Golden Knights have become NHL's biggest villains

Most stories need some sort of a villain, and sports always produces its share of them. There are always teams (and players) that people love to hate, whether due to their success, the way they conduct themselves or a combination of the two. 

In the NHL, the Vegas Golden Knights are the current villain, and there might not be a close second at this point.

Nobody seems happy with them.

Vegas Golden Knights are not making many friends around the NHL

As is the case with most sports villains, winning has a lot to do with it.

Sports fans hate the team that wins all the time, and jealousy definitely plays a role in that. That is especially true with Vegas, given that the team has been an immediate success from the moment it arrived in the NHL.

There were no organizational growing pains.

There was no losing.

Their fans have never had to watch a bad team for any extended period of time. 

Vegas reached the Stanley Cup Final in its debut season, and now, in Year 9, has made the playoffs eight times. This is its fifth trip to the conference finals, and it is just four wins away from reaching a third Stanley Cup Final.

The Golden Knights have already won the Cup one time, having done so during the 2022-23 season in just their sixth year of existence. 

The only non-playoff season in franchise history came during the 2021-22 season, when they still finished with 94 points. That number is usually good enough to earn a playoff spot in most years. That is a "bad" year for Golden Knights fans.

But it's not just the constant and immediate winning.

 It's also the way Vegas conducts itself and the way it operates.

The Golden Knights are, by far, the most ruthless organization in the NHL. They will cut anybody, fire anybody, trade anybody and do so in a manner that completely disregards everything beyond the bottom line of winning and losing. 

That is not necessarily a bad thing. Winning is the ultimate goal, and loyalty can sometimes get in the way of that.

But this team fired Gerard Gallant in Year 3 following an unprecedented run of expansion success. It fired Bruce Cassidy earlier this season, just two-and-a-half years removed from a Stanley Cup win and three consecutive playoff appearances. 

He was replaced by John Tortorella on an interim basis, a series of moves that have only added to the frustration around the organization.

Tortorella, in his typical love-hate relationship with the media, got the organization in hot water when he and the team bailed on media availability following their second-round win against the Anaheim Ducks, costing him $100,000 and the team a second-round draft pick. 

That followed controversy earlier this season when the Golden Knights revoked credentials for reporters and refused to answer questions regarding the controversial signing of current starting goalie Carter Hart. Hart was one of five players involved in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial, and is currently the only one of the five to return to the NHL.  

Taking the chance on Hart was controversial enough. Not being willing to discuss it and shutting down any questioning of it only added to the controversy.

Meanwhile, the Golden Knights have angered the NHL's Coaches' Association by not allowing Cassidy to interview for head-coaching jobs after they relieved him of his duties earlier this season.