The Vegas Golden Knights are about to hit that wall that all expansion teams do. However, Vegas never experienced what it was like to be a bad team in the expansion era.
(Photo Credit: Ken Boehlke, SinBin.vegas) Every Golden Knights fan who attended the Winter Classic in Seattle, and even those who watched on TV back at home, probably had the same thought as they took in the scenes of the Pacific Northwest.
It happens at the start of every NHL season. You tune into the first hockey tilt in months and are almost instantly thrown for a loop when you remember a few key players are sporting different sweaters.
On June 28, 1907, catcher Branch Rickey allowed 13 stolen bases in one game. Fortunately, he fared much better as a Major League Baseball general manager.
One team is in its first year of existence, the other has been a perpetual disappointment in the postseason. The Vegas Golden Knights have a chance to make sports history, and the Washington Capitals have a chance to finally and fully shed the label of playoff chokers.
Hockey fandom was in an unusual frenzy for a Sunday in mid-June thanks to teams unveiling their lists of protected players ahead of the expansion draft.