Vegas Built the Expansion Franchise Minnesota Always Wanted

When the Vegas Golden Knights joined the NHL in the 2017-18 season, it was hard not to view it as some sort of gimmick; an attempt to force-feed NHL hockey to another Sun Belt market that never really wanted it. When the team debuted on the ice, at least initially, that sentiment was solidified by the glitzy, loud, over-the-top show that the Golden Knights put on. Knights doing battle, dramatic music, light shows, and loud noises. 

In Vegas, hockey was just another show.

At first, we here in Minnesota watched with amusement as another one of Gary Bettman’s “non-traditional hockey markets” had to work so hard to sell hockey. Here, in the State of Hockey, we didn’t need gimmicks to be entertained, because for us, the game is the entertainment.

No one had to sell it to us; we were already sold. Our NHL rink has high school jerseys on the wall across the entire building. Nevada can barely create a legitimate high school hockey league. We skate on frozen ponds in the winter. Do they even have ponds in the desert?

In Minnesota, hockey isn’t a gimmick. For many, it’s part of life. And so when the Golden Knights joined the league for a $500 million fee and were immediately gifted a competent roster (and fleeced a few teams – including the Wild – along the way), we figured hockey in Vegas would be like hockey in every Sun Belt market; there would be some diehard fans, sure, but otherwise, the team would be popular when it was good and struggle to sell tickets when it wasn’t.

Pretty quickly, however, it was apparent that the gimmick was a success, as was hockey in Vegas, both on and off the ice. Attendance was excellent, and the team went to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first year and won a Cup in their sixth. They even beat the Wild in a playoff series in 2021, ending Kirill Kaprizov’s rookie season.

In Minnesota, our amusement turned into annoyance. It wasn’t just that Vegas was more successful. It was how they succeeded. They were instantly granted a contending roster, while the Wild had been given slim pickings for their inaugural roster in 2000-01.

Vegas was cutthroat. They jettisoned popular players like St. Cloud native Nate Schmidt, and unceremoniously benched their franchise icon, Marc-Andre Fleury, despite his remarkable success there.

They repeatedly exploited loopholes in the NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement to circumvent the salary cap and add extra players. Mark Stone was injured until Game 1 of the playoffs, when he magically wasn’t anymore. 

Does Vegas win a Stanley Cup without putting him on long-term injured reserve? 

Probably not.

Meanwhile, here in Minnesota, fans witnessed more of the same. Good but not great teams that put together promising regular seasons, only to fizzle out in first-round playoff exits. It wasn’t as if Minnesota hockey fans needed further proof that unbridled passion and a culture ingrained with hockey lore don’t equal success on the ice. Still, we’ve been getting it anyway, year after year.

Well, Minnesota fans, one of these years, the hockey gods will look down and let us know that, in the words of Herb Brooks, “This is your time.”

Will it be this year? There are plenty who are saying it’s not.

But there’s reason to believe. The Wild have Kirill Kaprizov, who might be the best player in the series. They have a healthy roster with a dominant two-way center in Joel Eriksson Ek. Jonas Brodin is one of the best-skating defensemen in the league, with a track record of shutting down star players like Jack Eichel.

The Wild have the vibes. They have camaraderie, with the right mix of characters and talent.

This year has had storybook quality that the team has embraced, with Marc-Andre Fleury’s final season, and an insane amount of bad injury luck that seems to have settled itself just in time. The team has its full complement of players and plenty of confidence after some remarkable moments in the season’s final week.

And, they have the young gun, Zeev Buium, who arrived just in time to give the team a shot in the arm. He’s a lethal power-play threat, the type this team has never had.

Beyond all that, it’s hard not to think that if the stars are ever going to align for the Minnesota Wild to make a playoff run, this might be the year. After all, what else is being a fan about if not for watching to see if something special happens?

What would constitute a successful playoff run for Minnesota? A first-round series win? A trip to the conference finals for just the second time in organization history? Or, is it Stanley Cup or bust?

That’s up for the team and each fan to decide for themselves. But one thing is certain: in Minnesota, we’re ready for it, and if there was ever a time for passion to be repaid, this year is as good as any.

So buckle up. The playoffs are here.