Instant success causes Golden Knights to alter 6-year plan

Bill Foley has a habit of doing this.

In 2014, a couple of years before the Golden Knights majority owner was awarded an NHL franchise, he said in an interview with ESPN.com that his dream was to win the Stanley Cup within eight years.

Then, at the unveiling of the expansion team’s name and logo on Nov. 22, 2016, the notoriously impatient Foley changed his mind.

“I did say seven years, but it should be six years now,” he told the audience of approximately 5,000 gathered outside T-Mobile Arena. “Six years.”

It’s no surprise, then, that Foley’s ubiquitous “playoffs in three, Cup in six” mantra didn’t age well, either.

“When we signed (William Karlsson) to his (eight-year) deal, I called him in Sweden this summer and I told him, ‘I expect three Cups,’ ” Foley said. “As we go into our third season, we have a lot of good years ahead of us. My goal is to make the playoffs every year and advance and win multiple Cups.”

What was once intended to go at a methodical pace, the Knights’ blueprint reached warp speed faster than anyone in the organization expected.

After entering the inaugural season with the intention of trading players on expiring contracts, a series of unforeseen events, including a trip to the Stanley Cup Final, accelerated the organization’s plan.

In the end, the Knights departed with two top prospects, a talented restricted free agent and a handful of drafts picks.

But they enter their third year with lofty expectations as the betting favorite in the Western Conference and zero regrets.

“They did a good job with the expansion draft. They brought in good players, but they brought in good people to kind of expedite that,” right wing Mark Stone said. “To have good players is one thing, but to have good people is another. They’ve done both.

“With it now, they realize that the culture they’ve built has been able to build success. From day one, our goal is to win a Stanley Cup and nothing else.”

The genesis for this change of philosophy came in December 2017 when the Knights put together a 12-game points streak against a schedule that included some of the league’s top teams.

Rather than trade James Neal, David Perron and other pending unrestricted free agents at the deadline for draft picks or prospects, the Knights decided to become buyers.

“It was sort of from that period of time where, whether you said it out loud or thought it to yourself, you kind of get your head around the fact, ‘We can’t take players away from this team. That’s not fair to how well they’ve done. We’ve got to keep going,’ ” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “So that’s the decision that was made.”

The Knights landed forward Ryan Reaves from Pittsburgh and acquired Tomas Tatar from Detroit for picks in the first, second and third rounds after failing to strike a deal for Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson.

They haven’t stopped adding since.

Paul Stastny and Nick Holden arrived in free agency in 2018.

And when left wing Max Pacioretty became available last summer after his trade to Los Angeles fell through, the Knights pounced.

“It just shows you can change your identity of a team in a couple of months, and it starts with culture,” Pacioretty said. “The nice thing about that is they’ve been consistent with that ever since the start. They knew that it wasn’t a fluke. They knew they had the right guys in here, and they knew they did a great job in the expansion draft.

“I think it started before trading for me, but I think my trade goes hand in hand with what they were going for.”

The final piece arrived in February when the Knights engineered a deal for Stone, signaling their intention to remain a contender for the foreseeable future.

The shopping spree over the past 19 months saw the departures of former first-round picks Nick Suzuki and Erik Brannstrom.

By signing Pacioretty and Stone to long-term contract extensions, the Knights effectively couldn’t afford to sign restricted free-agent winger Nikita Gusev, necessitating his trade to New Jersey in July.

But they have room to add at the trade deadline, if necessary, and are projected to have almost $16 million in salary cap space for next season

Foley doesn’t have an ounce of buyer’s remorse.

“(President of hockey operations George McPhee) and Kelly and I have had a lot of conversations,” Foley said. “We decided really when we traded for Pacioretty and picked up Stastny in free agency and had a chance to trade for Mark Stone and sign him long term, we said, ‘Our future is now. We’re not waiting.’ ”

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Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.