In March of last year, the Vegas Golden Knights became the 31st National Hockey League (NHL) franchise. Now, just over a year later, they are in the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural season. The Golden Knights are the talk of the year and have become of the biggest stories in the history of the NHL.
On June 21st, 2017, the Vegas Golden Knights had the expansion draft where they select one player from each of the 30 other franchises in the NHL. Each team was able to protect a certain amount of players at each position, as well as players under two-way contracts. In the past, expansion teams have struggled to have success right away in the NHL due to the lack of talent and potential in the players selected in the expansions drafts but that was different for the Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights made many great picks in the expansion draft. An underratedly important statistic in hockey is the + / – rating. This statistics shows the difference in the amount of goals for and goals against that a player has been on the ice for that doesn’t include when a player is on a powerplay of penalty kill (special teams).
In the 2016-2017 NHL regular season, Jonathan Marchessault has a + / – rating of negative 21 when he played for the Florida Panthers. In the 2017-2018 NHL season, he had a + / – rating of positive 36, which was the second highest + / – rating in the NHL behind teammate, William Karlsson.
William Karlsson had a + / – rating of positive 49, as well as scoring the third most goals in all of the NHL during the regular season with 43 goals in 82 games. In the previous two season combined with the Columbus Blue Jackets, he scored 15 goals in 162 games. Karlsson went from a below average player to a star and the Golden Knights have enjoyed the rewards of his brilliant play all season long.
Out of all the big four leagues, (National Hockey League, National Basketball Association, National Football League, and Major League Baseball) a player cannot be as influential as a hot goaltender in the NHL. The Golden Knights were very fortunate to draft Marc-Andre Fleury from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the expansion draft. Fleury has won three Stanley Cups in his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Fleury may be old at 33 years old but is certainly playing the best hockey he has ever played in the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
In the Western Conference Finals, the Golden Knights faced the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets are known for their firepower on offense but it was not enough as they lost to the Golden Knights in five games in a best-of-seven series. In all five games, the Winnipeg Jets had more shots on goal except for game 5 where each team had the same amount of shots on goal with 32. Fleury was a busy man and he made enough saves to carry his team to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Winnipeg Jets scored an average of 3.2 goals per game against the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the playoffs and just under 4 goals per game against the Nashville Predators in the second round of the playoffs. The Jets only averaged 2 goals per game against Vegas in the Western Conference Finals as a result of Marc-Andre Fleury’s spectacular play in goal. When a goalie in the NHL is hot in the playoffs, you don’t stand much of a chance.
Before the 2017-2018 NHL season, the Golden Knights had 500-1 odds to win the Stanley Cup according to USA Today. That is because it is so improbable that a team wins a championships in their inaugural season in any of the big four leagues. According to New York Times, the last expansion team to play in the championship round in their inaugural season in any of the big four leagues were the St. Louis Blues in 1968. Fifty years later, the Golden Knights did just the same and are now facing Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup Finals.
