Vegas Golden Knights must focus on winning later, not now

Despite a strong start, the Vegas Golden Knights must not sacrifice their future to make the playoffs.

The Vegas Golden Knights are one of the biggest surprises through the first month of the 2017-18 season. Despite being an underdog expansion franchise, they have begun their first season in franchise history with a 5-1 record by playing an impressive team game motivated to prove doubters wrong.

However, are the early season results a desert mirage? Or can the Golden Knights keep up their success over 82 games? Does Vegas management truly want this hot start to continue, given the long-term factors that could impact the franchise as a result of making the playoffs?

The Golden Knights are winning games by outworking their opponents while finding offense wherever they can. James Neal is leading the way with six goals and eight points in six games but he isn’t the only one scoring. Vegas ranks 11th in the league in goals-per-game and 12th overall in total goals.

It’s impressive for an expansion team to be producing offense the way Vegas is. But they aren’t like any other expansion team. The Golden Knights feature multiple former 20-goal scorers and 50-point producers capable of contributing offensively. As a result, if Vegas can maintain their scoring-by-committee offense, the team’s defensive structure seems good enough to compete for a playoff spot.

Whether or not a playoff berth is what Vegas management is hoping for is another issue entirely. It’d be great for the Golden Knights to cement their status in Las Vegas prior to the Raiders moving to town. After all, a playoff berth could help win over the locals to view the team as their own homegrown franchise and not just a relocated one.

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However, the long-term success of the team could suffer in exchange for the short-term gain of playoff games. The long-term success could suffer because, in order for Vegas to compete for a postseason spot, they would have to keep their better players and pending free agents, instead of trading them for prospects and draft picks.

A goal scorer and pending free agent like Neal could potentially fetch a first-round pick and a decent prospect at the trade deadline. The Golden Knights would risk losing Neal for nothing next summer if they don’t trade him which would only hurt Vegas’ future.

Neal isn’t the only player Stanley Cup contenders would be interested in at the trade deadline. David Perron, Jonathan Marchessault, Luca Sbisa, Jason Garrison, Clayton Stoner, Brayden McNabb, and Deryk Engelland are all free agents at the end of the season and could help add quality depth to any playoff team.

If Vegas were to start trading off players it wouldn’t leave them with much of a competitive team but the draft picks acquired could provide building blocks for multiple seasons to come. There’s also a worst case scenario where the Golden Knights don’t trade their pending free agents and just narrowly miss out on the postseason. Resulting in a draft pick likely outside the top-5 and maybe even top-10. Along with the loss of their free agents for nothing.

As great as it’d be for the Golden Knights to make history and qualify for the playoffs in their first season, they aren’t legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. It’d be a wonderful story for the expansion team to make the playoffs but even if everything goes Vegas’ way, at-best the team’s ceiling is an early playoff exit. Whatever fan support is gained by playing a couple playoff games could quickly be lost if the team struggles the next few seasons.

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This isn’t to say the Golden Knights should tank. But they must keep their long-term goals their top priority. If Vegas trades Neal and their other assets and still manage to make the postseason? Fantastic! But the Golden Knights top priority has to be continuing to build a strong future. Because relatively speaking, compared to other teams, they don’t have many assets.

If the Golden Knights truly want to be successful, they will need to avoid the temptation of making history with a playoff berth and do what’s best for the long-term future of the franchise.

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