LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — The Vegas Golden Knights are entering their 10th season with the fifth-most wins in the NHL and the most playoff victories of any team since their 2017 inaugural season.
The team has made three Stanley Cup Final appearances, winning the championship in 2023.
The team has also drawn a reputation among fans around the league. A poll released in May named the Golden Knights the most hated team in the NHL.
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Center Jack Eichel addressed the poll during a recent player press conference.
“There was a poll that came out that Vegas was the most hated team,” Eichel said. “Who voted on that?”
Eichel said players around the league want to play for Vegas.
“If you ask guys in the league, Vegas ain’t on people’s no-trade list,” Eichel said. “This is the place people want to be and people want to play.”
Forward Mark Stone said he has seen teammates traded away and called it difficult, but said he does not fault the organization for making moves to improve the roster.
“I’m not saying these trades are easier because I’ve lost a lot of really good friends in the process,” Stone said. “But I’ll never be disappointed, I guess, that they’re trying to make our team better. That’s why I play this game, is to try and win. And that’s what we’re trying to do here.”
General manager addresses team’s success
General manager Kelly McCrimmon said the team’s sustained success is difficult for others to explain.
“I think people have a hard time explaining why we win as much as we do,” McCrimmon said. “We’ve been to the Stanley Cup Finals three times in nine years, and it’s interesting, we went in 2018, 2023, 2026, and what that tells you is that’s three completely different teams.”
McCrimmon addressed explanations that credit the team’s success to favorable expansion rules.
“You’ve heard it all the way through those nine years, all the expansion rules were so favorable,” McCrimmon said. “Well, Seattle Kraken had the same expansion rules, right? And everybody says, oh, well, everybody wised up because of how well Vegas did. Well, I would argue that Seattle had almost three years to get ready for expansion. We had 11 months.”
McCrimmon also referenced an explanation tied to defenseman Mark Stone’s back surgery.
“Then people think it’s because we had Mark Stone get back surgery just for fun in February, right? And that’s why,” McCrimmon said.
McCrimmon said he attributes the criticism to jealousy.
“For me, it’s jealousy and it’s people don’t want to, are uncomfortable admitting that we’ve done a hell of a job,” McCrimmon said. “That’s what I honestly think. The organization gives our players every resource to be the best that they can be, as a person and as a player, and it’s a great city to live in, as you all know.”
McCrimmon said players choose Vegas because of the team’s success.
“All those players would tell you the number one thing is they have a chance to win,” McCrimmon said. “So when you hear that a person from another organization is interested in coming to Vegas, the first reason they’re interested in coming to Vegas is because we win. That’s why they want to come to Vegas, because if that wasn’t the case, you can go back in the history of tax free states and sunny locations of some teams that struggled for years and years and years that nobody wanted to go to.”
“So first and foremost, people come here because we try to win,” McCrimmon said. “They like being on teams that try to win. So that for me is how I see it. I’m not going to apologize for it.”
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