No lowered expectations for Golden Knights in Year 6

By Danny Webster

Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022 | 2 a.m.

Before the Golden Knights played their first-ever game back in 2017, owner Bill Foley laid out a roadmap for the fledgling NHL team: Make the playoffs within three years and win the Stanley Cup within six years.

Welcome to Year 6, where the expectations have reached their apex.

“This is our most talented team,” Foley said. “This team has potential to go all the way. We just have to not get hurt, get in the playoffs and drive through the playoffs. But this is a really good team.”

The Sun met recently with Foley at his Fidelity National Financial office in Summerlin, where he discussed a new era for the Golden Knights, his confidence level in the front office, goalie Robin Lehner and his purchase of Premier League soccer club AFC Bournemouth.

After missing the playoffs for the first time last year, what kind of reflecting did you do? Obviously, not the result you wanted, but how did you approach this summer?

So many injuries. There’s a thousand reasons why, but there is no excuse. We had our destiny in our hands at the end of the season, and I feel like we didn’t perform well at the end of the season when we had a chance to be in the playoffs and get (the Los Angeles Kings’) position.

We lost to Dallas; we lost to the Blackhawks in OT. We just didn’t get the points we needed to get. So I was really disappointed, but as the summer went on, I realized the guys have been buried every summer for the first four years. They’d been going deep into the playoffs every year, except Year 2.

If you think about it, if you’re playing an extra 18 games just to get to the conference finals, that’s a lot. So the guys are tired. Now this summer, they’ve had time off to get in shape, to reflect, to get better.

In retrospect, I think it’s OK. I think we’ll be a better team this year. We’ll be rested, guys are healthy. Got a couple of people on LTIR (long-term injured reserve), but we sort of expected to be.

Lehner, first he had labrum surgery and now two hip surgeries. He had the first one, he’s rehabbing; the second I don’t think he’s had yet. We kind of knew where we were at.

My goal for the team this summer was, let’s get our guys signed. Make sure we keep this core group we have. That’s Reilly Smith, (Brayden McNabb), (Nic Hague), (Zach) Whitecloud. We re-signed (Ben) Hutton to an extension, (Keegan) Kolesar, (Jake) Leschyshyn. So we got all these guys signed up, and we did it within the cap.

All the people who we might get offer (sheets) on them, we didn’t because we had enough cap space through LTIR. We got them signed, and I feel good about the team. We’re cap compliant, and we have $16 in space (laughs).

You said after the season that you wanted to be more involved with personnel decisions and navigating the direction of the team. How involved were you in getting coach Bruce (Cassidy) hired and with the roster decisions?

I was in on it completely. I was in on the coaching change that we felt was necessary. There’s agreements among (myself, president of hockey operations George McPhee and general manager Kelly McCrimmon). We agreed on the way we wanted to go, and we actually thought Bruce Cassidy, based upon something that (Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney) said, that he might be available.

We were kind of hanging around to see if he was available, and I’m really pleased that we got him. And I’m pleased we got the balance in our coaching staff with (assistant coach John) Stevens and (goalie coach Sean Burke). He’s a really good goalie coach. We stepped way up in all those positions.

We had great coaching. Turk (Gerard Gallant) is a great coach. He’s a great motivator, got everyone playing hard that first year and into the second year. Pete DeBoer, very analytical, technical and he did a good job. We just felt the fit for us was someone right in the middle. He holds people accountable, likes the analytics, but he also motivates, and I believe we have that with Bruce Cassidy.

We’re coming up on Year 6 for a team that’s been competitive from the beginning, and we’re talking about the third head coach in franchise history. Is there added pressure, given your Cup-in-six prediction?

I don’t think there’s more pressure. I don’t feel pressure. What we’re trying to do, what George, Kelly and I are trying to do, we’re trying to put together a team that wins. We feel like we have that.

What is your confidence level with McPhee and McCrimmon?

Really high. We’re a team. I’m 100% in with them and with Bruce. I didn’t get involved in this team to just be another team that goes along like a typical expansion team, winning 24 games in their first season, then win 30 the next season, make the playoffs in six or seven years.

We’ve been all-in from Day 1. I know a lot of fans are saying, “Gee, you’ve made so many changes.” It was all done with the design to win. That’s what we’re doing. George and Kelly are right there with me. I believe we’ve put together a solid group of solid core players.

One of the guys who is not here anymore is Max Pacioretty. It was the second year in a row the franchise moved on from a player with a sizable cap hit — $7 million for Pacioretty — who made a fair contribution to this team. What are your thoughts on that?

It really was cap-related. We were stuck. If we wanted any chance to sign these other guys — Reilly Smith in particular — if we hadn’t moved on from Max, Reilly Smith wouldn’t be here. Nic Roy might not have been here.

We made a tough choice to go in a different direction from Patch. He’s a great guy. I like him, but it was a choice that had to be made. I was involved in that decision. It wasn’t just George and Kelly.

I didn’t want to give up on (Marc-André Fleury), either. I really insisted in that shortened year that we keep him, even though we were in cap hell.

The next year, we just didn’t have $12 million to put into goalies. The same thing was true with Patch. We just didn’t have that $7 million. It would’ve cost us a few guys — maybe three. It was a tough hockey decision, but it had to be made.

How is Lehner’s rehab progress going? Have you talked to him?

I haven’t talked to him lately. He’s had a tough summer, having labrum surgery and double hip surgery. I hope he comes back. I hope he gets better. These are really serious surgeries. I don’t know if he’s going to be back or not.

Injuries as a whole played a part in how things turned out last season.

No other team had those injuries and made the playoffs last year. Montreal had a bunch of injuries but didn’t come close.

A lot of writers said, “Well, Mark Stone isn’t hurt.” Believe me, he was hurt all year. Kept on trying to come back, but he’s had a back operation and he’s good now.

Patch was hurt; he had a broken hand, a broken foot, a groin problem.

Reilly Smith at the end of the year, his knee gets fouled up, then he’s working out and drops a weight on his hand, so he breaks his hand.

You go down the whole list … (William) Karlsson broke a bone in his foot. If you don’t have any continuity on your lines, it’s trouble.

What does that say about the depth McCrimmon and McPhee have put on this roster?

We have good depth now. Paul Cotter has begun to perform. He’s a very good player, a heavy player, a big, solid guy. That’s a guy from the AHL who has come up and taken a role, which is fantastic.

Logan Thompson, he’s filling a gigantic role. These are guys who have had their contracts renewed for several years. When you start talking about cap issues, we’ve got a couple of really important guys who are inexpensive for us for the next three years, which is what you want.

We’ve got to balance the Stone salary, the (Jack) Eichel salary, the (Alex) Pietrangelo salary. We need some guys that are not making quite so much to keep us cap compliant. But if the cap goes up like the commissioner said he believes it might, it’s great for us.

What does that do for you, if what Commissioner Gary Bettman said about the salary cap possibly rising $4.5 million next summer is true?

We’ll spend to the cap. We’ll bring in a couple more players at key positions. A lot of teams are trying to spend to the minimum. We’re trying to spend to the maximum. We go for it every year.

If there was something to add, what areas do you think would need to be addressed?

Maybe on the forward side. Our defense is great, our centermen are great. Maybe we could use a little more experience in the forward spots, but that’s it. Or we just bring in a couple of depth players, maybe who are waiver exempt who can play in the AHL while we wait to bring them up because someone gets hurt.

They come up and fill a spot. That’s what we’ll be looking for next year.

And finally we’ll have a first-round pick, so our amateur scouts will have something legitimate to do (laughs). And our pro scouts, when we have cap space, they’ll be searching the world for the right adds.

Unless a trade comes around, right?

Unless a trade comes around.

Do you anticipate that being a possibility or is that too far down the line?

I think we’re good this year. I believe we’re in good shape. I don’t see a trade happening. Something may happen at the trade deadline where someone becomes available that’s interesting that we do something, but right now I like where we are, and I know George and Kelly do too.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask about your purchase of Premier League club AFC Bournemouth. How is that process coming along?

Going good. We signed our purchase agreement, so we’re done with that. The owners agreed to sell to us, we’ve submitted all of our information to the Premier League. They’ve had it since last Friday, so we’re roughly a week into the process and we’re told it takes four to six weeks.

What led you to want to get involved with the Premier League?

Soccer … is the No. 1 sport in the world. The Premier League is the No. 1 league in the world. … The team has a couple of things that need to get taken care of. It needs a new training facility, but it’s fully permitted and we’re underway in building that facility.

The stadium is not perfect. There’s going to be a lot of stadium work and adding seats.

I view it as a real good opportunity to buy a Premier League team for a very reasonable price (reportedly for $174 million), knowing we have improvements to make. But I like challenges like that. That’s OK with me.

Are you still bullish on the prospect of Major League Soccer expanding to Las Vegas?

Yeah, I don’t know. They’ve got to get a stadium, and the stadium the MLS wants you to build is a half-billion (dollars) or more. It’s got to be domed. It’s got to be covered. That’s a pretty big chunk. The franchise itself, the last I heard, was $350 million. That’s before you have players, stadium, a training facility. That’s quite a bit of money.

With LeBron James letting it be known that he would like to own an NBA team in Las Vegas, do you foresee any chance of getting involved in the NBA if it expands?

Yeah, we’re trying to get our feet wet with the G-League Ignite (the NBA’s Developmental League team currently playing at The Dollar Loan Center). They kick off in November with their first game. The NBA will get to know us and know that we have a quality organization, and if the opportunity rises, sure, we’ll take a look at it. It’s expensive, though. A lot of money, and we’re not in a great economic environment right now.

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