Introducing The First Player In Vegas Golden Knights History...
The Vegas Golden Knights became fully operational at the Trade Deadline. So while they can’t go after any current NHL players at the moment, they are free to pick up any non-NHL players that are available. And the first player in Vegas Golden Knights history is Reid Duke of the Brandon Wheat Kings in the WHL.
Duke has scored 113 goals and 250 points in 306 career games in the WHL playing for Lethbridge and Brandon. Is he the high level talent of current teammate and top draft prospect Nolan Patrick? No not really. He was a 6th round pick by Minnesota back in 2014 and never signed with the Wild so that leaves him available for Vegas. And now he’s a part of history. The 1st player to ever be signed by the 31st franchise in the National Hockey League. That’s a pretty big deal if you ask me. Plus 6’0″ 190lbs is a frame that the Golden Knights can work with either up the middle or on the wing. Decent size. The WHL is very similar to the NHL in terms of scheduling and travel and overall play, so having 306 games under his belt in that league shows that he’s gotta be pretty damn close to NHL ready. And most importantly… he kind of looks like he could be a relative of “Riggs”.
Reid Duke. Remember the name. It could help you out somewhere down the road while playing trivia. Maybe it could be a quizzo question in 2030.
(Speaking of the Golden Knights being fully operational, I’ll get a blog done on the Expansion Draft as we get closer to the actual date. I wrote about it last year but obviously it’s going to be confusing. Chances are your favorite team is probably going to lose a guy who you like but in reality is very replaceable. That’s my hot take of the day).