Hill: Knights’ draft decision shows arrogance, for better or worse

It didn’t take long for the texts to start pouring in from friends, colleagues and league associates after the Golden Knights announced their first-round pick in Friday night’s NHL draft at the Sphere.

The most common word used to describe the attitude of general manager Kelly McCrimmon and the rest of the Knights’ front office? Arrogant.

It’s probably a fitting adjective, especially in this case.

Trevor Connelly is a sensational prospect with the talent NHL teams salivate over being able to draft at No. 19. There’s also a reason he was available. Most teams were scared off by a combination of troubling incidents off the ice and some red-flag behavior on it.

But he sure can play.

“Trevor is a tremendously talented forward,” McCrimmon said Friday. “He’s a great playmaker with a lot of dimensions to his game and really high-end skill. And when you draft in the first round, in the top 20, you really want to come away with talent. And I thought that we did that today with a selection of Trevor Connelly.”

‘People make mistakes’

And that’s what’s probably going to matter in the end. Knights fans will support Connelly if he helps create goals.

Had another team drafted him, those same fans would be screaming at him and calling him a racist every time he took the ice against them. It’s how sports work. (In 2021, he was accused of directing a racial slur toward an opponent. Discipline was not upheld by the California Amateur Hockey Association because the allegation could not be corroborated.)

To be clear, it’s not a draft pick I would have made, nor is it one I’m terribly comfortable with the Knights making. But I’m not judged on wins and losses. It would be ideal for professional sports teams to employ nothing but model citizens, but there would be some teams that had trouble filling rosters and probably some very boring games.

McCrimmon said as much in discussing the selection of Connelly.

“We’re not putting our head in the sand and saying that everything that you’ve read or heard didn’t happen or whatever, but we’re talking about drafting 225 17- and 18-year-olds over the course of the weekend,” McCrimmon said. “In today’s world with the magnifying glass that’s on young people and people in general, a lot of people make mistakes. I guess we can just cancel everybody or we can try to have a role in helping people get better. That’s what we’ll do.”

And McCrimmon believes he and the rest of the organization are uniquely positioned to make that happen, which is where the charges of arrogance come into play. They have often sung the praises of the culture that has been built at City National Arena and how it’s different than anywhere else in sports.

McCrimmon once again pointed out the role that culture played in helping take Jack Eichel from hockey purgatory to beloved superstar and Stanley Cup champion.

“It takes time to build culture,” he said. “It takes a period of years. You have to be consistent in your values and your beliefs, how you treat your players, how they treat each other, how you do things, what you stand for. Those are all things that go into building that, and I believe this is a great spot for Trevor.”

Translation: Maybe he would be a problem in your building. He won’t be an issue in ours.

Pride comes before the fall?

McCrimmon insists they vetted Connelly thoroughly and are comfortable with who he is now. They drafted 18-year-old Trevor Connelly, not the 16-year-old version.

“I think I made mistakes as a kid, and I’m such a different person now,” Connelly said Friday. “I’m super mature for my age. I’ve done a lot for my community and really gotten involved. This whole process has been a learning experience for me. I think everything happens for a reason, and I’ve been put through these past couple years for a reason. I think it’s all going to work out for the best for me. I’ll do anything for Vegas and anything for the people. I’m just excited to get started.”

McCrimmon was particularly complimentary of the fact that Connelly walked into his meetings with the Knights and owned up to his mistakes instead of trying to deny or even excuse them. He believes there has been a great deal of growth. At least one other team is believed to have come away with the same opinion.

But the Knights are the team that actually decided to draft him.

Is that arrogance? Probably.

But that same arrogance is what has helped the organization exceed even the most audacious projections as a franchise thus far.

There is an expression that pride comes before the fall, and if it’s indeed true, the fall is going to be spectacular and dramatic.

But it has also been said that fortune favors the bold, and that has been more apropos for this franchise since day one.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.