As of Thursday afternoon, the Vegas Golden Knights have announced their purchase of the American Hockey League's San Antonio Rampage.
"It's been a goal of the Vegas Golden Knights to have our AHL team located in our market since our team's inception," said Vegas Golden Knights President of Hockey Operations George McPhee.
The Rampage, who are currently the AHL affiliate to the Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues, are expected to be relocated to the Las Vegas area, ahead of 2020/2021 season.
There is heavy speculation that the team will be renamed the “Henderson Silver Knights,” though a name change has yet to be confirmed.
Went shopping for socks and a few groceries today....
Ended up splurging on an @TheAHL franchise ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(pending approval 😜)https://t.co/QGNRCwP2kz— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) February 6, 2020
The St. Louis Blues will finish out their season affiliated with the Rampage, as the Golden Knights will do with their affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.
St. Louis Blues General Manager Doug Armstrong issued an official, seemingly less than happy, statement regarding the transaction;
"We are aware of the news regarding Vegas purchasing the San Antonio organization. The Blues will finish the remainder of the 2019-20 season with San Antonio as our AHL affiliate. In the meantime, our pursuit of a new minor league affiliate will begin immediately. We will have no further comment on this topic at this time."
Confirmation of the changes will be finalized, as per the Golden Knights, pending approval from the American Hockey League Board of Governors.
