NEW YORK (March 1, 2017) -- The Vegas Golden Knights today completed the acquisition of their team and officially joined the National Hockey League.

“On behalf of the Board of Governors, I am delighted to officially welcome the Vegas Golden Knights to the NHL,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “Congratulations to Bill Foley, the Foley family, the Maloof family, the city of Las Vegas and the Golden Knights’ fans as the team embarks on its exciting journey.”

EGAS – March 1, 2017 – Vegas Golden Knights Chairman and CEO Bill Foley issued the following statement today, March 1, on behalf of the Foley family as majority owners and Maloof family regarding the completion of the NHL expansion process.

“Today we reached another significant milestone in our team’s history – the Vegas Golden Knights are officially a National Hockey League franchise. It is an incredibly exciting day for our organization and we would not be here without the continued support from our fans. In February of 2015 we started our season ticket drive. We asked Las Vegans to put ticket deposits down for a team that didn’t exist in an arena that hadn’t been built and they came through in a big way. The progress we have made together in these last two short years is remarkable. Now that we are official, we look forward to continuing this momentum and building a team that our fans and our community will be proud of.”

The Golden Knights are now able to formally make trades and roster transactions under the expansion club rules and regulations set forth by the NHL.