All Eyes on Las Vegas

Yesterday, the city of Las Vegas was the location for the NHL Awards ceremony. However, it was also the location that the NHL announced in a unanimous vote for the 31st team to play in the NHL starting in the 2017-18 season. Because this post will be all about Vegas, the expansion and Awards will be covered in one shot.

First, the expansion, and what it all means. Because of the unanimous vote, Las Vegas will have a team, and Bill Foley will be principal owner once that team gets rolling. As for arena, the T-Mobile Arena was opened two months ago with a team in mind, be it NHL or NBA, so arena is not an issue. The NHL paved the way for this expansion with a fair amount of preparation, right down to how they were going to plan the expansion draft, which will be explained at a later date. For now, the NHL doesn't plan on making immediate expansion to 32 teams, but will have Quebec City in mind. The hang-ups there? A weak Canadian Dollar, which was last seen at 78 cents to the American dollar, and geographic imbalance, as Quebec would have to kick an existing Eastern Conference team to the West, something that Las Vegas doesn't have to worry about, since they will play in the Pacific Division. The NHL did their homework before handing an expansion franchise to Las Vegas, but we'll see how it works long-term, as their nearest future rival Arizona has had a history of trouble bringing in fans.

The other business in Las Vegas? The annual Awards ceremony, which saw Patrick Kane take home the Hart, Ted Lindsay, and Art Ross trophies as the MVP as voted by the media, MVP as voted by the players, and most points, respectively. Blackhawks teammate Artemi Panarin took home the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year while Washington won big with Braden Holtby winning the Vezina as the goaltender of the year and Barry Trotz winning the Jack Adams as coach of the year. Los Angeles took home some hardware, too, as Anze Kopitar took home the Selke as the defensive forward of the year and the Lady Byng as the most gentlemanly player while Drew Doughty finally got his due recognition as defenseman of the year, winning his first Norris Trophy. The Bill Masterton Trophy for perseverance went to Jaromir Jagr, the General Manager of the Year was awarded to Jim Rutherford, the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award went to Shea Weber, the King Clancy Trophy went to Henrik Sedin, and the NHL Foundation Player Award went to Mark Giordano.