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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
They’re back for Year 7.
And this National Hockey League season is different.
The NHL title and Stanley Cup trophy reside in Las Vegas.
The Golden Knights returned from a summer of celebration, jubilation and many Stanley Cup cameos to the ice rink at City National Arena, the team’s suburban headquarters in Downtown Summerlin 12 miles west of the Strip.
General Manager Kelly McCrimmon met the media at 11:15 AM and players chatted with media after the various training camp sessions.
McCrimmon said NHL playoffs make players better players and expects the Vegas Golden Knights to compete for a second consecutive Stanley Cup.
The team’s captain, Mark Stone, said there’s no time to be complacent after winning the NHL championship in five games over the Florida Panthers. The Knights defeated the Kings, Oilers and Stars on the way to the Cup Final.
The Knights camp has 63 players, including many who will be playing at the Henderson Silver Knights, the VGK’s Triple A feeder team.
Speaking of Henderson, that’s the home town of the Las Vegas Raiders HQ and training center where players stretched and went through drills under cooler temperatures around mid-day today.
The Raiders play their home-opener at Allegiant Stadium after splitting their first two games of the season — a 17-16 win over the Broncos in Denver and a brutal 38-10 loss to the Bills in Buffalo four days ago.
Both the Raiders and Golden Knights have one thing in common — they both sell out their games at sports venues along the Strip entertainment corridor.
Raiders owner Mark Davis also has a doubleheader on Sunday. His Aces play Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals against the Dallas Wings at 2 PM before he follows the Hacienda Avenue bridge above I-15 to Allegiant Stadium for the 5:20 PM Sunday Football Game between the Raiders and Steelers.
Typically after a team wins a league championship, the franchises cashes in bigtime on revenues from everything to ticket sales to merchandise.
The Golden Knights recently sent an email blast to fans advising them, “A limited number of Vegas Golden Knights Full and Partial Season Memberships for the 2023-24 season are still available!”
To cash in the VGK’s beefed-up popularity, the Golden Knights also announced a new streaming service. Fans received in their emails this announcement: “KnightTime+ is the Official Streaming Home of the Vegas Golden Knights and will be available for all in The Realm’s TV territory on your preferred streaming device.”
The VGK say fans can use KnightTime+ early as the 2023 preseason will be available to live stream for free.