The Vegas Golden Knights are here, and the logo is outstanding

The NHL’s 31st and newest franchise will be known as the Vegas Golden Knights, and the logo is fantastic. Owner Bill Foley said the “name and logo embody this great city and the mission of our team.”

Welcome the Vegas Golden Knights to the NHL.

After five months of speculation, the Vegas franchise finally has its moniker, though it took a few minutes longer than anyone would have hoped.

During the unveiling ceremony, a video that was set to introduce the name failed to play, which set forth an audible that saw Foley and commissioner Gary Bettman comment on the name and logo. But when all was said and done, owner Bill Foley has his Knights — the Vegas Golden Knights, to be exact. 

The name, Foley said, is one that represents dedication, strength, courage and commitment.

“We want our team to be committed to teamwork, service to this great city and integrity in all things,” Foley said in a release. “And we wanted a name and logo that represented all of this and was unique to Vegas and our community. Vegas Golden Knights is that name.”

It was a long held belief that Foley wanted Black Knights as the team’s name as an homage to Foley’s alma mater, U.S. Army, also known as West Point, but the franchise decided to pivot away from sharing its name with the NCAA club as difficulties with securing the name arose. 

However, even with Black Knights off the table, much of the noise regarding the naming process had been that the name would include Knights, with Golden, Silver and Desert as the three known frontrunners. There was reportedly a time when some consideration was apparently given to a moniker that would have included Hawks as a suffix, but it’s Golden Knights that won out in the end. 

As for the logo, it’s hard to have any gripes with what is an excellent design and one that doesn’t feel as though it’s going to have any difficulties aging. The logo is sharp, sleek and modern, the colors really stand out and it even has the subtle touches that can turn a good logo into a great one.

There’s also somewhat of a Hartford Whalers element to the logo. Beyond the beautiful color scheme, one of the greatest features of the Whalers’ mark was the ‘H’ that was almost hidden in the middle of the logo. The Golden Knights crest employs the same creative use of space, with the eyes of the helmet creating a ‘V’ as a nod to Vegas.

The secondary mark has some cleverness to it, as well, as it plays on the famous ‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ sign. It’s nowhere near as strong a logo as the primary mark, but Vegas definitely gets points for finding a way to tie the design back to the city.

“The Vegas Golden Knights team name and logo embody this great city and the mission of our team,” Foley said. “When people see it, we want them to say, ‘These guys never give up. These guys are going to win.’ ”

Each color incorporated in the logo was chosen with a meaning in mind, too. Gold, along with being part of the team name, is representative of Nevada’s gold production, the steel grey represents “strength and durability,” the use of red plays on the skyline, desert and canyons in Nevada, and black represents “power and intensity.” It’s hard to compare the color scheme to anything else in the league, especially with the use of steel grey. If nothing else, it can’t be said that Vegas didn’t put thought into each aspect of the scheme.

All said, it’s an excellent logo and a great start for the team, and now all eyes turn to the expansion draft and the on-ice product that GM George McPhee looks to put in place. And though the unveiling wasn’t without a hiccup, Foley seems confident the expansion draft and team’s on-ice debut will go off without a hitch.

“Believe me,” Foley joked. “We won’t screw up the first game like we screwed up the video.”

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