But Vegas' hometown team is in the spotlight for the first time this year, reaching a major milestone in its process of becoming the NHL's 31st franchise - and doing it during a heat wave. From Fleury on out, Vegas already has a solid National Hockey League roster with a sturdy blue line and four lines of capable forwards.
On Wednesday night at T-Mobile Arena, the Las Vegas Golden Knights took form.
In 2000, the Columbus Blue Jackets selected goaltender Dwayne Roloson, defenseman Mathieu Schneider and forwards Turner Stevenson and Dallas Drake.
Among the NHL's seven Canada-based teams, the players lost to expansion were Luca Sbisa (Vancouver), Griffin Reinhart (Edmonton), Deryk Engelland (Calgary), Chris Thorburn (Winnipeg), Alexei Emelin (Montreal), Brendan Leipsic (Toronto) and Marc Methot (Ottawa).
Due to their inability to get Dion Phaneuf to waive his no-movement clause, Ottawa was forced to leave defenseman Marc Methot unprotected and he was mercilessly scooped up by the Golden Knights. Instead, they selected left winger William Carrier and a sixth-rounder from the Sabres.
The way the league went out of it's way to launch Las Vegas it's nearly surprising that they didn't hold the NHL Entry Draft there Friday as well. The former Florida Panther was a dynamo on the ice last season, scoring 30 goals. But Methot has 10 teams on his no-trade list, which will limit McPhee's flexibility and could keep Methot in Vegas.
The Detroit Red Wings, who bid adieu to Joe Louis Arena last season, will begin play at Little Caesar's Arena on October 5 against the Minnesota Wild.
Officially, the Golden Knights' choice from the Islanders was goaltender J.F. Berube, who was No. 3 on the organizational depth chart. Apparently, though, Vegas didn't need an enticement to take him. Oh?
Result, not performance, counted against Crusaders - Gatland
Watching, then re-watching, Saturday's game, as many as 11 players shot their hands up for Test Series selection. Gatland knew before he left that there would be plenty of mind games between Steve Hansen and the media.
Because only the Philadelphia Flyers are still searching for a starter in net, there wasn't the anticipated run on goalies.
Fleury was selected 29th for the Knights. The reason for this is because defencemen are the NHL's hottest commodity at the moment. McPhee knew the immensely popular Penguins player would be in his crease even while watching Fleury win a third Stanley Cup this spring. So it should be no surprise that the Golden Knights would make decisions that might seem questionable at first glance. They have many, many draft picks, and as much cap space as anyone, and seemingly the go-ahead from the owner to be patient.
Anaheim did something similar. Theodore may have the best long-term upside of any asset that landed in Vegas.
It meant that numerous selected forwards fell into the journeymen/minor-leaguer category, players who will make a minimal impact on their salary structure: David Perron (St. Louis Blues), William Karlsson (Columbus Blue Jackets) Oscar Lindberg (New York Rangers), Cody Eakin (Dallas), Tomas Nosek (Detroit Red Wings), Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (Philadelphia Flyers), Teemu Pulkkinen (Arizona Coyotes), William Carrier (Buffalo Sabres) and Connor Brickley (Carolina Hurricanes).
No team has arguably studied the prospects in that group more than the Golden Knights staff.
The 32-year-old Fleury, who won a Stanley Cup title with the Pittsburgh Penguins this season, was the second to last player announced.
McPhee got his starting goalie and first face of the franchise in Marc-Andre Fleury, a top-line winger in James Neal and a plethora of defensemen by raiding the existing 30 National Hockey League teams.
McPhee believes Fleury's presence will bring instant stability in goal and help the Golden Knights meet their stated goal of being both competitive and entertaining right out of the starting gate.
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