Around the NHL: Introducing the Vegas Golden Knights

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The 31st NHL franchise has a name and a look. On Tuesday night, the newest NHL franchise, set to begin play in the 2017-18 season, revealed the identity of the team with the unveiling of the new name and logo.

Welcome the Vegas Golden Knights to the NHL.

The colors featured in the logo are steel grey, gold, red and black and the logo shows a Knight’s helmet with a visible ‘V’ for Vegas. Owner Bill Foley led the reveal.

“I wanted to have a successful name and a successful logo, and we’ve done that,” Foley said. “This logo, it exudes everything I’m proud of and everything I believe in, in terms of creating this team and this culture we’re going to have around this team.”

Some people may wonder why the name is simply Vegas and not the Las Vegas Golden Knights, as represented by the city where they play. Foley explained this decision as well.

“People that live here call themselves Vegas,” Foley said. “‘Where you from? Vegas.’ They don’t say ‘Las Vegas.’ We’re the Las Vegas Golden Knights, that’s four words. We’re the Vegas Golden Knights. That’s three words. That’s the limit.”

The dawn of the Golden Knights marks the first professional sports franchise within the four major sports to call Las Vegas home.

The next step for the franchise will be the expansion draft. Teams must submit their list of protected players by 5 p.m. on June 17, 2017. After the Golden Knights make their selections — at least one player from each of the other 30 teams — they will submit their roster selections by 5 p.m. on June 20 with the official roster announcement coming on June 21.