Vegas Golden Knights: A Team Of Outcasts

The Vegas Golden Knights have been this season’s hugest surprise

The Vegas Golden Knights are the latest of Commissioner Gary Bettman’s expansion teams. The city of Las Vegas was granted an expansion team bid in June of 2016 at the League Owners meeting held in Las Vegas.

Expansion teams are stocked with players via an expansion draft. Each current team is allowed to protect a certain number of players. In the 2017 draft, teams could protect eight skaters and one goaltender. First and second-year players, as well as any unsigned draft picks, were also exempted from Expansion Draft eligibility.

So, what did that really mean? It meant that Las Vegas was basically drafting the players that other teams didn’t want. Castoffs…fringe players that weren’t quite valuable to be one of the coveted spots on the protected list. As such, expansion teams have traditionally not been immediate threats.

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The Flyers, for instance, were one of the original expansion teams that entered the NHL in 1967. The team didn’t even hit hockey 500, with a record of 31 wins, 32 losses, and 11 ties. Broad Street did see playoff games in the first year, but lost to the St. Louis Blues in seven games.

Ed Snider’s pride and joy did become the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup in 1974-75 and repeated the following season. The NHL was rocked that an expansion team had developed quickly enough to garner their top prize just in just seven short seasons.

The Flyers had not gotten the memo that expansion teams are supposed to be bad. It would also appear that the Vegas Golden Knights have missed that memo as well. They are most certainly going to make the playoffs, and are neck and neck with the Tampa Bay Lightning as Vegas odds favorites to win it all.

Who are these Knights, the unwanted, the cast-offs,  who are proving their old teams wrong? Let’s meet a few of them.

Marc-Andre Fleury

Drafted as the first overall pick by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2003 entry draft, Fleury was considered the future of the Penguins. Despite helping the team to three Stanley Cup Championships, the Pens chose not to protect Fleury in favor of Matt Murray.

As of this writing, Fleury has a record of 27-11-3 with a save percentage of .930. Fleury had an undisclosed injury that caused him to leave a game versus Vancouver. Fleury has rejoined the team and was between the pipes for the Saturday game versus the Colorado Avalanche. The Knights lost the game in a shootout, 2-1.

Fleury has been the face of the franchise, both on and off the ice. He’s having one of his finest seasons despite circumstances working against him. The Penguins made the right decision in moving on from him, but the Golden Knights had a terrific goalie fall right into their lap.

On a team of outcasts, Fleury has been their leader by example. He’s been great in helping grow the game in Vegas. This shouldn’t be a surprise because that’s precisely what Fleury did in Pittsburgh.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

Bellemare was an undrafted find for the Philadelphia Flyers. He was signed to a one year deal by the team after winning two Swedish Championships with Skellefteå AIK. The Flyers were impressed enough to make Bellemare an Alternate Captain and extend his contract.

Unfortunately, there were too many No Trade Clause players on the team to afford Bellemare a spot on the protected list. It was rumored that Vegas offered to chose another player in exchange for the Flyers first round pick, but Flyers GM Ron Hextall refused the offer. The “A” he wore for Philadelphia also adorns his sweater for the Knights.

With 15 points in 66 games (as of March 25), he’s already having a career year. Bellemare, usually a drag on possession in Philly, is in the green with the Golden Knights. His success has been as surprising as his team’s.

James Neal

The second Alternate Captain for the Knights, Neal was left unprotected by the Nashville Predators. Neal is well traveled, having made stops in Dallas and Pittsburgh before being traded to Nashville. Neal signed a two-year contract extension with Dallas in September 210, and was then traded to Pittsburgh just prior to the 2011 trade deadline.

With the Penguins, Neal had a huge season in 2011-12, finishing with 40 goals and 41 assists. The 2014 entry draft saw the Pens trade Neal to the Predators, where he set a franchise record with a plus/minus of +27 in the 2015-16 season.

He has been huge for the Golden Knights. There were rumors they were considering trading Neal, but they decided to take their chances. The Golden Knights have a number of free agents to worry about, but he should be one of their top priorities.

Jonathan Marchessault

Vegas’s leading scorer is not only well traveled but was also undrafted. Having been passed over at the 2011 NHL entry draft, Marchessault signed with the New York Rangers AHL affiliate, the Connecticut Whale.

Following the 2011-12 season, he signed an entry-level deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus traded Marchessault to the Tampa Lightning on the 2014 traded deadline. He spent the majority of his time in Tampa with theta’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. Marchessault left the Lightning as a free agent and signed with the Florida Panthers on July 1, 2016.

Despite being the Panthers leading scorer in his first full NHL season, he was left exposed and was selected by the Knights. As he has signed a six-year, $30 million contract extension with Vegas, it would appear that the Knights are not going to let this scoring phenom go.

William Karlsson

“Wild Bill” was not just left exposed by the Columbus Blue Jackets, he was dealt up to Vegas. Columbus dealt a first-round pick, a second-round pick in 2019, and the contract of David Clarkson to Vegas with the agreement that Vegas would take Karlsson in the expansion draft.

The Blue Jackets made the deal in order to not lose youngster Josh Anderson and goalie Joonas Krpisalo, who would also need to be exposed. Karlsson had a score to settle when he returned to Columbus in January, and he certainly did.

He scored twice in his return, including a highlight reel goal in the third period, leading his new team to a 6-3 win. Karlsson will forever be in the Vegas record books, as he scored the team’s first hat trick, in a game versus the Maple Leafs on December 31, 2017.

Deryk Engelland

Another of the Vegas Golden Knights’ Alternate Captains, Engelland played some of his minor league hockey in Las Vegas. Engelland didn’t hit he NHL until he was 27 years old. That’s when he was called up by the Pittsburgh Penguins for a game versus the Bruins.

He signed with the Calgary Flames as a free agent in 2014. Fans of the team were critical of his $2.9 contract, and were not at all upset when the physical defenseman was left exposed for the expansion draft.

However, Engelland has been a huge surprise for the Golden Knights. Arguably their hugest one, in fact. Engelland has a career-high 22 points while averaging over 20 minutes per game for the first time in his career.

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The Golden Knights might be a group of outcasts, but they’re playing with a huge chip on their shoulder. They took the league by surprise and haven’t slowed down since. Vegas hasn’t technically qualified yet, but once they do, they’ll be the first expansion team to make the postseason in their first year since the Minnesota North Stars (who still had a sub .500 point percentage).