Las Vegas Desert Knights? Big clues to new NHL team's name

Remember Robin Leach?

“Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?” Champagne wishes? Caviar dreams?

Hockey insider?

Yes, the man who used to bring you glimpses of golden toilets in Beverly Hills is now breaking hockey news, potentially. Leach, who writes a society column for the Las Vegas Review Journal, tweeted this week:

“First solid Wicked Whisper of name for our new NHL expansion hockey team to be revealed officially Tuesday: expect DESERT KNIGHTS.”

Well, there you go. Case closed.

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OK, maybe not exactly closed. There’s no question “Desert Knights” is the popular guess for the new NHL team’s nickname, which will be revealed at an event in Las Vegas on Tuesday featuring NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

It’s the overwhelming favorite among readers of the Review Journal, who were asked which name will end up being chosen. The colors on a recent press release published by The Sin Bin have them thinking Desert Knights as well. Speaking with insiders around the NHL, they seem to think Desert Knights too, although that could be an echo chamber.

If the name were a bet in Vegas, it would be one of those blackjack hands where you’re pretty sure your ’18’ beats the dealer’s ’17,’ unless that’s not a face card under there and the dealer does one of those ‘draws four cards to make 21’ things that beats your hand and makes you sad and forces you to search out the nearest waitress for a whiskey and …

Sorry, flashbacks.

What about social media clues?

Ah, here’s a rather interesting one. On Nov. 7, someone added graphics to the Facebook page for the Las Vegas Desert Knights:

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Pretty interesting, right? Well, it gets even more interesting when you realize that page (or at least that layout) was created on Nov. 7 — the same day Las Vegas announced on its official website that the name would be revealed on Nov. 22.

Coincidence? We’re going to go ahead and say “no.”

Another way we’ve been able to figure out team names in the past is through the web domains that have been reserved in preparation for that team. To that end:

LasVegasSilverKnights.com, one of the three finalists, takes you here. You can buy it now!

LasVegasDesertKnights.com takes you here. To eBay, where the owner is selling several variations of it. You can buy it now too!

LasVegasGoldenKnights.com takes you here. To a Go Daddy page, where the same owner of NFLVegasRaiders.com owns it. It doesn’t appear for sale.

Hmmm….

It’s a little weird that none of these sites appear to be in control of Bill Foley or the Las Vegas team. Although it’s easy to assume that this could be remedied after the announcement.

But other than this, it’s been remarkably quiet ahead of the name reveal, for something this anticipated.

For the record: Desert Knights is great, and we’re reasonably convinced this ends up being the name. Silver Knights fits the Nevada vibe, but Foley was a little tepid on the name earlier in the process. Golden Knights is a bit generic, and the Vegas faithful aren’t keen on it.

Here’s hoping on Tuesday it’s all a big swerve and they end up with Aces …

Additional snooping by Sean Leahy/Puck Daddy

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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