Vegas Golden Knights experiencing real turmoil for first time

For the first time in franchise history the Vegas Golden Knights are experiencing what is the norm for the other 30 NHL franchises.

It has been plain sailing for the Vegas Golden Knights since they entered the National Hockey League, scaling the heady heights of making the postseason in two consecutive years, including a stunning run to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural year.

Coupled with their success on the ice has been unprecedented prosperity off it, including a consistently packed T-Mobile Arena and dominance in TV ratings.

All in all, the Golden Knights have laid the blueprint when it comes to how to build an expansion franchise on and off the ice.

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However, the honeymoon period is officially over and Vegas is now going through what franchises throughout all of the major sports go through.

Adversity.

I’m a New York Rangers fan and have been for a long time, so I’m well adversed to be dragged through the ringer by my team and not be happy with certain decisions.

That is the same for all sports fans.

And now those loyal fans who have pledged their allegiance to the Vegas Golden Knights are getting used to what life is really like as a diehard sports fan.

It isn’t all fluffy clouds and marshmallows and seasons laden with success, in-fact more often than not you are left frustrated and seriously underwhelmed by the performance of your team.

It is panning out that way this year with the Golden Knights punching well below their weight, holding a disappointing 25-20-7 record with a third consecutive trip to the postseason anything but guaranteed.

Then, to compound the misery further, the Vegas fanbase was left outraged when the front office decided to pull the trigger on canning Head Coach Gerard Gallant and bringing in Peter DeBoer, who was of course the leader of those loathed San Jose Sharks.

Gallant was very much the face of this franchise for all the success he helped to orchestrate, and he will be forever woven into the tapestry of the Vegas Golden Knights.

So, when Gallant lost his job it felt personal to so many fans and led a large portion to question General Manager Kelly McCrimmon and the rest of the front office for the very first time.

Of course, there was faint whispers back in the summer when a number of valuable depth players were traded or allowed to walk in free agency, but the decision to fire Gallant really let off a bomb among the Vegas fans.

As such, the spotlight is really on now and another early postseason exit or, god forbid, a failure to even make the playoffs, will spark outrage among Knights fans and lead to uncomfortable discussions about the front office and coaching staff.

For those fans who support franchises that have been around a lot longer than most of us, this is par for the course and just part of sporting fandom.

However, this is a new concept for hockey fans in the desert but one thing we know for certain is that they will stick with the Vegas Golden Knights as they weather their first storm as a franchise.

But get used to it because this is what it is really like to support a team. Through thick and thin as they say.