Golden Knights Missed Out On Winning Cup, But Karlsson, Gallant, Engelland, McPhee Sweep NHL Honors For VGK At League Awards Show In Vegas

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman — and the team owners — just can’t get enough of Vegas.

 

The National Hockey League’s governing body — the Board of Governors — met in Las Vegas before the league’s annual awards show at Hard Rock casino-hotel Wednesday.

 

And let’s just say the Vegas Golden Knights and the first-year team’s stunning run to the Stanley Cup Final were on the minds of the team’s representatives.

 

The Board of Governors meeting was closed to reporters. But a topic that was expected to be discussed was an update on the NHL’s next expansion team — the future club from Seattle that is expected to be the league’s 32nd franchise. Seattle will have to pay $650 million as an expansion fee and the ownership group hopes to start play in the 2020-21 season.

 

Golden Knights lead owner Bill Foley and others paid a $500 million expansion fee to bring big-league hockey to Las Vegas. The Golden Knights Wednesday announced their home-opener for Season 2 — it’s Oct. 4 when the Knights host the Philadelphia Flyers at T-Mobile Arena.

 

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The awards show included a segment devoted to the shooting deaths of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. There is a direct tie between Las Vegas and Parkland. Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant and linemates Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith used to play for the Florida Panthers, and know Parkland.

 

In March, LVSportsBiz.com wrote a story on the Las Vegas/Parkland connection.

 

Las Vegas endured its shooting tragedy, too. The Oct. 1 mass shooting on the Strip that claimed the lives of 58 country music festival goers and injured another 600 was interwoven into the Golden Knights’ inaugural season.

 

 

 

And when Golden Knights star forward William Karlsson won the Lady Byng Memorial Award for the league’s best player combining sportsmanship and playing ability, he thanked a host of people including the Oct. 1 first responders.

 

The NHL also paid tribute to the Golden Knights for helping heal a city after a gunman killed and injured so many people — just a few hours after the Knights hosted the San Jose Sharks in a preseason game not too far from the music festival’s killing fields.

 

Gallant was then recognized as the league’s best coach before Golden Knights defenseman Deryk Engelland took the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award for his role in helping the Las Vegas community come together post-Oct. 1.

 

Gallant said he understood losing his job in Florida as the Panthers’ head coach was part of doing business in the NHL and there is no redemption in winning the coach of the year with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2018.

 

And after Karlsson, Gallant and Engelland scored league honors, VGK General Manager George McPhee took home the honor for the NHL’s best general manager in 2018.

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The Golden Knights came close to winning the Stanley Cup with their dream season run to the Finals, but did score a four-for-four sweep in the individual honors categories.

 

Taking care of the Stanley Cup is Phil Pritchard, Hockey Hall of Fame vice president for the resource centre and curator in Toronto. Pritchard is a happy-go-lucky fella who said it’s always an adventure when travelling with the famed three-foot-tall, 35-pound Cup through airports.

 

He was on hand with the Cup as players and even Bark-Andre Furry — the Golden Knights’ lucky dog and Jack Russell — walked the red carpet to the awards event.

 

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