Original ‘Misfits’ in Winter Classic spotlight for Golden Knights

The Seattle Kraken will host the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 1 at T-Mobile Park (3 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS). NHL.com will provide coverage leading up to the game each day between now and Jan. 1. Today, a look at Vegas’ group of original players called the Golden Misfits:

William Carrier is probably right about this considering the huge impact the Vegas Golden Knights have had on the hockey world in just six-plus seasons.

"This team, this fan base, I think they had no choice but to put us out there," Carrier said.

By this team, Carrier, an original Golden Knight who debuted with the franchise in 2017-18, means the reigning Stanley Cup champions.

By this fanbase, Carrier means the one that has embraced the Golden Knights since the day they were Vegas born, the fanbase that has turned games at T-Mobile Arena into some of the most fun and entertaining events on the famous Las Vegas Strip.

By out there, Carrier is referring to the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic, Vegas against the Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Park, home of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners, on New Year's Day.

"It's going to be special," Carrier said.

It's going to be the one big thing the Golden Knights have not yet done in their short but successful history as an NHL team.

Vegas has played in an NHL outdoor game before, but there were no fans there to see it. It was during COVID-19 times on Feb. 20, 2021, against the Colorado Avalanche on a rink built on the 18th fairway at the Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Stateline, Nevada, on the banks of Lake Tahoe.

Colorado won 3-2 in a game that started in the afternoon but had to be postponed because exposure to sunlight and heat created unplayable ice conditions. It was picked up and finished after dark.

"We had a beautiful day, unfortunately the ice just couldn't stay ice," Vegas forward William Karlsson said. "But other than that, it was a great experience."

This one in Seattle will be different, and it should be better too.

This outdoor game will be a shared experience for the Golden Knights, their families and many of their fans who are expected to make the trek to the Pacific Northwest to be among the 47,000-plus at T-Mobile Park.

For the Carrier, Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore, the originals remaining from Vegas' inaugural team, the "Golden Misfits," as they became affectionately known in 2017-18, getting the opportunity to play in the Winter Classic is yet another sign of how high the franchise has risen in less than seven years.

It started with a run to the Stanley Cup Final in their first season. It continued by making the Stanley Cup Playoffs in four of the next five seasons. It culminated by winning the Cup last season. And now the Winter Classic in a season when the Golden Knights are again one of the best teams in the NHL and a favorite to repeat as champions.

"It's been a wild ride," McNabb said. "I feel very fortunate. It was a lot of unknowns when I first got picked up here, but things worked out pretty well. We established a winning culture right from the start. That was a big thing and obviously led us to the Stanley Cup, which was the ultimate goal. I just feel very fortunate and grateful that it's worked out that Vegas has become home and the organization's first class and just very fortunate to be a part of it."

Said Marchessault, "It's been such a thrill to be part of the experience with the Golden Knights."

Carrier said all the players wanted when they got to Vegas before the 2017-18 season was a chance to establish themselves in the NHL and turn the Golden Knights into a good team that had a winning culture.

"I think we're going have a chance to be the team of the decade," Carrier said.

The Golden Knights' success is why they're able to get the New Year's Day spotlight in the marquee regular-season event on the NHL calendar.

Their brand has grown beyond Las Vegas, where they play; Summerlin, where they live and train; and Henderson, where their American Hockey League affiliate calls home.

The Golden Knights have become a national team, so much so that president of hockey operations George McPhee said he saw people wearing Vegas merchandise in his travels after winning the Stanley Cup this summer.

McPhee remembers pausing when he would see people wearing the gear only to take in the fact of how big they've become.

"Winning cultures get established in the local city, and we've done a good job of that," McNabb said. "Hockey is getting bigger and bigger, and our fan base is great. So it starts with that. If you can continue that over years and years, it's going to be known as a very good franchise and a franchise that everyone wants to be a part of, and everyone will know about."

NHL.com independent correspondent Paul Delos Santos contributed to this report