Las Vegas Future Determined in Montana
By Tim Redinger
The NHL is coming to Las Vegas, but the future of the team will be determined far from the bright lights of sin city – on a ranch in Montana.
Don’t tell anyone planning hockey operations for the new NHL expansion franchise in Las Vegas, but they still have a lot of work to do. Despite all of the work done already to bring hockey to Sin City on paper, there is still a lot of work to be done before a real team can be put together.
First and foremost is the teams name. Not that it is paramount to having a winning hockey team. Foley has said the he will not have a name the team contest. We won’t know for certain what the team will be called and what the sweaters will look like until October, as the team plans to reveal it on season ticket holder day, but are we really going to have to drag it out that far?
Foley has said on multiple occasions that he is an alum of West Point, and that he loves the Black Knights mascot. Since he is the one signing the checks and making the decisions – why make us wait any longer?
Foley isn’t making all of the decisions, he has some hockey minds pulling the strings behind the scenes, but Foley will have to decide on a general manager soon, as they will need to start evaluating rosters of the other 30 NHL franchises, and creating a board of players that can be selected in the NHL Expansion draft.
Having a good general manager is key to setting up for success. Gary Bettman has already said the Las Vegas expansion team will need to be competitive right away, and expansion draft rules are in place to make it so. Foley is going to want to have a general manager in place soon that is going to make the best team from the players not protected in the draft.
His plan is to put together a list of four or five candidates and then start the interview process.