Vegas Golden Knights have already surpassed the greatest US expansion teams in history

They’re just the second expansion team across America’s four major sports leagues – NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL – to reach a championship series in their first season, joining the 1967-68 St. Louis Blues, who also made the Stanley Cup Finals.

It’s not like the Golden Knights have come out of nowhere in the playoffs as they finished the regular season with the fifth-most points in the league at 109.

But after overcoming the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks in the first two rounds, they ran into a Winnipeg team that had the second-best record in the NHL and hadn’t lost more than three straight games all season.

Following a defeat in Game 1, the Golden Knights beat Winnipeg four times in a row for a gentleman’s sweep.

“It’s insane,” said defenseman Deryk Engelland. “Your goal is always to make the playoffs. But if I were to guess I would be sitting here doing this right now, you would be a little skeptical at the time.”

Now, Vegas have the chance to make even more history and cap off an improbable run for the ages.

Whether or not they capture the Cup though, the Golden Knights already have a strong case as the greatest expansion team.

For an idea of how unusual their immediate success has been, here’s how Vegas compare to other expansion franchises that were impactful in their early years, beginning with that aforementioned Blues team.

1967-68 St. Louis Blues

Ahead of the 1967-68 season, St. Louis were one of six new teams added to the NHL, which doubled in size from its Original Six franchises.

The playoffs included eight teams, which is how the Blues were able to reach the postseason despite finishing with a losing record at 27-31-16, good for third in the West Division.

They beat the Philadelphia Flyers and the Minnesota North Stars in seven games through the first two rounds before being swept by the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Finals.

An impressive inaugural season for sure, but the size of the league at the time isn’t comparable to the 31 teams in the NHL at the moment.

1995-96 Florida Panthers

Aside from Vegas and St. Louis, the Florida Panthers are the only other NHL franchise to reach the same heights in their first three seasons.

The Panthers formed in 1993 but failed to reach the playoffs in their first two years, compiling a 53-56 combined record. In 1995-96 though, they broke through by going 41-31 in the regular season and beating the Boston Bruins, the Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins to reach the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in four games.

Since then, Florida have never come close to duplicating that success as they’ve reached the playoffs just four times and failed to get past the conference quarter-finals.

1995 Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers

The franchises joined the NFL in the same season and neither managed to make the playoffs, with the Jacksonville finishing 4-12 and Carolina going 7-9.

But in their second year, the Panthers went 12-4 and beat the Dallas Cowboys to reach the NFC Championship Game, while the Jaguars built on a 9-7 regular season with a spot in the AFC Championship Game.

Though neither made the Super Bowl that year, their ability to contend so soon after forming was astonishing nonetheless.

1998 Arizona Diamondbacks

Their first season, in which they went 65-97, was one to forget, but the Arizona Diamondbacks bounced back in a major way in 1999 with a 100-62 record to become the first MLB expansion team to reach the playoffs in its first two years.

Starting pitcher Randy Johnson was a force on the mound and earned the NL Cy Young Award while leading them to the National League Division Series, where the New York Mets would beat them 3-1.

Two years later, the Diamondbacks would reach the summit and win a World Series.