The Golden Knights are still the gold standard of expansion teams

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

Due to the success of the Golden Knights, there may be a lot of unrealistic expectations for a new NBA team in Vegas. Taking a step back, the Golden Knights can arguably be considered the most successful expansion franchise in North American men's professional sports history.

While the St. Louis Blues made the Stanley Cup Finals in the first three years of their existence, this was due to a unique setup where one of the "Expansion Six" of Oakland, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Minnesota or St. Louis had to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals as the Finals pitted the winner of the "Expansion Six" playoff versus the winner of the "Original Six" playoff. The Blues lost each of those three Stanley Cup Final series.

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

How does all this success compare to other NHL expansion teams? Well, this is nothing more than a comparison. Since the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in their sixth season, we'll look at the first six seasons of expansion teams since 1991. Since this is Vegas, we'll give each team a ranking of a famous Las Vegas Strip property. Wynn (class of the bunch), 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 franchise in its first six seasons. It was fitting that Vegas defeated Florida to capture their first Stanley Cup as, up to that point, Florida was the most successful expansion team of the modern era, having made the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals in just their third season of existence, but were swept by the Colorado Avalanche.

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

So, it's clear 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? Only five expansion teams in the Big Four history of North American men's professional sports have captured titles in a shorter or longer period of time than the Golden Knights. However, there are some caveats. In 1996, the Baltimore Ravens were technically considered an expansion team because their history and records were left in Cleveland, but they were far from a typical expansion team. While the Browns still had only three players left when the Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV, the base they started with in Baltimore was far better than a typical expansion team.

The same applies to the 1984 Edmonton Oilers championship team. The team came to the NHL from the World Hockey Association for the 1979–80 season with a roster of young stars that rivaled any established NHL team's roster. The team included two of the greatest players in NHL history, a young Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, and gathered a wealth of talent around them.

The Marlins won the World Series in 1997, in only their fifth season of existence. However, they did not record a winning record in any of their first four seasons and then suddenly sold all of their stars shortly after purchasing the championship, losing 108 games the following season.

The Milwaukee Bucks and Arizona Diamondbacks were legitimate expansion teams that won championships faster than the Golden Knights. In fact, the Bucks only have a .672 winning percentage over a team's first six seasons, which is better than Vegas. The Bucks also tallied five playoff appearances and two Finals appearances in Vegas' first six seasons; After winning the championship in its third season in 1971, Milwaukee lost to the Boston Celtics (4–3) in the 1974 NBA Finals.

Another comparison is to look at the first six seasons of the most recent expansion teams in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. We'll use the same hotel ranking system as above.

Arizona winning the 2001 World Series in only their fourth year of existence is certainly notable, but even compared to expansion teams from other leagues, the Golden Knights are still on top. Other than the Golden Knights, no expansion team since 1998 has made more than three playoff appearances in their first six seasons and no other expansion team since 1998 has had a higher win/point percentage in their first six seasons.

The Seattle Kraken were the NHL's next expansion team after Vegas, so how did they stack up? Seattle is currently in its fifth season of play. His winning percentage is .483 with one playoff appearance in his first four seasons. Respectable, but incomparable to Vegas' continued success.

Vegas remains 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 remain a perennial Stanley Cup contender now approaching their tenth season in the NHL. They have been able to accomplish what many have not been able to do, consistently win on the Las Vegas Strip.