that he’d be trying to sell as many of them as possible at the trade deadline to acquire additional draft picks and young players.

It would be so much easier if McPhee would just tell us what he’s going to do. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Then, the damndest thing happened: The Golden Knights started winning. A lot. As of this writing, the Golden Knights sit atop the entire NHL with a comfortable 10-point lead in the Pacific Division. They lead the West in goals scored and goal differential and have the league’s best home record at 22-4-2 58 games into the season. As a fan and season ticket holder, this is a great thing. It’s well documented at this point, but is still worth noting that most of the early winning was done while losing their top 3  goaltenders. The team has been fun to watch, they find different ways to win each night, and barring an otherwise epic collapse, they seem to be a lock for the playoffs. Some current projections have the probability of them making the playoffs at 100% as they sit 14 points ahead of the West’s second wild-card with 24 games to play.

On the surface, that all sounds well and good, but is it? For a single season, the answer is obviously yes, but as a brand new expansion franchise that is supposed to be building towards sustained future success and develop their farm system, the waters get a little muddied. What about the plan to move these expiring contracts and stockpile more picks and youngsters? One would assume that McPhee will want to push forward with the plan and move some of the players who have contracts set to expire at the end of the year. It’s better to get something for them rather than allowing them to walk away for free after what would essentially be a 1-year rental. On the other hand, one would also assume that owner Bill Foley will want to push for the playoffs and start to recoup some of his 500-million-dollar investment. At the end of the day, it will probably be some combination of the two strategies, and since Foley signs the checks in the building, I’ve got to think that if he wants to push for the playoffs, McPhee will have to go along with the boss. In a recent interview with Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski, Foley made it sound like he was definitely looking to add pieces at the deadline and push for a deep playoff run.

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It’s time for a perfectly timed Guest Post. Today we get a post from a Florida Panthers fan who is enjoying the ride of the Golden Knights while also feeling the agony that their success has brought the Panthers. Here’s the Guest Post from Jeff Hwang.

Somehow, 49 games into their inaugural 2017-18 NHL season, the Vegas Golden Knights have the best record in the NHL at 33-12-4 (1.45 pts. per game), and have matched both the 1993-94 Florida Panthers and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for the most wins in a franchise inaugural season.

The Panthers and Mighty Ducks had 84 games to get there.

Oh what could have been in Florida. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

VGK is 2nd in the league in goal scoring per game, and 6th in the league in goals against. And in fact, once you back out Maxime Legace – the 4th-string goaltender who has played about 14 more NHL games this year than most anyone else would have wished for – VGK goalies are an absurd 27-6-3.

As a hockey fan and a 10-year Las Vegas resident, I could not be more excited about VGK’s initial success and future outlook; on the other hand, having grown up in Ft. Lauderdale as a Florida Panthers fan, it could not be any more painful to wonder how good the Panthers would be right now with Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith, instead of Alex Petrovic and a 4th-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft.

Which is to say nothing of Gerard Gallant, whose mid-season firing last year as the head coach of the Panthers was something no Panther fan was happy with.

Perhaps strangely, the Panthers are the perfect team with which to put VGK in proper context. The Panthers have everything VGK doesn’t – a true No. 1 center and No. 2 center (Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck); an elite winger (Jonathan Huberdeau); and a franchise defenseman (Aaron Ekblad). And yet Gerard Gallant is the head coach and Marchessault and Smith are the wingers on the top line of the team with the best record in the NHL, while the Panthers are struggling just to get into the playoff picture.

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You thought they were going to be in 1st in the Western Conference and have 48 points, didn’t you? (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

On Christmas Eve, this one needs to explanation. So, I won’t write one. Here is the newest Guest Post from our guy John Owens.

When Santa is making his list (and checking it twice), he’s going to find that the Golden Knights have been quite nice this year. A little too nice, frankly.

So it stands to reason that the team should have some good tidings coming their way. While The Creator probably feels like his stocking is pretty full right now, what’s Christmas without some presents? Let’s have a look at 5 items on the Vegas Golden Knights’ Christmas list.

1. Health In The New Year (Between The Pipes)

It really is remarkable that Vegas sits atop the Western Conference standings, not only because they are an expansion team, but also due to the fact that they have encountered the worst luck with health at the goalie position of any team in the league. Ken wrote a great post on how Maxime Lagace saved their season, and it’s hard to disagree. It’s fairly rare to even see your organization’s fourth goalie come in for an emergency relief spot sometime during the year but to get 13 starts is pretty unheard of, and Max kept the team afloat.

That being said, both Flower and Suub are back and have played well, but it’s not a great look when your franchise goaltender who has just returned from a lengthy absence due to a concussion is out here making saves with no helmet. Of course, he emerged unscathed, but these boys need to take care of themselves the rest of the way. Hopefully forgotten (undefeated) Oscar Dansk can come back healthy as well to provide depth because as we’ve seen, you never know when you might need it.

2. Continued Success At Home

Is the “Vegas Flu” a thing? I love a good conspiracy, so let’s say it’s a thing! I certainly think it’s at least a factor. Currently sitting at 15-2-1 at home, the Knights have passed many tough tests, and are feeding off the T-Mobile Arena energy. Here’s a quick wish to keep that going.

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It’s been a while since we’ve had a Guest Post on the site, so we are glad to welcome one back here today. Today’s topic is jerseys, or sweaters if you are that guy. Our man AJ Lee is here to say, the Golden Knights have the best jerseys in expansion history.

So here we go…

It would have been so easy to go so wrong.

After all, this is Las Vegas we’re talking about. Tragic looks abound. Uniform designers for the first major pro sports franchise in Sin City, the Las Vegas Golden Knights, must have been sorely tempted to go for a look that was, shall we say, Cirque du Power Play.

Siegfried and (Patrick) Roy.

Puck be a lady?

Subtlety being what it is in Nevada, the charter members of the Knights roster should be grateful they aren’t wearing sharkskin sweaters or fishnet socks.

Yet, in terms of jersey design, the Knights didn’t simply clear a low bar. They went top shelf.

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It’s been quite a while since our last Guest Post, so we’re heading back to the well, this time from our friend whose Twitter profile reads, “my loyalties lie with Pittsburgh, but my heart lies in Vegas.” 

We’ll have to work on the whole loyalties thing, but that’s for another day. As for now, Laura believes many in the media, including here on SinBin.vegas, are underselling the Golden Knights chances on the ice in their inaugural season. So here it is, our latest guest post from Laura Weibe.

Let’s clear a few things up right away, this team, in my opinion, won’t make the playoffs this year, they won’t turn heads and put up some miraculous 50 win season. That is still a few years away, but before you talk about being a first-year expansion franchise that is comparable to Atlanta (39 points) in 1999, I will try and give a glimmer of hope to the Golden Knights first season on the ice.

Forwards

The team on the ice might not resemble the likes of the past few Cup champs, but there are some good players that are proven NHLers on the roster. Let’s break down how the team might look, come opening night. On forward expect something like this;

Jonathan Marchessault – Vadim Shipachyov – James Neal

David Perron – Cody Eakin – Reilly Smith

Erik Haula – William Karlsson – Oscar Lindberg

Brendan Leipsic – P.E. Bellemare – Teemu Pulkkinen

Marchessault had 51 points last year, including 30 goals. Neal had 41 points, including 23 goals. Shipachyov, in the KHL had 76 points, including 26 goals. That’s a first line that accumulated 168 points. Now, KHL numbers don’t prove much at the NHL level but that is all there is to go on.

In comparison, the Penguins first line combined for 175. Before we get ahead of ourselves, no the Penguins first line and Vegas’s first line are not comparable and KHL points are very hard to transfer, but those are the numbers.

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Usually for people in Alabama, Saturday’s are for football. But once football season wraps up, our friends from Forest Gump’s home state usually go into a deep dark depression. That’s not the case for our next Guest Post author who decided months ago that he was ready to jump aboard the VGK bandwagon. 

This Guest Post comes from Cameron Cole, and like The Creator, he’s not thrilled about the Raiders coming to Vegas.

I have always loved the idea of being a fan of a team from Day 1. Every day I would Google “expansion team” or “relocation team” and read all the rumors and such. But I also wanted the team to be the right fit. I live in Birmingham, Alabama, which probably causes most of you to automatically think football. Yes, that is our state’s main attraction as we have 2 teams who play in the best conference in the NCAA (just let me have this for now, we can debate it another time). We also have a minor league baseball team the Birmingham Barons. In April 2016 I googled NHL expansion and SinBin.vegas came up. It was one of their amazing podcasts (which if you have never listened to you need to start ASAP) in which they talked about how Vegas was getting a team and Quebec City was not. I knew that there wasn’t a major pro sports team in Vegas then so I decided to do some research about the history of pro sports in Vegas.

I found that Vegas and Birmingham have almost identical histories in the sporting world. Birmingham has had an XFL team, a CFL team, and an Arena football team. Vegas has had an XFL team, a CFL team, and an AFL team too! So I was like I was looking at Birmingham in the sports world! Then it happened, the NHL was officially expanding to Vegas, so I instantly became a fan of the Las Vegas NHL team (which we know now as the Vegas Golden Knights). It was the perfect fit. Over the next few months I learned hockey and have watched a lot more of the Predators and read every SinBin article they put out…Then the raiders talk came.

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