Official - Las Vegas awarded expansion team to begin play 2017-18 season

[pilldoc]

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/16429478/nhl-officially-approves-las-vegas-31st-franchise

 

 

All the speculation can now be firmly laid to rest.  Las Vegas (mascot TBD) will officially begin play starting the 2017-18 season.

The will be placed in the Pacific Division.

 

Expansion Draft to occur next year.

• Las Vegas must select one player from each team for a total of 30 players with at least 20 being under contract for the 2017-18 season.
• Las Vegas must select at least 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders.
• Each existing team will have two options for protected lists, which they must submit by 5 p.m. ET on June 17, 2017: Seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender or eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender.
• Players in their first and second years and unsigned draft choices will be exempt from selection.
• Players with "no movement" clauses in their contract that decline to waive those rights must be included in a club's protected list.
• Players with potential career-ending injuries or that missed more than 60 consecutive games for their clubs cannot be used by teams to satisfy the quota of exposed players.
• Teams must expose at least one defenseman and two forwards who are under contract in 2017-18 and that played in 40 or more games in the NHL the prior season or 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons.
• Teams must also expose one goaltender who is under contract in 2017-18 or will be a restricted free agent when his contract expires before the 2017-18. If a club chooses the latter option, the goaltender must have received a qualifying offer from the club before it submits its protected list.

 

The deadline for the Las Vegas franchise to submit its selections is 5 p.m. ET on June 20, 2017. The team's selections will be announced on June 21, 2017.

 

In the 2017 NHL draft lottery, the Las Vegas team will have the same odds as the team finishing with the third-fewest point total in 2016-17 and will be guaranteed to pick no lower than sixth in the first round. It will pick third in each round for the remainder of the draft.

 

Discuss away......

 

EDIT:  @hf101 Is it possible to create a separate team forum under the Pacific Division now that it is official.  That way all new discussion can be centered there.  Thanks

 

I will pin the topic only until the other sub-forum can be created.

[pilldoc]

What would you name the expansion team.... here are a few thoughts:

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/12551758/nhl-here-our-suggested-las-vegas-expansion-team-nicknames

 

my personal favorite...

 

Las Vegas Outlaws

Parlaying the heritage of the Wild West, freedom and frontier justice inherent in the region, my suggestion for the Las Vegas franchise is the Outlaws. The team logo will be along the lines of this awesome thing, and the team colors will be black and gold, with red accents. Home (black) and away will have "Outlaws" in Vaquero font with the bandit skull logo on the shoulders. The third jersey will be red with the bandit skull logo on the front. Given the types of players who will be available in an expansion draft, we might need to goon it up a bit in the early going. That fits the bad-guy narrative just fine. "Outlaws" is a popular name among motorcycle clubs as well, so we'd offer a line of leather motorcycle vests with the team regalia on the back, along with customized patches for the front. Maybe that would be the fan club for the lunatics in Section 238 or whatever -- the Outlaws M.C. Maybe it would be actual biker gang members! The team mascot would be an oversized bandit character. Kind of like Pistol Pete from OSU, but with a black hat and red bandanna instead of orange hat and creepy drawn-on facial hair. Instead of the Score-o promotion everyone does, we'd set up the Sharpshooter contest (a la the All-Star skills competition event). That's harder than Score-o, but we'd also give away a car right off the bat to anyone that went 4-for-4. Go high or go home in Vegas. - Tim Kavanagh

[FD19372]

The Las Vegas Gamblers.

[FD19372]

Better yet...the Las Vegas Road Runners. Natural rivals with the Arizona Coyotes.

[yave1964]

How about the Quebec Nordiques....Oh wait.

[sarsippius]

15 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

How about the Quebec Nordiques....Oh wait.

 

That right there is the #1 reason I detest this latest bit of Buttman assholery.....but hey welcome to the NHL all you die hard hockey fans in Vegas! 

[Poulin20]

Just what we need another team in a non-hockey market!!

 

My wife has relatives in Vegas and I have learned that most of the locals, except for those who work at the strip don't like to go near there.  (Hence the need for neighborhood casinos for the locals to go to like Suncoast and Red Rock)  So who will be attending these games, especially after the novelty wears off?? Away fans looking for a thrilling road trip??  

[WordsOfWisdom]

5 hours ago, pilldoc said:

Las Vegas must select one player from each team for a total of 30 players with at least 20 being under contract for the 2017-18 season.

 

Ah yes, the continued watering down of the NHL product. 

 

Looking forward to seeing "what's his name" playing for Vegas in front of a capacity crowd collection of empty chairs. Lovely.

 

Given what I just watched last season as a Leafs fan, I'm going to be switching off the NHL product until I see what I remember to be an actual "NHL" product put on the ice for my local team.

[radoran]

1 hour ago, sarsippius said:

 

That right there is the #1 reason I detest this latest bit of Buttman assholery.....but hey welcome to the NHL all you die hard hockey fans in Vegas! 

 

They have sold 14,000 season tickets AND all the luxury boxes....

[radoran]

6 minutes ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

Looking forward to seeing "what's his name" playing for Vegas in front of a capacity crowd collection of empty chairs. Lovely.

 

I believe "what's his name" is "Fredrik Andersen"

 

7 minutes ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

Given what I just watched last season as a Leafs fan, I'm going to be switching off the NHL product until I see what I remember to be an actual "NHL" product put on the ice for my local team.

 

The league is more popular, more valuable and at a position where the worst team in the league is the most valuable - and no Canadian team even made the playoffs this year.

 

You think they care if you "switch off"?

 

Good luck with that.

[FD19372]

1 hour ago, sarsippius said:

 

That right there is the #1 reason I detest this latest bit of Buttman assholery.....but hey welcome to the NHL all you die hard hockey fans in Vegas! 

They both say hi, which is why I am so puzzled - no, utterly shocked by this move. Yeah, this is a Buttman special.

[WordsOfWisdom]

34 minutes ago, radoran said:

I believe "what's his name" is "Fredrik Andersen"

 

Touche!  

 

35 minutes ago, radoran said:

The league is more popular, more valuable and at a position where the worst team in the league is the most valuable - and no Canadian team even made the playoffs this year.

 

You think they care if you "switch off"?

 

[Claude Monet]

1 hour ago, radoran said:

 

They have sold 14,000 season tickets AND all the luxury boxes....

Yeah but how much of that is corporate money ? Tax write offs for the casinos.  

[Hockey Forums]

This topic has been moved from "Around the NHL" to "Las Vegas Team Forum". 

[radoran]

7 hours ago, Claude Monet said:

Yeah but how much of that is corporate money ? Tax write offs for the casinos.  

 

It's more than three teams in the NHL averaged last season.

 

And one has a history with a "dynasty" in it (Islanders) and the other won a Cup 10 years ago (Carolina).

 

Does it really matter where the money comes from? As long as it isn't an illegal source, I don't imagine the NHL cares where the $500M came from or whether the 14,000 season tickets sold were a "tax write off" for casinos.

 

To be clear, I think there are too many franchises and the league is watered down with talent. But they didn't ask me about it before they took the $500M and they're not likely to ask me when they take another $500M from Quebec City and/or Seattle.

[pilldoc]

43 minutes ago, radoran said:

To be clear, I think there are too many franchises and the league is watered down with talent. But they didn't ask me about it before they took the $500M and they're not likely to ask me when they take another $500M from Quebec City and/or Seattle.

 

whole heartedly agree.....At least Edmonton won't finish last in the Pacific next year...

[sarsippius]

10 hours ago, radoran said:

 

They have sold 14,000 season tickets AND all the luxury boxes....

Oh I don't doubt that, I'd be curious as to what deep discount and marketing campaign helped get there. 

 

I just don't like it, I have more emotional arguments than logical ones but ask yourself why Las Vegas? The answers I come up with are unsavory corporate whore ones 

[ScottM]

When will the stupidity end? That's all I want to know. Is that too much to ask?

[radoran]

24 minutes ago, sarsippius said:

Oh I don't doubt that, I'd be curious as to what deep discount and marketing campaign helped get there. 

 

I just don't like it, I have more emotional arguments than logical ones but ask yourself why Las Vegas? The answers I come up with are unsavory corporate whore ones 

 

The answer I come up with is "$500,000,000" - and that's really all the NHL cares aboot, eh?

 

Which pretty much sums up you "unsavory" thought #amirite?

[B21]

18 hours ago, pilldoc said:

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/16429478/nhl-officially-approves-las-vegas-31st-franchise

 

 

All the speculation can now be firmly laid to rest.  Las Vegas (mascot TBD) will officially begin play starting the 2017-18 season.

The will be placed in the Pacific Division.

 

Expansion Draft to occur next year.

• Las Vegas must select one player from each team for a total of 30 players with at least 20 being under contract for the 2017-18 season.
• Las Vegas must select at least 14 forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders.
• Each existing team will have two options for protected lists, which they must submit by 5 p.m. ET on June 17, 2017: Seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender or eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender.
• Players in their first and second years and unsigned draft choices will be exempt from selection.
• Players with "no movement" clauses in their contract that decline to waive those rights must be included in a club's protected list.
• Players with potential career-ending injuries or that missed more than 60 consecutive games for their clubs cannot be used by teams to satisfy the quota of exposed players.
• Teams must expose at least one defenseman and two forwards who are under contract in 2017-18 and that played in 40 or more games in the NHL the prior season or 70 or more NHL games in the prior two seasons.
• Teams must also expose one goaltender who is under contract in 2017-18 or will be a restricted free agent when his contract expires before the 2017-18. If a club chooses the latter option, the goaltender must have received a qualifying offer from the club before it submits its protected list.

 

The deadline for the Las Vegas franchise to submit its selections is 5 p.m. ET on June 20, 2017. The team's selections will be announced on June 21, 2017.

 

In the 2017 NHL draft lottery, the Las Vegas team will have the same odds as the team finishing with the third-fewest point total in 2016-17 and will be guaranteed to pick no lower than sixth in the first round. It will pick third in each round for the remainder of the draft.

 

Discuss away......

 

EDIT:  @hf101 Is it possible to create a separate team forum under the Pacific Division now that it is official.  That way all new discussion can be centered there.  Thanks

 

I will pin the topic only until the other sub-forum can be created.

 

Unless I am reading that wrong, once you pick a player from a team the rest are off the table - is that correct?  Just thinking about the Pens in regards Fleury.  Leaving him unprotected could end up as "protection" for the rest of the roster though he'd have to waive his NMC.

 

Thinking out loud - this is going to be a fun process for whoever the GM is in Las Vegas.  Here are the players - now make your team.

[Samifan]

3 hours ago, sarsippius said:

Oh I don't doubt that, I'd be curious as to what deep discount and marketing campaign helped get there.

All you can eat prime rib and shrimp cocktail for .99 cents!

[AJgoal]

I wouldn't doubt that casinos snapped up a large number of season tickets to use as comps.

[radoran]

56 minutes ago, AJgoal said:

I wouldn't doubt that casinos snapped up a large number of season tickets to use as comps.

 

I would bet heavily that they did. That's one of the basis for having a team there in the first place.

 

I'll wager some AC casinos have Philly sports tickets as well.

 

Thing is, that's a market for tickets that's simply not going to go away. Even NHL prices are a drop in the bucket for the casinos. Sure, you may wind up with an arena that looks like the Air Canada center in terms of people actually in the seats, but that hasn't bothered Tronno at all.

[B21]

25 minutes ago, radoran said:

 

I would bet heavily that they did. That's one of the basis for having a team there in the first place.

 

I'll wager some AC casinos have Philly sports tickets as well.

 

Thing is, that's a market for tickets that's simply not going to go away. Even NHL prices are a drop in the bucket for the casinos. Sure, you may wind up with an arena that looks like the Air Canada center in terms of people actually in the seats, but that hasn't bothered Tronno at all.

 

I think it helps that (at least as of right now) the NHL is the "only" game in town in Las Vegas. One common denominator of struggling NHL franchises is competition from other professional sports and to a lesser degree, college sports.  Just look at the Islanders. There are only so many "fan dollars" and "company dollars" to go around and during their season the are competing with the Jets, Giants, Knicks, Nets, Rangers and Devils.

[sarsippius]

2 hours ago, Samifan said:

All you can eat prime rib and shrimp cocktail for .99 cents!

Mmmmmmm.....shrimp [Homer Simpson drool]