The Vegas Golden Knights can keep calling themselves that. According to The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Steve Carp, the team won its appeal to have its nickname trademarked. Back in December, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied the team’s trademark request, pointing out that the Golden Knights trademark is also being used by The College of Saint Rose, a small school in New York.
According to Adam Candee of The Las Vegas Sun, while owner Bill Foley was never really in danger of being forced to change the team’s name, the ruling by the government should prevent or lessen any legal challenges down the road.
The team is not out of the woods yet. Despite getting their nicknamed trademarked, the Golden Knights did not get the same approval for its logo on their merchandise and gear. That request was suspended, pending further appeal. That will not stop the team from putting their logo on their merchandise, however, according to Carp.
“We’re happy,” team owner Bill Foley said. “We got what we wanted. We’ve got ’Golden Knights’ for hockey and we knew it would work out. We’re not worried about the other issue. That will work itself out in time. But we’re not paying anyone anything.”
- The Golden Knights have high hopes for Erik Haula, who the team claimed in the expansion draft from the Minnesota Wild in June. The team hopes they can develop the 26-year-old center and former University of Minnesota hockey star, who has scored 29 goals in the past two seasons, according to Jessi Pierce of NHL.com. The hope is that Haula, who only managed to average 13:49 of ice time for the Wild will get more playing time in Vegas and produce more, possibly allowing the Golden Knights to move him at the trade deadline if all works out. Haula, who signed a three-year, $8.25MM deal in the offseason ($2.75MM AAV), is a good face-off specialist (he won 53.9 percent of his faceoffs last year) and is a good penalty killer, which could make him a solid trade asset if he can continue to improve.
It will be interesting to see what Vegas does with all their centers. While it’s possible they try to start the season with all of them and move a few to wing, it seems like a poor use of resources.
Haula could be really good for them.