Knights must be more than illusion
Hell of a town, Vegas, almost literally. On Tuesday Las Vegas tied a city record when the temperature hit 117 degrees, and they had to cancel some flights because certain planes can’t take off when it gets too hot. They did the same in Phoenix, where it hit 120. It’s the air conditioning that keeps people alive in the desert, and which will help them make ice in the fall, when the Vegas Golden Knights are a real thing. Or at least, in the NHL, a convincing enough illusion.
On Wednesday night the NHL’s newest expansion team announced its draft, in which one player was taken from the bargain bins of every other team, and it was a show, or at least part of one. They shoehorned it into the NHL awards, which as a metaphor for a league allergic to attempting entertainment has always done the job. Really, the biggest sin of the expansion process may have been forcing people to watch the show. Some of that US$500-million expansion fee should have gone to joke writers.
It was very NHL, in many ways. There was the awkwardness, like when Golden Knights owner Bill Foley screwed up the draft order when he skipped over Detroit, to Dallas. This did not inspire maximum confidence, but they went on. Poor Jason Garrison had to walk out there in a jersey that didn’t have his name on the back, after they detailed how Tampa Bay gave the Knights a second-round and fourthround pick for the defenceman to be selected, plus another player. What a trooper. The Knights took Montreal mallet-swinger Alexei Emelin, who could help if you think Vegas crowds like guys who sail out of position to turn opponents into wallpaper. Apparently, though, Vegas didn’t need an enticement to take him. Oh?
Maybe nobody nails these things all the way. Some names were predictable and familiar. All-time nice guy Marc-André Fleury from Pittsburgh, which had to add a secondround pick to get Vegas to take him off their cap. James Neal from the Nashville Predators, giving Vegas a sniper to use or flip. Also, there appears to be a rule that Neal cannot spend more than three full years in any city. It’s true, look it up.
Washington defenceman Nate Schmidt seemed a canny pick, the two Florida players, 30-goal scorer Jonathan Marchessault and useful forward Rielly Smith, the latter acquired in a trade, seemed like steals. (Vegas sent a fourth-rounder back. You OK, Florida?) Some deals came with a first-round pick, or in the case of the Islanders, a first, a second, and two players. Ottawa lost Marc Methot, Erik Karlsson’s defensive partner, and Karlsson was filming it on his iPhone as it was announced. The Leafs lost Brendan Leipsic, who has some upside. And for taking the contract of former Leafs legend David Clarkson, Vegas got a first-rounder and a secondrounder, again.
But then there were the other moves: Goalies that did not include quality Rangers backup Antti Raanta or Washington’s Philipp Grubauer? A one-year contract for Deryk Engelland at 34? Luca Sbisa?
General manager George McPhee said they were trying to balance the short-term introduction to Las Vegas and the necessity for longterm development. Will it work? Well, McPhee said, “time will tell.” One wobbly sign: Earlier in the day Foley told reporters in Las Vegas that they only realized at 4 p.m. on Tuesday that they were short a forward on their list, and changed it. Foley is the same guy who promised Vegas a Stanley Cup within eight years, then no, within six, and was personally involved in all sorts of details, from the name to the uniforms.
You know what they say: Every successful sports franchise has an over-involved owner.
“I feel like we have created a great team initially, and we can grow from here,” said Foley.
Of course, some of all this was an illusion, too. The league’s trade freeze was scheduled to lift at 8 a.m. Thursday morning, so any trades involving players drafted by Vegas and flipped to a third party could not be announced. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said Dallas was pushing for Methot, for instance. Unlike many introductions in Vegas, the draft was not a one-night affair.
But the best part about the NHL expansion draft is that it forced NHL teams to do something. Vegas’s public threats to other teams meant the team might as well have been called the Vegas Mob, and some of the picks came with future assets attached, which is what any expansion team needs more than anything. In a league where meaningful transactions have diminished over the years — boxed in by the hard salary cap, the mentality of hockey players, the relative safety of conservatism — any excuse to actually talk about hockey moves is generally a good one.
So at least everyone had a chance to screw up, and nobody had a better chance than the NHL’s 31st team. At the end of all this, of course, is a league that is just a little more diluted, with another market that will have to prove itself, with an owner who might be too involved for his own good. The heat makes the air shimmer in the desert, and we’ll see if the Golden Knights are just another illusion, waiting to either emerge or melt away into the sands.