Golden Knights’ first schedule hinges on players’ possible participation in Olympics

T-Mobile Arena is seen during a hockey game between the Dallas Stars and the Los Angeles Kings in the third period of their NHL preseason hockey game at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas Friday, Oct. 07, 2016. Dallas won 6-3. (Josh Holmberg/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

October is a long way away, but the Golden Knights already are working on their inaugural season schedule at T-Mobile Arena.

The team has sent preliminary date information to the NHL regarding the availability of T-Mobile for the 2017-18 season. The NHL is expected to open its centennial season Oct. 4, though it is not known whether the Knights will play that night, and if they do, whether they’ll be at home.

“We started that process a couple of weeks ago,” team president Kerry Bubolz said. “We’re working with (arena general manager) Dan Quinn and his staff.

“We’ll be providing the league more detailed information in the coming weeks.”

The defending Stanley Cup champion traditionally opens at home and the game is attended by commissioner Gary Bettman.

He also will want to attend the Knights’ home opener, so the possibilities include Vegas not playing Oct. 4 or opening on the road that night and not playing their home opener until a few days later.

The Knights will be on the road for an extended period in mid-March when the Pacific-12 Conference has its basketball tournament in the building. Only their preseason schedule should be affected by the Professional Bull Riders World Finals, scheduled for Nov. 1 to 5 at T-Mobile.

Part of the problem in putting together the schedule is the NHL hasn’t decided whether its players will participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics, scheduled for Feb. 9 to 25 in South Korea. That decision is expected to be made next month.

If the players participate, there will be a two-week Olympic break and the NHL will play a more compacted schedule.

No Olympics and the season is played uninterrupted with more time between games.

“Once the Olympics issue is decided, we’ll have a much clearer picture on what the schedule can be expected to look like,” Bubolz said.

Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.