What happens in Vegas … may never happen again.
The Vegas Golden Knights, who officially did not exist 15 months ago, are four victories away from winning the Stanley Cup.
That’s right: The NHL’s latest expansion team, expected to flounder in its inaugural season, has reached the Stanley Cup Final after dispatching the Winnipeg Jets in five games in the Western Conference finals.
How can we wrap our minds around this historic achievement? Let’s start here: In the modern era, Vegas is the first expansion team in the four major sports — NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB — to even post a winning record in its first season.
The NHL’s last two expansion franchises — the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild — won 28 and 25 games, respectively, during their first season in 2000-01. The Golden Knights went 51-24-7 this season to finish with the NHL’s fifth-best record.
How about the postseason? No expansion club in any sport has ever won a title in its first season, but have any even reached the championship round?
There’s one: The 1968 St. Louis Blues, who were one of six teams added to the NHL when it expanded from six to 12 franchises. But those Blues needed to win just one playoff series to make the Stanley Cup Final and were swept by the Montreal Canadiens in the championship.
The Golden Knights, meanwhile, have rolled to a 12-3 record in the playoffs, taking a roster of other teams’ cast-offs to heights not seen by 17 other major franchises in their entire histories.
Did we mention the Detroit Lions have been around since 1930?
Fittingly enough, Vegas also is a good barometer of Vegas’ absurd run. The Golden Knights began the regular season with 500-1 odds to win the Stanley Cup and had long odds throughout the season, which could mean absurdly large paydays if they can knock off the winner of the Tampa Bay Lightning-Washington Capitals Eastern Conference finals.
Even if they fall short in the Stanley Cup Final, the Golden Knights will be remembered as the greatest expansion franchise ever. But if they manage to win it all, they’ll go down as one of the best stories in sports — period.
