Altogether, the NHL’s Western Conference teams naturally travel more than their Eastern Conference counterparts. This season, nine out of the top ten teams destined to pile up the most mileage are from the West. The Golden Knights are 8th on the list with 14 road trips, traveling roughly 47,000 miles in the skies. Clearly, the time in the air hasn’t impacted Vegas as they technically hold the best road points percentage in NHL history.
As I sat in the airport for 12 hours only to have my flight canceled by Delta and then not even given the option to rebook, my mind was unsurprisingly on the nightmares that can come with travel.
Of course, the Golden Knights do not have to put up with most of the hassles we normal people do (seriously, Delta, WTF?!) but playing in the Pacific Division is no joke when it comes to travel.
This season the Golden Knights are set to log more than 43,000 miles to complete their 41-game road schedule.
#SeaKraken will be logging the 3rd most travel miles this coming season.
43,491 miles is actually not bad for Vegas. It ranks 5th in the Pacific Division and just a few thousand more than the remaining three teams.
Despite one of the teams moving, VGK’s travel load is nearly identical to what it was last year (43,747). However, last year Vegas ranked 13th in the league where this year they are 9th.
The most the Golden Knights have ever traveled in a season was in 2022-23 where they put in a total of 47,787 the year they missed the playoffs.
VGK’s longest road trip this year is just five games, however, they do have four separate trips to Western/Central Canada, three trips to the Midwest, and four separate three-time-zone trips to the East Coast and Canada.
No matter how you slice it, playing in a place like Las Vegas is never going to be easy when it comes to travel. But, this year does seem to offer a bit of a break compared to what it has been in the past it what it could be sometime in the future (wouldn’t surprise me at all if VGK play in Europe or Australia at some point soon).
This plane isn’t the one they actually fly on, but you get the point. (Photo Credit: Allegiant Airlines Facebook)
The Golden Knights are finally heading home. After playing a majority of their games at home to open the season, the back half of November was quite travel heavy on the reigning champions.
Since the home game against San Jose on November 10th, the Golden Knights have played at T-Mobile Arena just once, in between five-game and three-game road trips. The 17-day nine-city span included two back-to-backs, four trips across the border, nine hockey games, and a visit with the President of the United States at the White House.
To say it’s been a jam packed few weeks would be an understatement.
The Golden Knights have spent just over 20 hours in the air, covering 7,990 miles on 10 flights before returning home for the weekend last night.
Flight
Distance (miles)
Time
VGK to WAS
2,066
4:24
WAS to MTL
489
1:25
MTL to PHI
394
1:14
PHI to PIT
268
1:00
PIT to DAL
1,067
2:31
DAL to VGK
1,055
2:29
VGK to CGY
1,039
2:28
CGY to EDM
246
0:47
EDM to VAN
504
1:27
VAN to VGK
862
2:22
Total
7,990
20:07
Vegas wrapped up the grueling schedule with a record of 3-3-3, scoring 20 goals while allowing 26. Four of the nine games went past regulation meaning the team was on the ice for 552:49.
You know when you win (the Cup) everyone is asking about how are you managing the workload, how are you managing this, how are you managing that, and it’s like you know what, we’re hockey players guys, let’s just get to playing hockey. We’ll take our days off when we need them but let’s be Vegas Golden Knights and play our game. -Bruce Cassidy
The schedule doesn’t get too much easier in the month of December either.
Vegas is right back at it tomorrow night with the Capitals in town and then welcome the Blues on Monday. A quick two-game road trip ends with a road-home back-to-back against the Stars and Sharks. Calgary, Buffalo, and Ottawa come to Vegas before the Golden Knights head back across the country for the always difficult southeast trip to Carolina, Tampa, and Florida. Another back-to-back awaits the end of that trip in Anaheim and then at home against the Kings. Finally, the month is capped off with the premier regular season game of the year, the Winter Classic in Seattle.
I’m worn out just writing all of this. But, that’s the life of a hockey player, and knowing the guys on the Golden Knights, don’t expect to hear much complaining about it.
**Stick tap to Kevin C. for the travel research.**
