National Hockey League fans are witnessing history and most of us do not even realize it.
The rule of thumb, among fans and media, is that by American Thanksgiving we should know where teams stand for the rest of the year.
Well we are a month past that and there is one team that stands out among the rest.
The expansion Vegas Golden Knights.
The Golden Knights, who dropped the Las from their names have incredibly dropped the loss from their record too.
The Golden Knights, who are made up of players, most teams viewed as expendable currently sit first in the NHL’s Western Conference, and second in the league.
Incredible.
The Golden Knights currently hold a record of 26-9-2, all while playing with their fourth string goaltender for approximately a month.
In comparison, the Florida Panthers are considered to have the greatest record among expansion franchises, yet their record was only 33-34-17.
Since the beginning of the 1991 season we have seen nine teams enter the NHL. Their combined record is an abysmal 211 wins, 444 losses, 74 ties, and 15 overtime losses.
Now admittedly some of the teams do bring the record down significantly, like the Ottawa Senators who finished their inaugural season with a record of 10 wins, 70 losses, and four ties, but even still, we have yet to see a team reach .500.
Now the NHL did try to make the Golden Knights more competitive, than those expansion teams in the past but who could have ever saw this coming?
For the first time in the last 25 years it appears we will be seeing an expansion team in the playoffs.
Good for Vegas, but even better for the NHL.
The NHL needs Vegas to be successful, what better way to make sure they are successful, at least at first, then to see them in the playoffs?
This is history in the making and we need to stop and smell the roses, this may never happen again.
