Photo Courtesy of Vegas Golden Knights Twitter
Five months after the city of Las Vegas was officially awarded a National Hockey League franchise, there has been plenty of buzz surrounding the team as they hired their operations staff in preparation for when they take the ice in the 2017-18 season. Although there has been plenty of talk about the expansion draft next June and who the franchise might choose when the time comes, the majority of the chatter has been over what the team will be called.
Well, the wait is officially over. Although it took a little longer than expected.
In a heavily-hyped ceremony outside of T-Mobile Arena Tuesday night, the NHL’s 31st franchise unveiled their official moniker as the Vegas Golden Knights, although the announcement was delayed due to technical difficulties with the video that was going to be played to announce the name. Despite the hiccup in the presentation, it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of Golden Knights owner Bill Foley.
“We want our team to be known for dedication, honor, strength, courage and a commitment to never give up – both on the ice and off. We want our team to be committed to teamwork, service to this great city and integrity in all things – and we wanted a name and logo that represented all of this and was unique to Las Vegas and our community,” owner Bill Foley said in a statement. “Vegas Golden Knights is that name.”
Since being awarded the team, it has been reported that Foley originally wanted to go with Black Knights due to the fact that he’s a West Point graduate, but changed his mind as difficulties arose in securing the name. In October, Foley registered Silver Knights, Golden Knights, and Desert Knights, and there was even talk that he had registered several names with Hawks as a suffix. However, it was Golden Knights that ended up being Foley’s choice. They will be the NHL’s first expansion team since the fall of 2000, when the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets joined the league.
There has been some criticism that the logo looks too much like a Spartan helmet instead of a traditional knight helmet, but I think it’s a simple, clean look that should pop very well on a jersey (Vegas will unveil their uniforms at a later date). There’s even some clever use of the helmet in forming a ‘V’ as a nod to the city they’ll call home. The secondary logo incorporates the star from the famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign with a pair of crossed swords. The Golden Knights will use a color scheme of steel grey, gold, red, and black. If there’s one knock I have, besides not being able to get their video working for the unveiling ceremony, is the official moniker of the team. While I give the team credit for being different and dropping the Las from the team name, why go with Golden Knights when most fans are probably going to just shorten it to Knights anyway? Personally, I think Las Vegas Knights would’ve been a moniker that rolls off the tongue very well, but that’s just my opinion. Now there’s been talk that there was a conflict with the London Knights of the OHL, and that’s why they went with the two-word name. But in the end, Foley can name his team whatever he wants.
With the unveiling of the name and logo of the team behind them, Foley, general manager George McPhee, and the rest of their hockey operations staff can concentrate on finding a new coach and figuring out their strategy for the expansion draft next summer. Despite the technical difficulties of the video during the unveiling ceremony, Foley deserves credit for having a sense of humor about it, displaying plenty of confidence about his team’s future leading up to their debut.
“Believe me,” Foley joked. “We won’t screw up the first game like we screwed up the video.”
