Connect with us

Vegas Golden Knights

Which Happens First: Golden Knights Win Stanley Cup or Lake Mead Reaches Deadpool?

Published

on

Vegas Golden Knights team photo (Photo- Vegas Golden Knights via Twitter) and Lake Mead (Photo- Owen Krepps)

I thought of this article idea in the shower, okay?

I’ve been out here in Clark County for about two months now, and the biggest thing that has been hovering over my head, especially living in Boulder City, is the Lake Mead water crisis.

Things aren’t looking too good, and without getting political, I wanted to use this topic as a source of inspiration for a goofy Thursday evening article and also to shed light on the situation.

Lake Mead

Lake Mead’s current water level is 1044.26 feet, and the largest man-made reservoir in the United States is at the lowest point since the Hoover Dam was built and it was filled in 1934. The “bathtub ring” that can be seen around the lake is roughly the same height as the Statue of Liberty, and people are seeing the consequences of the drought with multiple relics of the past, such as dead bodies, being found.

Southern Nevada Water Authority projects that the lake will hit deadpool, meaning water levels are too low that they cannot flow downstream into the Colorado River, sometime in 2025. Climate change is an everchanging topic, but this estimate is pretty pinpoint.

So for the sake of argument, let’s say summer 2025.

Golden Knights

This 2025 doomsday gives the Golden Knights three years to win Lord Stanley in this mock race. Fortunately, the team has done an excellent job at signing its core players to long-term deals.

Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, William Karlsson, Reilly Smith, Nicolas Roy, Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb, and Robin Lehner all have three or more years left on their contracts with the Golden Knights.

The VGK will be forced to make decisions on Jonathan Marchessault, Chandler Stephenson, and Alec Martinez, however. All are free agents in 2024.

But from the way things currently stand, this team’s core is put together to win a Stanley Cup. Last season was a fluke in terms of all the moving pieces, especially due to injury. Not to mention a franchise centerman coming over in a trade.

Consensus

I think a lot of people are expecting the Golden Knights to bounce back this season and at least make the playoffs. While they have never had their names etched on the cup, the Golden Knights have proven to be a historically good team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Multiple X-Factors will be in play, such as goaltending and the growth of young players in the Golden Knights organization. Heck, maybe a week-long rainstorm can re-fill the lake and extend the clock.

Living in Vegas now, I’ll gamble a little and place my bets on the VGK to get a ring before the lake evaporates. However, driving by the lake each and every day is a constant reminder of just how bad things have gotten.

How You Can Help

To ensure that the 25 million people who rely on Lake Mead for water can get every drop out of the lake for as long as possible, folks in the valley can do a number of things to help.

In the City of Las Vegas and in Henderson, all water that hits a drain is filtered and returned back to the Lake. But this doesn’t mean you can use water all willy-nilly.

Conserve as much water as you can, report leaks, follow seasonal watering schedules, and if you have a home with grass, consider switching to turf or desert landscaping.

For the Golden Knights, well, you can continue to cheer on the team at T-Mobile Arena. Training camp is just a few weeks away, and before you know it, the team’s sixth season will be underway.