Golden Knights an instant hit, hot seller

Expansion team’s success resulting in popularity increase for merchandise

The Vegas Golden Knights are proving to be as popular at the merchandise table as they are in Sin City. The NHL expansion team has been a hot ticket all season at T-Mobile Arena and that has continued during the Golden Knights’ playoff run.

With goalie Marc-Andre Fleury’s jersey leading the way in sales, Golden Knights’ gear is also flying off the shelves.

Specific numbers weren’t immediately available but Nirva Milord, the NHL’s senior director of communications, said that the team’s overall North American sales have been very strong.

“The Vegas Golden Knights are in the top five in merch sales all season,” she said Tuesday in an email. “Marc-Andre Fleury is tops among players in playoffs merch sales.”

Fleury, a three-time Stanley Cup champion in Pittsburgh, was not protected by the Penguins in last year’s expansion draft. He has helped anchor the Golden Knights and gave the first-year squad some immediate star power.

Marvin Ryder, a marketing professor at McMaster University, feels there are several reasons for the strong sales, including the lack of competition from other top sport leagues in Las Vegas. But where the franchise really delivered, Ryder said, was with the creation of a modern, powerful logo coupled with an attractive colour scheme.

“Whatever graphic identity team they hired, they knocked it right out of the park,” Ryder said from Hamilton. It helps to have a winning team too. “Ultimately it’s how the fans embrace it,” Ryder said. “In this case, I’m going to say it’s more about (being) lucky. You had all the pieces, but they got them right the very first day. That’s the unusual part of the story . . . .

“They got it right from Day 1.”