If you hadn’t heard yet, the Vegas Golden Knights are doing just fine financially. Owner Bill Foley made that abundantly clear in a recent interview with Mark Ewing of Forbes, saying that the team has already sold 13,500 season tickets for this season, plus all the luxury suites and most of the opera boxes. Foley claimed that the Golden Knights are ahead of teams like the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins in terms of ticket revenue at this point, ranking number “five, six or seven” in the entire league.
Obviously, a brand new product in a city that has been waiting for professional sports for some time is going to be a hot ticket. How the Golden Knights perform in the first five years will make a huge impact on how the fan base grows organically, but they have at least one thing going for them when Foley said clearly: “There is no budget.”
- The Buffalo Sabres announced the coaching staff that will join Phil Housley behind the bench next season, bringing back Tom Ward and hiring Chris Hajt as assistant coaches. Hajt has been working with the Manchester Monarchs and Ontario Reign of the AHL the past few seasons, but has strong ties to Housley and the team. Hajt’s father Bill played for the Sabres with Housley, and was even his defense partner for a time.
- After the Vancouver Canucks decided not to issue a qualifying offer to Michael Zalewski this summer, the 24-year old has taken his talents to Europe and signed with the Straubing Tigers of the German DEL. Zalewski got into one game with the Canucks this year, but hasn’t been able to make an impact at the NHL level. The undrafted forward will play with his brother, former New Jersey Devils pick Steven Zalewski in Germany for the upcoming season.