Golden Knights need to put inaugural season in rearview mirror
So when it comes to the practice of making one’s living by engaging in commerce, Warren Buffett seems to have a handle on things: In the business world, Buffett says, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.
I’m fairly certain the “Oracle of Omaha” wasn’t specifically talking about hockey.
I’m also certain his judgment could apply directly to it.
What the Golden Knights see behind them is an improbable run of historic proportions, one of the greatest seasons by an expansion team in major league professional sports, from nobodies to Pacific Division champions to Stanley Cup finalist, from NHL castoffs to unforgettable figures in a city that immediately embraced and adopted them as its own.
Now comes the next most obvious step for the Knights: Forget all of it.
It was nice, but it’s over. Good athletes are able to have focus and move forward.
General manager George McPhee
“It was nice, but it’s over,” said general manager George McPhee. “Good athletes are able to have focus and move forward. It’s the same with good management — you certainly have to analyze all that transpired over a season and learn as much as you can, but then you move on.
“It’s a big part of this business.”
It’s his way of saying that while the 2018-19 windshield might be cloudy at this point with unanswered questions as to how certain offseason roster changes might affect what happens on the ice, the only way to continue offering a successful product is by removing from your daily thoughts any hint of that which came before.
Besides, things are pretty different in key spots.
This was always going to be a busy summer for McPhee, the effect of key expiring deals and having to decide the fate of other players who had, for various reasons, been dealt to the Knights or exposed to them in the expansion draft.
New faces aren’t unique this time of year, and Vegas is no different in terms of some players departing and others arriving.
But it’s more than that for a franchise just months from concluding its expansion season.
It will be for a while.
“All of it fell in line with what we knew it would be (in the offseason) — a lot of work,” McPhee said. “We knew we had a lot of contracts to settle and moves to make. It will probably take two to three years before we are like other teams with just a few over a given summer.”
The bond between Southern Nevada and the Knights was born through the response to a mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival on Oct. 1, when a team of which the majority of players and staff had no ties to Las Vegas became a vehicle by which the town could begin its long and difficult road to recovery.
That part will never be forgotten, never shoved aside, never taken for granted.
Comings and goings
But the hockey part, the 51 wins, the 109 points, the deep playoff run, the sense of local euphoria not being in any manner tamed until Washington beat Vegas in five games for the Stanley Cup, needs to be reserved for the history pages and left behind as the puck drops on a new season.
There is no James Neal or David Perron. There is Paul Stastny and Max Pacioretty. There is no Nate Schmidt for the season’s first 20 games. There is no Luca Sbisa. There is Nick Holden.
There was never an Erik Karlsson who, as the song goes, knows the way to San Jose.
There is Gerard Gallant, and if anyone within the Knights has preached a mindset of focusing exclusively on what’s in front of you and what’s to come next, it’s the reigning NHL Coach of the Year.
In the sports world of most overused cliches, the part about taking it one game at a time is accompanied by Gallant’s mug shot.
“Last season was obviously outstanding for our hockey club and you can go back and see some good video clips and all that stuff, but this is a new year, a new team,” Gallant said. “We’re not going to worry about yesterday. We’re going to worry about today and tomorrow.
“The difference is, we’ll come into this season knowing we’re a good team with good players. Last year, we didn’t know where we would be. We know now that we’re a pretty solid hockey team when we play well, so let’s get back to work.”
Translation: Forget all of it.
In other words, the rearview mirror might be sparkling clean, but the cloudy windshield is all that matters.
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Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.