The Golden Knights aren’t the Lakers of the NHL; they’re a recent expansion team that was very successful immediately, going to the Stanley Cup finals in their first season (though they lost there). This was a result of effectively taking advantage of a more generous expansion draft (where they take players from other teams to form their team) than previous new teams had, particularly from:
Questionable decision making by the Florida Panthers that got them a number of good players cheap;
Picking up Marc-Andre Fleury, a Hall of Fame goaltender from Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh was committed to a younger goaltender that had been more consistent in the recent playoffs).
A number of deals with teams where they managed to get draft picks for picking players that were less important to the team they were on (such as players at positions where the original team already had too many good players) but were probably better picks anyway due to cost-effectiveness.
Initially, there was a mix of support of the Golden Knights as a Cinderella story and various bits of grumbling. Perceived favoritism (real or imagined) by the referees or the NHL ownership (who are often accused of backing southern teams excessively in an effort to grow the game) and irritation over a large # of things being declared « for the first time in Vegas Golden Knights History » to the point the latter became a meme were prominent. But there was still a fair amount of positive feeling, and this level of hate wasn’t there; it developed over the next few years.
As for why
Some of it is inevitably their continued success. It’s sports; underdogs become overdogs over time, and become disliked. Las Vegas stopped being an underdog after their first season and has been a perennial favorite to compete for the Stanley Cup.
Most of the « underdog » players from the first Stanley Cup run are gone, and the team has been big spenders in free agency and trades. One example is this year getting Jack Eichel, Buffalo’s best player, after he refused to play for Buffalo and demanded surgery (that Buffalo wouldn’t give him) and a trade to a competitor.
They’ve handled player relationships poorly – Marc Andre-Fleury, who they made the face of their franchise (since he is well-liked and the best player they got in the expansion draft) found out he was traded from twitter, for example.
Their original coach was fired, and the newer coach is less well-liked in general.
They were perceived as « cheating » the Salary Cap. As the Salary Cap does not apply to the playoffs, if you can get to the playoffs with some good, expensive players on certain kinds of Injured Reserve (IR) that don’t count towards the Cap, then take them off (IR) once the playoff starts you’re effectively using the IR to circumvent the Salary Cap. Tampa Bay did this last year (causing some discussion about how and whether to close this loophole), and while Las Vegas has had significant real injury problems, if they made the playoffs they would have activated multiple players and gone significantly above the salary cap.
Sports hate isn’t particularly logical in general, but things like 2-5 create a sort of schadenfreude in fans of other teams when the team fails – a « you did this slightly underhanded thing for short term success and it didn’t even work » that creates a pile-on like has happened with Vegas. (Similarly, Buffalo fans feel schadenfreude that Eichel forced his way out of town and then missed the playoffs anyway). »
KeyserSoze_atlarge
Because vegas is not a hockey city. It’s Gary bettmans pet and he handed them not only a franchise but a Stanley Cup as well.
The hate is really for bettman the weasel fuck.
tour79
I don’t hate them. I don’t hate any hockey team, so I’m a bad person to ask. When they beat my team (Avs) it steams me, especially when Reaves gooned it up and talked smack
But I like all hockey and fans, they’re a hell of a team. It’s unfair to the other recent expansion teams that they got an easier road, but isn’t this better? It’s hard enough to add a new team, in a non traditional market. Sucking for 20 years May not be the best answer, even if it is just given the last few expansion teams
931634
You must be new …
Rarecandy31
It’s mostly jealousy.
Kooky-Seesaw9890
Lets just not forget that this team is in the desert, even tho players seems to enjoy themselves there this doesn’t mean their success is gonna last forever.
wjpd236
Their social media team is obnoxious
s0ciety_a5under
They were created and are successful. That is all.
GrandpaMofo
No clue as they are a good team.
ThaEaglezWingz69
Because I am a Coyotes fan lol
Reallyme77
Jealousy
stinnybaldhead
The Vancouver Canucks were founded in 1949? And brought into the NHL as an expansion team in 1970. Vancouver is an area where people love the sport, their kids play hockey, and it binds people. Pick up games are played on lakes and ponds. They’re romantic about it. They have 0 Stanley Cups. The Vegas Golden Knights were founded in 2017 in a city where no one is from, and it is too hot and dry to have any natural lakes and ponds. They have 1 Stanley Cup already. In sports you’re supposed to pay your dues, many feel they did not. That’s kind of the gist of it.
jake-sucks-at-reddit
Facts
TheCatEmpire2
The Florida Panthers are a talented team that Bill Zito helped build quickly past few seasons. Still weren’t good enough to beat a Vegas team that Dale Tallon, former GM in Zito’s position, helped make so good at hockey. Horrible reminder of past mistakes and still preventing our first organization cup after 30 years of poor-mediocre play despite a red hot goalie in the playoffs
bigwreck94
I didn’t really dislike them until they shat on Marc Andre Fleury.
I also found them to be a pretty chippy team in the playoffs this year.
beardedunicornman
It’s funny that people hate them for being too well run and not because their owner is an arms dealer.
mumbojombo
Don’t ask questions.
Just let the hate flow through you.
OldGrinchyclaus
Please.. Hate us.. Don’t come here.. Vegas is closed!!
alexgetty
Because their fans didn’t suffer. Stupidest thing in the world. Also, if the Knights picked up a player in the expansion draft that their team left unprotected, they’re even more butthurt.
PharoahNATO
MARSCHIZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Loyal-to-Earth
I don’t hate them: I wish my team was a team of giants 🙂
Their SC goalie is 6’6 for Pete’s sake!
Also, Marchessault is a beauty 😍
JasonEAltMTG
Vegas is the Chris Pratt of hockey teams
gfunkrider78
They have some really entitled and shitty fans. Nothing against the team.
poodletown
Las Vegas has the opposite situation as the Leafs. No history and a surplus of color photographs of a Stanley Cup victory.
hockeynoticehockey
Nobody likes to see the new guy succeed. They, like most expansion teams, were supposed to suck.
And, they all look too happy playing there.
NY-Black-Dragon
I think it’s the fact that they’ve had so much success in such a short amount of time, while most fanbases have had to suffer with mediocrity for decades.
contitego
Current Vegas fans can die in peace. The team won a cup. Some of that hatred is from long-suffering fans.
The other complaint I’ve heard is Vegas used the salary cap to their advantage.
jimhabfan
Bettman bent over backwards to make sure the Vegas franchise was successful. It was his chance to establish a deep fan base in the city before any of the other big 4 sports landed a franchise there.
To that extent, Vegas gets every video review called their way, to the point of changing the literal interpretation of the rules in order to make sure the call goes Vegas’s way. The last expansion draft, they were the only team that didn’t have to give up a player. They go full games, sometimes 3 or 4 in a row, without having to kill a penalty. Every team in the league has been screwed over by a bogus call on the ice, or a video review, that went Vegas’s way, at least once.
Other teams in the league have struggled for years to win a Stanley cup, and Bettman basically gift wrapped one and gave it to them. Fuck the Golden Knights.
SovietCanuckistan420
People don’t like that the won a cup so quickly. Other expansion teams in recent memory took much longer. Tampa took 12 seasons and Anaheim took 14.
Some fans also see Vegas as a symbol of the late Bettman era, which is all about prioritizing non-traditional hockey markets.
Unhappy_Quarter154
Teams who suffered in the basement for years with no help watched as Vegas was served a great team on a silver platter.
Fans/org doesn’t know what struggle is
Zealousideal-Beat784
Something something terrible fanbase something something cap circumvention something something letting Marc Andre Fleury go without telling him
Ubigo
Mainly because Piet is a piece of shit
the_trump
Of course it’s jealousy. I’ve suffered by whole life watching the Sabres either completely suck or blow it right at the end. Only to see Vegas come in and their fans get a Cup basically right away. They didn’t even know hockey 6 years ago and now they’re wearing Stanley Cup championship shirts. So yeah. That’s why. And fuck Jack Eichel too.
BillyJackFaceKick69
The first team the rostered was a combo of genius and luck, and their master plan came together beautifully, with every player buying in 100%.
And every loser fan of every loser org got pissed Vegas Management was smarter than the losers they’d been making excuses for, for years.
BillyJackFaceKick69
Vegas will always be a hero for keeping the Stanley Cup in America for another year, where it belongs.
Chewie_i
People are salty they won so early because I guess we need to make teams suffer for some arbitrary amount of time before it’s okay for them to win because somehow that makes sense? It’s a truly mind-boggling mentality.
43 Comments
Gift wrapped Cup. That’s why.
Whats the worst that could happen if you ask though? Hockey fans are supportive of their community so don’t be afraid. Just ask.
They didn’t suffer losing for most of the last 30+ years. That’s all it is.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/udt4r1/whats_up_with_the_hate_for_the_las_vegas_golden/](https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/udt4r1/whats_up_with_the_hate_for_the_las_vegas_golden/)
« Answer:
The Golden Knights aren’t the Lakers of the NHL; they’re a recent expansion team that was very successful immediately, going to the Stanley Cup finals in their first season (though they lost there). This was a result of effectively taking advantage of a more generous expansion draft (where they take players from other teams to form their team) than previous new teams had, particularly from:
Questionable decision making by the Florida Panthers that got them a number of good players cheap;
Picking up Marc-Andre Fleury, a Hall of Fame goaltender from Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh was committed to a younger goaltender that had been more consistent in the recent playoffs).
A number of deals with teams where they managed to get draft picks for picking players that were less important to the team they were on (such as players at positions where the original team already had too many good players) but were probably better picks anyway due to cost-effectiveness.
Initially, there was a mix of support of the Golden Knights as a Cinderella story and various bits of grumbling. Perceived favoritism (real or imagined) by the referees or the NHL ownership (who are often accused of backing southern teams excessively in an effort to grow the game) and irritation over a large # of things being declared « for the first time in Vegas Golden Knights History » to the point the latter became a meme were prominent. But there was still a fair amount of positive feeling, and this level of hate wasn’t there; it developed over the next few years.
As for why
Some of it is inevitably their continued success. It’s sports; underdogs become overdogs over time, and become disliked. Las Vegas stopped being an underdog after their first season and has been a perennial favorite to compete for the Stanley Cup.
Most of the « underdog » players from the first Stanley Cup run are gone, and the team has been big spenders in free agency and trades. One example is this year getting Jack Eichel, Buffalo’s best player, after he refused to play for Buffalo and demanded surgery (that Buffalo wouldn’t give him) and a trade to a competitor.
They’ve handled player relationships poorly – Marc Andre-Fleury, who they made the face of their franchise (since he is well-liked and the best player they got in the expansion draft) found out he was traded from twitter, for example.
Their original coach was fired, and the newer coach is less well-liked in general.
They were perceived as « cheating » the Salary Cap. As the Salary Cap does not apply to the playoffs, if you can get to the playoffs with some good, expensive players on certain kinds of Injured Reserve (IR) that don’t count towards the Cap, then take them off (IR) once the playoff starts you’re effectively using the IR to circumvent the Salary Cap. Tampa Bay did this last year (causing some discussion about how and whether to close this loophole), and while Las Vegas has had significant real injury problems, if they made the playoffs they would have activated multiple players and gone significantly above the salary cap.
Sports hate isn’t particularly logical in general, but things like 2-5 create a sort of schadenfreude in fans of other teams when the team fails – a « you did this slightly underhanded thing for short term success and it didn’t even work » that creates a pile-on like has happened with Vegas. (Similarly, Buffalo fans feel schadenfreude that Eichel forced his way out of town and then missed the playoffs anyway). »
Because vegas is not a hockey city. It’s Gary bettmans pet and he handed them not only a franchise but a Stanley Cup as well.
The hate is really for bettman the weasel fuck.
I don’t hate them. I don’t hate any hockey team, so I’m a bad person to ask. When they beat my team (Avs) it steams me, especially when Reaves gooned it up and talked smack
But I like all hockey and fans, they’re a hell of a team. It’s unfair to the other recent expansion teams that they got an easier road, but isn’t this better? It’s hard enough to add a new team, in a non traditional market. Sucking for 20 years May not be the best answer, even if it is just given the last few expansion teams
You must be new …
It’s mostly jealousy.
Lets just not forget that this team is in the desert, even tho players seems to enjoy themselves there this doesn’t mean their success is gonna last forever.
Their social media team is obnoxious
They were created and are successful. That is all.
No clue as they are a good team.
Because I am a Coyotes fan lol
Jealousy
The Vancouver Canucks were founded in 1949? And brought into the NHL as an expansion team in 1970. Vancouver is an area where people love the sport, their kids play hockey, and it binds people. Pick up games are played on lakes and ponds. They’re romantic about it. They have 0 Stanley Cups. The Vegas Golden Knights were founded in 2017 in a city where no one is from, and it is too hot and dry to have any natural lakes and ponds. They have 1 Stanley Cup already. In sports you’re supposed to pay your dues, many feel they did not. That’s kind of the gist of it.
Facts
The Florida Panthers are a talented team that Bill Zito helped build quickly past few seasons. Still weren’t good enough to beat a Vegas team that Dale Tallon, former GM in Zito’s position, helped make so good at hockey. Horrible reminder of past mistakes and still preventing our first organization cup after 30 years of poor-mediocre play despite a red hot goalie in the playoffs
I didn’t really dislike them until they shat on Marc Andre Fleury.
I also found them to be a pretty chippy team in the playoffs this year.
It’s funny that people hate them for being too well run and not because their owner is an arms dealer.
Don’t ask questions.
Just let the hate flow through you.
Please.. Hate us.. Don’t come here.. Vegas is closed!!
Because their fans didn’t suffer. Stupidest thing in the world. Also, if the Knights picked up a player in the expansion draft that their team left unprotected, they’re even more butthurt.
MARSCHIZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I don’t hate them: I wish my team was a team of giants 🙂
Their SC goalie is 6’6 for Pete’s sake!
Also, Marchessault is a beauty 😍
Vegas is the Chris Pratt of hockey teams
They have some really entitled and shitty fans. Nothing against the team.
Las Vegas has the opposite situation as the Leafs. No history and a surplus of color photographs of a Stanley Cup victory.
Nobody likes to see the new guy succeed. They, like most expansion teams, were supposed to suck.
And, they all look too happy playing there.
I think it’s the fact that they’ve had so much success in such a short amount of time, while most fanbases have had to suffer with mediocrity for decades.
Current Vegas fans can die in peace. The team won a cup. Some of that hatred is from long-suffering fans.
The other complaint I’ve heard is Vegas used the salary cap to their advantage.
Bettman bent over backwards to make sure the Vegas franchise was successful. It was his chance to establish a deep fan base in the city before any of the other big 4 sports landed a franchise there.
To that extent, Vegas gets every video review called their way, to the point of changing the literal interpretation of the rules in order to make sure the call goes Vegas’s way. The last expansion draft, they were the only team that didn’t have to give up a player. They go full games, sometimes 3 or 4 in a row, without having to kill a penalty. Every team in the league has been screwed over by a bogus call on the ice, or a video review, that went Vegas’s way, at least once.
Other teams in the league have struggled for years to win a Stanley cup, and Bettman basically gift wrapped one and gave it to them. Fuck the Golden Knights.
People don’t like that the won a cup so quickly. Other expansion teams in recent memory took much longer. Tampa took 12 seasons and Anaheim took 14.
Some fans also see Vegas as a symbol of the late Bettman era, which is all about prioritizing non-traditional hockey markets.
Teams who suffered in the basement for years with no help watched as Vegas was served a great team on a silver platter.
Fans/org doesn’t know what struggle is
Something something terrible fanbase something something cap circumvention something something letting Marc Andre Fleury go without telling him
Mainly because Piet is a piece of shit
Of course it’s jealousy. I’ve suffered by whole life watching the Sabres either completely suck or blow it right at the end. Only to see Vegas come in and their fans get a Cup basically right away. They didn’t even know hockey 6 years ago and now they’re wearing Stanley Cup championship shirts. So yeah. That’s why. And fuck Jack Eichel too.
The first team the rostered was a combo of genius and luck, and their master plan came together beautifully, with every player buying in 100%.
And every loser fan of every loser org got pissed Vegas Management was smarter than the losers they’d been making excuses for, for years.
Vegas will always be a hero for keeping the Stanley Cup in America for another year, where it belongs.
People are salty they won so early because I guess we need to make teams suffer for some arbitrary amount of time before it’s okay for them to win because somehow that makes sense? It’s a truly mind-boggling mentality.
Jealousy
It’s simple. Goofy name, goofy colours, awful uniforms
Gold team bad.
Gold team cheat.
Gold team TOO GOLD.
no. they did everything right and for that I hate them.