Welcome to Vegas Golden Knights 3.0.

At the risk of sounding too dramatic, the upcoming NHL season feels like the dawn of a new era for Las Vegas’ most locally popular professional sports team. 

The Golden Knights’ 2017-2018 expansion season will forever stand alone in franchise lore for the way a hastily assembled roster of discarded and disparate parts defied all expectations by reaching the Stanley Cup Final.

The immediate triumph and the ensuing push for more ushered in a cutthroat mentality that’s come to define the franchise—at least as it pertains to personnel matters. Team owner Bill Foley’s day one vow, “Cup in Six,” might have hinted at the ethos, but the upgrade-at-any-cost approach was applied more aggressively than anyone could have ever imagined.

And though some may foolishly continue to argue otherwise, it worked. Hoisting the Stanley Cup at the conclusion of the 2022-2023 season validated a half-decade worth of controversial moves employed by president of hockey operations George McPhee and general manager Kelly McCrimmon.

And they pulled most of them off so deftly that the Golden Knights got a rare bonus last season—a postscript with more or less the same championship roster.

But after a hard-fought, seven-game series loss to the Dallas Stars at the start of the playoffs in April, the bill became due, and a few extra charges were tacked on to make the total more prohibitive.

Like many championship teams before it, Vegas became a victim of its own success with no route to retain its full core under the NHL’s salary cap rules. The Golden Knights bled beloved talent this offseason, with Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Marchessault (who signed with the Nashville Predators in free agency) the Strip marquee-worthy headliner.

The additional departures of champions like Chandler Stephenson (signed with Seattle), William Carrier (signed with Carolina), Alec Martinez (signed with Chicago), Logan Thompson (traded to Washington) and Paul Cotter (traded to New Jersey) only intensified the sting.

But most of their departures were inevitable, especially with the way Vegas attacked the trade deadline the last two years and attached themselves long-term to prized acquisitions like Ivan Barbashev, Tomas Hertl and Noah Hanifin.

The count of “Golden Misfits” left from the inaugural team are slashed in half from last year, down to three—William Karlsson, Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore. (Zach Whitecloud also appeared in one game the first year.)

That’s cause for a lot of fans to fret, but that urge should be fought. Just listen to the pillars still left on the roster who admit to missing their swath of departed teammates but are invigorated by the “youthful energy,” in the words of captain Mark Stone, of all the newcomers. 

“You’re used to what you’re used to, but the new normal is what we have in this locker room,” Stone said. “I couldn’t be more excited with what we have right now.”

Three holdovers from seven seasons ago isn’t all that out of ordinary for any NHL team. The same is true for having 14 returners from two seasons ago. It might be vicious, but this is the usual cycle of the league.

The joy comes in the unknown.

It’s not like the first set of players arrived in Las Vegas pre-christened “Golden Misfits.” It took career years from players like Marchessault and Karlsson to earn the moniker and grow into it.

Golden Knights’ fans should particularly treasure still having Karlsson around, and the fact that he might be shouldering the most responsibility he’s had since the magical initial run. The perennial Selke Trophy candidate will likely be bumped up to the second line where he could form a dynamic duo with Stone.

The Sweden native is enjoying the vibes in the rebuilt locker room considering the two highest-profile new forwards are fellow countrymen—wingers Victor Olofsson and Alexander Holtz.

The 29-year-old Olofsson, signed after six seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, is coming off a down year but is still in his prime and could benefit from linking back up with former teammate Jack Eichel.

Devils’ fans bemoaned losing Holtz, a 22-year-old former No. 7 overall draft pick, as part of the Cotter trade. Holtz may not have put it all together yet in his NHL career, but he has a rousing scoring touch and has talked openly about his desire to improve the rest of his game.

Ditto for Pavel Dorofeyev, who thrilled as a rookie for the Golden Knights last year and now will have the opportunity to take the next step as a rare homegrown talent for the franchise. 

Maybe a new generation of skaters will overachieve and put Vegas in position for another playoff run. Perhaps the trio of Swedes proves a sweet combination.

The games may not feel as familiar, but that’s no reason to fuss. The Golden Knights still have the pieces to compete, and seeing how the team puts them all together will make for a fascinating start to a new age for the organization.

“There are going to be some great opportunities in our lineup this year and someone is going to benefit from that,” McCrimmon said. “It’s a two-fold process. There has to be opportunity, but then who is going to step up and take those opportunities?”

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