Golden Knights Still Gold Standard of Expansion Teams

It seems inevitable that the NBA will eventually award an expansion franchise to Las Vegas. The announcement is expected to come later this year after the NBA completes its new media rights deals.

There might be a lot of unrealistic expectations heaped upon the new NBA team in Vegas because of the success of the Golden Knights. When taking a step back, the Golden Knights can arguably be considered as the most successful expansion franchise in North American men’s professional sports history.

While the St. Louis Blues made the Stanley Cup Final in their first three years of existence, it was because of a unique setup where one of the “Expansion Six” of Oakland, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Minnesota, or St. Louis HAD to make the Stanley Cup Final because the Final pitted the winner of the “Expansion Six” playoffs versus the winner of the “Original Six” playoffs. The Blues were swept in each of those three Stanley Cup Final series.

Of course, the Golden Knights made it to the Stanley Cup Final in a more traditional fashion in 2018, their first season of existence, losing to the Washington Capitals (4-1). They would later win the Stanley Cup in just their sixth season of existence, besting the Florida Panthers (4-2) in the 2023 Stanley Cup Final. They also reached the Western Conference Finals in their third season of existence and have finished as the Division Champion in four of their first eight seasons. Vegas has also made the NHL playoffs in seven of its first eight seasons and seem poised to make the post-season again in 2026.

How does all this success stack up against other NHL expansion teams? Well, it is not much of a comparison. Since the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in their sixth season, we will look at the first six seasons of expansion teams since 1991. Since this is Vegas, we will give each team a ranking of a famous Las Vegas Strip Property. The Wynn (class of the group), Planet Hollywood (surprisingly good), Flamingo (good, but could be better), and Circus Circus (comically bad).

As you can see from the chart, Vegas has the best winning percentage and most playoff appearances of any of the franchises in their first six seasons. It was appropriate that Vegas defeated Florida to capture its first Stanley Cup because up until that point, Florida had been the most successful modern era expansion team, having made it to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final in just their third season of existence, but getting swept by the Colorado Avalanche.

Additionally, if anyone watched those first few seasons of Atlanta, Tampa Bay, San Jose, or Ottawa you know that Circus Circus is an appropriate description because those teams were nothing short of clown shows.

So, it is obvious that the Golden Knights have been the most successful NHL expansion team in the modern era, but how do they stack up against expansion NFL, MLB, and NBA teams? Just five expansion teams in the history of the big four of North American men’s professional sports have captured a title in an equivalent or quicker span as the Golden Knights. However, there are some caveats. In 1996, the Baltimore Ravens were technically considered an expansion team since their history and records were left in Cleveland, but they were far from the ordinary expansion team. While only three players from the Browns still remained when the Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV, the foundation from which they started in Baltimore was far better than that of a typical expansion team.

The same goes for the 1984 Edmonton Oilers championship team. The team came to the NHL from the World Hockey Association for the 1979-80 season with a young nucleus of stars that rivaled any established NHL team’s roster. The team featured two of the greatest players in NHL history, youngsters Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier and assembled a juggernaut of talent around them.

The Marlins won the World Series in 1997 in just their fifth season of existence. However, they never had finished with a winning record in any of their first four seasons and then abruptly sold off all their stars immediately after buying the championship, losing 108 games the very next season.

The Milwaukee Bucks and Arizona Diamondbacks were legitimate expansion teams that won championships quicker than the Golden Knights. In fact, the Bucks winning percentage of .672 is the only one better than Vegas’ over a team’s first six seasons. The Bucks are also equal to Vegas’ five playoff appearances and two Finals appearances in their first six seasons; Milwaukee lost to the Boston Celtics (4-3) in the 1974 NBA Finals after winning the championship in just their third season in 1971.

One other comparison is to look at the first six seasons of the most recent expansion team(s) in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. We will use the same hotel ranking system as above.

Arizona winning the 2001 World Series in just its fourth year of existence is certainly noteworthy, but even pitted up against other leagues’ expansion teams, the Golden Knights still come out on top. Other than the Golden Knights, no expansion team since 1998 has had more than three playoff appearances in its first six seasons and no other expansion team since 1998 has had a higher winning/points percentage in its first six seasons.

The Seattle Kraken were the NHL’s next expansion team after Vegas, so how do they stack up? Seattle is currently in their fifth season of play. Through their first four seasons they have a .483 winning percentage with one playoff appearance. Respectable, but incomparable to Vegas’ continued success.

Vegas continues to be the gold standard by which all other modern expansion teams are measured. Yes, they certainly took advantage of some favorable expansion draft rules and loopholes that previous expansion franchises were not afforded, but they have continued to be a perennial Stanley Cup contender now approaching their tenth season in the NHL. They have been able to accomplish what so many have not been able to do, consistently win on the Las Vegas Strip.