The sweaters the Golden Knights will don when they take the ice outdoors at T-Mobile Park in Seattle have officially been unveiled.
Drawing inspiration from the Wild West and cowboy era of the 1910s, Vegas’ Winter Classic jersey’s colors reflect the time period with the vintage white base, a deeper and richer gold used in the piping, and the felt fabric in the logo. Piping details in the center crest and numbers are inspired by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point uniforms, the alma mater of Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley. On the collar of the jersey, there are seven stars to represent the Golden Knights’ seventh season as a franchise. -Golden Knights Press Release
The Golden Knights will wear gloves that recall the brown leather look of hockey’s past, which is something other teams like the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers have also incorporated into their recent outdoor looks. –Greg Wyshysnki on ESPN.com
As is tradition with NHL jerseys, there are Easter eggs built into the back neck collar. Vegas has seven stars in the back neck to mark Jan. 1, 2024, as the first day of the seventh year of the Golden Knights franchise. –Greg Wyshysnki on ESPN.com
A “very limited number” of jerseys are available now at Golden Knights official team shops. Other Winter Classic merchendise is also available now online and will be available this week at SportsTown in Downtown Summerlin.
What might be the last celebratory event the Golden Knights take part in after winning the Stanley Cup will certainly be one of the most memorable for everyone who attended it.
Today, the Golden Knights gathered at the White House to meet the President of the United States, Joe Biden. It’s an age-old tradition dating back to the 1800s for the champion of each league to gather at the White House and present a jersey to the President.
Happening Now: President Biden welcomes the Vegas Golden Knights to the White House to celebrate their 2023 Stanley Cup victory. https://t.co/KyXUQn1heJ
President Joe Biden and Captain Mark Stone entered the East Room of the White House to the familiar tune of “Hail To The Chief.” The President was impressed that the Stanley Cup had also made the trip while Golden Knights fans were equally excited about Reilly Smith’s appearance.
Not a single person in the world needs more evidence to show the type of determination Mark Stone has towards the game of hockey. Yet today, we got yet another piece that makes his performance in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup even more impressive than it already was.
I unfortunately took a whack in the 1st period and fractured my left wrist. Took a few things in between periods. I had to make sure it was dialed in to lift the trophy though. –Mark Stone on Pat McAfee Show
Yeah, you read that right. The captain of the Golden Knights, who went on to become the first player to score a hat trick in a Cup Final clinching game in more than a century, and was the first to lift the Stanley Cup, did it all with a fractured bone in his wrist.
You never know when you are going to win again. You might never win again. While you’re there, you’ve got to give it a try. –Stone on Pat McAfee Show
This is the same guy that recovered from two back surgeries inside of the span of nine months, only to return for the first game of the playoffs and not miss a single shift on the 22-game 56-day journey to the Stanley Cup.
Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner and his wife Donya filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with the District of Nevada on December 30th, 2022.
According to the public filing, Lehner estimates the worth of his assets between $1-10 million while his liability to creditors is between $10-50 million.
In the bankruptcy filing documents, Lehner is said to be the owner of RL Exotics LLC, “which operates a reptile farm in Plato, Missouri, which is an operating business with 3 employees, and which requires reptiles to be maintained and fed.”
Lehner was first linked to snakes back in 2017 when he reportedly purchased a collection of exotic snakes for $1.2 million.
Renick agreed to sell his snakes, ball pythons and anacondas, to NHL goalie Robin Lehner in early 2017 for $1.2 million. Lehner would pay Renick in quarterly installments of $200,000 throughout the year. Lehner made one such payment in February 2017. –Article by Lucas Geisler of KMIZ in St. Louis, Missouri
The man mentioned, Ben Renick, was murdered in June 2017 by his wife Lynlee Renick who was subsequently found guilty of the charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison. According to KMIZ, following Renick’s death, a lawsuit was filed against Lehner in 2018 after he stopped making payments for the snakes.
Lehner countersued in December of that year, claiming that he took on millions of dollars in costs taking care of Renick’s animals. At some point after Ben’s death, he said, the snakes “began breeding amongst one another in an unsupervised, uncontrolled manner.” That caused the collection of snakes to lose value, but Lehner’s attorneys did not specify by how much.
Renick Reptiles then claimed in July 2019 that at some point, Lehner “stole a collection of anacondas [from] Renick Reptiles’ place of business (as well as taking the collection of ball pythons that Lehner refused to pay for).” The lawsuit does not say how many snakes were allegedly taken.
The two sides suddenly announced a settlement in November 2019. A filing in the Montgomery County estate case from that August said the two sides had reached a settlement, but wanted to keep the terms of it confidential. Laiderman wrote that both sides wanted to “complete [Lehner]’s purchase of the [snakes].” –Article by Lucas Geisler of KMIZ in St. Louis, Missouri
In 2019, Lehner formed RL Exotics LLC and the company has been operating since.
Listed among the potentially interested parties in the bankruptcy filing include the Vegas Golden Knights, Black Knight Sports & Entertainment, the National Hockey League, Newport Sports Management, and a financial company called Sure Sports Lending.
Sure Sports Lending describes itself as an agency that “specializes in low-interest, unsecured loans and contract advances to Professional Athletes in the NFL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, NHL, and MLS based on their player contracts.”
This is the same company that was sued by the trustee assigned to oversee Evander Kane’s bankruptcy.
Sure Sports over 10 months crossing between 2018 and 2019 arranged nearly $14 million in loans to Kane, according to court filings. Kane in early 2021 filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, declaring $26.8 million in liabilities and unleashing an ongoing vitriolic process between creditors and the hockey star who recently signed with the Edmonton Oilers. Sure Sports itself filed as a creditor, seeking nearly $1.2 million it alleged Kane owed in fees. –Article by Daniel Kaplan in The Athletic
The article also links Sure Sports to defaulted loans with NFL running back Adrian Peterson and MLS left-back Kemar Lawrence.
The bankruptcy claims that Lehner’s debts are “primarily based on business debts that were incurred to help obtain money for a business or investment.”
In an email to SinBin.vegas, the attorney representing Robin Lehner says both the Golden Knights’ team counsel and creditors have been made aware of the bankruptcy filing.
**The initial headline to this story read Robin Lehner Files For Bankruptcy Due To Ownership Of Exotic Snake Farm, it has been changed to “in connection with” after more information about the case became public.**
Then Minnesota Wild, VGK’s opponent tonight, have acquired Marc-Andre Fleury from the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2nd round pick that could become a 1st. (Source: @frank_seravalli)
He is expected to back-up for the Wild tonight. (Source: @sarah__mclellan)
Derrick Pouliot was claimed off waivers by Seattle. (Source: @FriedgeHNIC)
GM Kelly McCrimmon will hold a press conference at 2:30 PM today whether the Golden Knights make a move or not. (Source: Golden Knights)
The man behind some of the most recognizable Vegas Golden Knights concepts has stepped away from his role as Chief Marketing Officer, a position he’s held since 2017.
Killingsworth and his team came up with the VegasBorn slogan that has become synonymous with the Golden Knights and has acted as the team’s official hashtag for four seasons running. He also was a key figure in the design and launch of the historic gold jerseys which took the league by storm in 2021.
He took over the position shortly before the Golden Knights’ first game and quickly transformed the team’s image with jerseys, slogans, mascots, commercials, license plates, community events, and so much more.
The list of notable pieces of the VGK brand in which Killingsworth had a hand in is literally too long to type out. Classic moments like donning the Statue of Liberty in front of New York New York with a Golden Knights jersey or launching a global platform for fans around the world to feel like a part of the NHL’s new team (VGK Worldwide) or introducing a license plate that towed around by more than 60,000 Nevada registered vehicles, the Golden Knights brand is what it is today in large part because of Killingsworth.
Sources tell SinBin.vegas that Killingworth left on his own accord.
Once a year, since 2017, the NHL Players’ Association puts out a poll of questions answered by about 500 current players. Historically, the Golden Knights, Vegas, and T-Mobile Arena have been all over these polls, but this year, there was just one mention of VGK.
That honor went to Marc-Andre Fleury for the prestigious category of “Who is the best goalie?
Fleury actually garnered fewer percentage of votes this year than he did a year ago but he passed Carey Price for the first time in poll history and rose to #2 on the list, the highest he’s ever been.
Fleury voting by year 2020-21 – 8.88% (2nd) 2019-20 – 8.93% (3rd) 2018-19 – 6.53% (4th) 2017-18 – Unranked
Last year, the Golden Knights were on the board seven different times including four player mentions. This year, Fleury is the lone Golden Knight listed, albeit on a much shorter list of questions.
Former Golden Knight Nikita Gusev cracked the list coming in 3rd place for the “most unique tape job.” Meanwhile, the Reverse Retro jersey that everyone seems to love despite it looking like a leotard was NOT listed among the top seven Reverse Retro unis.
Finally, and maybe the most interesting piece of the poll, was the fact that 292 players said they prefer the “series style” schedule the NHL used this season. About the same amount were also in favor of returning to the normal divisions, which is happening next season.
Player opinions will always be outweighed by financial ones, but the positivity towards the series-style schedule certainly may lead to it making a return in the near future. It’s unlikely we’ll see it next year, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it’s back at least in some fashion in 2022-23.
The NHL Trade Deadline is at Noon Pacific time today. The Golden Knights have indicated they are not expecting to make many moves, but it’s not really in the DNA of the guys in charge to do nothing.
This article will be dedicated to all pertinent news surrounding the Golden Knights and this year’s deadline. It will be updated throughout the day.
Mattias Janmark appears to be headed to Vegas. (Source: @PierreVLeBrun)
The Golden Knights have acquired Janmark and a 5th for a 2nd and a 3rd. (@DarrenDreger)
It appears that 5th round pick VGK got is actually heading to San Jose as a salary broker for a minor league. (@PierreVLeBrun)
The Golden Knights were reportedly “lurking” on both Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno. (Source: @emilymkaplan)
“I believe the Vegas Golden Knights had strong interest in Taylor Hall, but by the time Vegas got to a point where Adams (Buffalo GM) was willing to take that to Taylor Hall, he felt fairly strongly that he wanted to do to Boston.” -Darren Dreger on TSN TradeCentre
“We’re in this position by choice. It’s what we wanted to do with our roster. We like our roster, and I believe our approach will be quite different based on that.” -Kelly McCrimmon on March 19th (Source: LVRJ)
Patrick Brown has been placed on LTIR. (Source: SinBin.vegas)
GM Kelly McCrimmon will hold a press conference at 3:00 PM today whether the Golden Knights make a move or not. (Source: Golden Knights)
The Golden Knights sent an email to all season ticket holders announcing their plans to allow fans back into T-Mobile Arena at a limited capacity starting on March 1st.
We are excited to announce that starting March 1, home games at T-Mobile Arena will open with 15% capacity. Limited seating for March home games will go on-sale to Season Ticket Members tomorrow, Wednesday, February 24 at 9am PST. Season Ticket Members can purchase one seating POD for one home game during this presale opportunity. Please note, due to limited seating, we can’t guarantee specific games, locations or number of tickets. -VGK email to season ticket holders
Tickets go on sale through AXS beginning tomorrow.
Vice President of Ticketing, Todd Pollock, is expected to speak at 5:30 tonight to offer more information to the media.
VGK will use the lower bowl, mezzanine, and half of the upper bowl to host fans starting March 1st.
Suites will also be open and will host about 375 of the 2,600 fans.
On Tuesday night the Golden Knights played a game at T-Mobile Arena without their entire coaching staff. After the game, Kelly McCrimmon confirmed that one member of the coaching staff had tested positive and the rest were isolating out of an abundance of caution.
Now, tonight’s game has been canceled with the league releasing the information that a player and another coach have entered the NHL’s COVID Protocols.
Many of the specifics remain unknown, but the protocols are clearly spelled out and can help us sort through what has already happened and what’s next for the Golden Knights.
How often are the players and coaches tested?
All players, coaches, trainers, equipment managers, and physicians are part of “Group 1.” Daily testing of all Group 1 individuals has been in effect since the beginning of Training Camp and through the first four weeks of the season.
What does it mean to enter the NHL’s COVID Protocols?
A player or coach can enter the protocols in a number of different ways. A positive test instantly places the person in the protocols. However, anyone exuding symptoms or anyone who has had close contact with someone that has tested positive are also entered into the protocols. Entering into the protocols does NOT mean a person is confirmed to have COVID-19.
What happens when someone tests positive?
If an initial test returns as positive, that person is immediately removed from the facility and is directed to isolate. Contact tracing is begun to identify others who could have been exposed. Then, a “second run” re-test is done on the positive sample, also the person is tested again 24 hours and 48 hours after the positive test. If any of those tests are positive, the person is confirmed as positive for COVID-19 and must isolate for at least 10 days. If all follow-up tests are negative, the person may return to the team.
(Image Credit: ESPN on YouTube)
On Tuesday night the Golden Knights played a game at T-Mobile Arena without their entire coaching staff. After the game, Kelly McCrimmon confirmed that one member of the coaching staff had tested positive and the rest were isolating out of an abundance of caution.
