Let's start with one clear point, the Vegas players, with one (huge) exception I will talk about, are mostly blameless. We can quibble about Mitch Marner's drama in leaving Toronto and shitting on them on the way out, but whatever. On the ice, he's a great player who is finding another gear. There are a lot of generally talented and likeable players on the team, from Mark Stone, healthier than he has been in years, to Jack Eichel, to youngsters like Dorofayev and so many others. But everything about Vegas the organization is just tough to deal with right at this second.
Let's start with maybe the most ridiculous thing going on right now, which is the saga of teh Vegas Golden Knights not letting fired coach Bruce Cassidy interview for the Edmonton Oilers job. Yes, I get that the Oilers are a division rival, but I just don't understand how the Knights should be able to block someone they chose to fire. I get that technically tehy gave him some other FO role or something, but this just wreaks of the "we don't have to play by teh rules" approach that they've had for years now. How no one has made a bigger deal out of this is beyond me.
Then there's the signing of Carter Hart, one of the Canada Hockey guys who went on trail for sexually assaulting a woman. Yes, they were found not guilty, and a level further than just standard "not guilty" (though critically, not "innocent") but there was a lot of weird stuff that went on in that trial even outside of anything to do with the players. Most of the five players caught up in that have been persona-non-grata in the league. They all got suspended for a while. No one touched Hart, until the Golden Knights had goalie trouble, and of course Hart has repaid them by being brilliant (it always works out for the worst people).
We can go further on this, both micro - like them not speaking to the media, which resulted in a big fine and losing a 2nd round pick (honestly, good on Bettman there). And then macro, like their repeated playing aroudn with the salary cap / LTIR rules when it came to Mark Stone. Yes, many other teams did something of the like, including memorably the Lightning with Kucherov in the 2020-21 season, but teh Knights did it multiple years in a row with the same player without even the least shred of guilt.
Finally in my list of greivances is yes, the cold ruthless way they've churned through players. Now, to be fair, by all reports they are an extremely accommodating franchise to current players, but the second a player outlives what they feel his usefulness to be, by god to they go for the jugular. The first and most memorable example was Marc-Andre Fleury and the famous back-stabbing photojob by his agent after they traded for Robin Lehner. At the time, people were mostly in the "come on Marc, grow up" camp, but little did we know that was the first in a series of cruel, cold, calculating decisions. Now, most of them have worked - its why this team has made its 3rd Stanley Cup Final with a roster that includes just three of the misfits from the first season, but its also led to a lot of sour memories.
None of this matters if you are a Vegas fan, and more than that, a fan of the NHL at large. Vegas's success out of the game, and more than that even, their continued success, is a story worth celebrating for the league. They took the jump into Las Vegas before anyone (a city that by 2031 or so will likely have all four major sports), and I've read a lot of reports that Vegas cares about the Knights more than the Raidres, adn certainly will more than the A's (if that even happens at this point). I would dare claim they'll remain more popular than the NBA team. The NHL moved first, and it has paid off spectacularly creating a singular event-like atmosphere there, as the team's game production has leaned far into the things Vegas affords you. Still, you just wish you could like the organization a bit more.
Eight years ago I wrote about Vegas when they made that first Cup Final, and wrote largely that I was fine with that fact. I awsn't jealous of this upstart team making a final. It helps when I had watched my favorite team win a few by that point. I thought it was cool that the NHL had this magical story, and the Knights that year were one. The second that second year, when they traded for Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone, becuase they rightly realized their first season was still a bit of a fluke, and they became this ruthless, never-ending series of trades, signings adn cap machinations, it quickly became less magical. In 2018, I wasn't mad at Vegas for making the final, but was greatly hoping they wouldn't win, mostly because I wanted Ovi to get his cup. There's no Ovi on the 2026 Hurricanes, but still - for the good of all of us, Vegas, just lie down. Especially since god knows what a loss in teh final will convince their ownership and leadership to try next.
