The Vegas Golden Knights Deserve to Miss the Playoffs

For the first time in franchise history, the Vegas Golden Knights will not qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Vegas took the league by storm, using the then-face of the franchise Marc-Andre Fleury and the “Golden Misfits” nickname to generate league-wide excitement en route to the Stanley Cup Final in 2018. Since then, things have shifted for the Golden Knights.

Fans didn’t expect an expansion team to succeed the way the Knights did, so they thrived as underdogs. However, Vegas is a long way from being an underdog these days, and being as close as they’ve been to a title seems to have gone to their heads.

The Golden Knights have been more than willing to trade for/sign established and talented players in pursuit of the organization’s first championship. In this season, though, things have gone too far.

The Golden Knights deserve to watch the playoffs from home.

Whether you support Vegas or not, the value of the Marc-Andre Fleury trade in the offseason can be debated. What is not up for debate is the fact that the execution of the trade was embarrassing and detrimental.

Fleury reportedly learned of the news via Twitter, as Vegas destroyed its relationship with one of the most popular players in the league. The situation was poorly handled, and it was also a sign of things to come.

At this season’s trade deadline, the Golden Knights attempted to deal forward Evgenii Dadonov to the Anaheim Ducks, but the trade fell through after an investigation into his no-trade clause revealed that he could not be sent to the Ducks.

It seems reckless to me that an NHL franchise could fail to do its due diligence in regard to something as basic as a no-trade clause, and it’s the second example of a carelessly handled situation for the Knights.

Then, just last week, a rift between Vegas and goaltender Robin Lehner emerged, as the Golden Knights have apparently asked him to play through an injury that probably should have ended his season several weeks ago.

One of these incidents alone could easily be an accident or a lapse in judgment. However, there are three different instances of the Golden Knights seemingly doing whatever is necessary to win, and doing so with little regard for attention to detail or relationships.

The narrative surrounding the Golden Knights has quickly changed, and after throwing caution to the wind in some of the worst ways possible, this team is getting exactly what it deserves.