After weeks of legal battles trying to decide on a new name for the new Las Vegas NHL Team, they have finally decided on a name. According to unconfirmed reports The Las Vegas Golden Knights will start playing in the NHL for the 2017-2018 season.
Bill Foley will officially announce his New Team name tonight, The Vegas Golden Knights is the rumored name.
Since the announcement of June 22nd, Bill Foley has had trouble coming up with a name. Bill Foley would have liked to use the name, Las Vegas Black Knights. However, despite the blessing of his former Alma mater, terms could not be met for the name. While he may have to settle for the name Golden Knights, if the team can have on-ice success, it will not matter.
On the night of the NHL Awards, the NHL announced that Las Vegas had won the bid for a new NHL Franchise. The terms for the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft were finalized as well. All 30 franchises must submit a list of players to protect from the draft. This list must include players with No Move Clauses and excludes players with two or less seasons of professional play. The full list of terms can be found here. The Vegas Golden Knights will play their first game in October 2017.
Now that Bill Foley was able to get a name for the team, he can begin to focus on the Expansion Draft and NHL Draft. While the focus will likely be on the Expansion Draft, Vegas could very easily will the Draft Lottery. It has been confirmed that the Golden Knight’s will have an 11.5% odds of winning which ties them for the third worst overall next season. If Vegas were able to win the Draft Lottery, they would have a choice of multiple top players. These names include Nolan Patrick, Gabe Vilardi and Nico Hischier. The top ranked defenceman is Timothy Liljegren.
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