WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Now that the NHL’s expedition to be the first major pro sports league to have a franchise in Las Vegas is taking shape, the question begs to be asked:

Will the Vegas Golden Knights be the best expansion team in history?

If that comes to fruition in the 2017-18 season, the reasons will be: 1) Because owner Bill Foley has paid for it in full by pushing the new arena in Vegas and then plopping down half a billion dollars for the league fee; 2) Because the league, led by commissioner Gary Bettman, wants it to work more than any other expansion in history.

For decades, the four major sports leagues have spurned Las Vegas as a viable option. The concern was legal gambling would undermine the competitive integrity of the leagues as a whole. But Bettman took a chance, and if the Vegas team flopped for no other reason than they were bad, it still would look like the NHL’s risky experiment failed.

So Bettman and Foley came together to stack the chips in their favor (pun wholly intended).

Bettman convinced the other NHL owners to cough up a lot in the expansion draft. With their cut of the $500 million in each of their 30 pockets, they are agreeing to make integral pieces of their rosters available in the draft. And don’t think Vegas general manager George McPhee doesn’t know how to build a team from the ground up, like he did with the fire sale in Washington that resulted in the decade-long powerhouse that exists now (even without a Stanley Cup for Alex Ovechkin).

Each team has to expose at least two forwards, one defenseman and one goaltender, all of whom are under contract through next season and meet certain NHL games-played requirements over the past year or two. Teams only can protect seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender, or eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender.

McPhee has to choose at least one player from each franchise, and they must aggregate to 60-100 percent of the salary-cap.

The result is the Golden Knights are going to be pretty good. (And let’s forget this bit about trademarking the nickname. What a foolish decision by the government office. The precedent of pro teams and college teams have the same moniker is more than established.)

The Golden Knights will be the 15th team in the Western Conference — coming close to evening out the 16 in the East — and join the Pacific Division, where the three California teams are always steady, but some bottom-feeding wins will come against the Canucks, Flames and Coyotes.

The first NHL expansion came in 1967, when the “Original Six” — not original in any capacity except that of marketing, just ask the irrepressible Stan Fischler — added six more teams and none finished above .500. As a matter of fact, as the league continued to expand, a first-year team never has finished with a winning record, the closest being the 1993 Florida Panthers, who finished 33-34-17.

There have been 25 seasons for first-year expansion teams in NHL history, with the math adding up to the 30-team league because — I’m sure you remember — the Cleveland Barons, originally the Oakland Golden Seals, merged with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978 before moving to Dallas in 1993. The combined records of those seasons, with post-1999 overtime losses counting as ties, was 577-1,118-285, good for a .291 winning percentage.

And isn’t that what should happen with expansion? Like the 12-60-6 record the 1972 Islanders put together — they turned OK, right? Or how about the 1974 Capitals (8-67-5) or the 1992 Senators (10-70-4)? Aren’t bad teams part of defining league expansion?

Well, not anymore.

Foley paid a steep price to get into the league, one that has had two major work stoppages in the past 13 years, once canceling an entire season and once half a season. There is also unrest on the horizon: The current collective bargaining agreement can be opted out after the 2018-19 season. That looming deadline is being used as a bargaining tool for the players’ possible involvement in the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

And, oh, now there is “strong negative sentiment” about Olympic participation coming out of the Board of Governors meeting in Florida? Shocker, right? The owners would never start trying to gain early leverage…

But in terms of Vegas, the league and Foley are taking a big risk, and they know that. They’ve rewarded each other with what might turn out to be the best expansion team debut season in sports history.

Reprehensible Price

If this weren’t Carey Price, darling of Montreal, if this weren’t a premier goalie and perennial Hart Trophy candidate, if this had been anyone else, there would be repercussions. Instead, Price is going to get away with what essentially defines assault.

The Canadiens netminder pounded away at Devils forward Kyle Palmieri on Thursday night after Price’s own teammate, defenseman Jeff Petry, had pushed Palmieri into him. The punches to the back of the head and to the kidneys were from a hand with a blocker on it, which hardly made it any better. Imagine if Price hit Palmieri’s head, his head hit the ice, and he was concussed — or worse, what if he hurt his neck? What if he busted his kidney?

Price got a double-minor for roughing — ha! He should’ve been thrown out of the game, and should be suspended for at least five games. But in the unflinchingly biased world of the ironically named Department of Player Safety, just about anything goes.

McDavid marketing squandered

If I were the NHL, or NBC, or anyone affiliated with promoting the league, I would have this clip of Connor McDavid on a 24-hour cycle, blurring his mouth slightly, not enough to obstruct the sentiment. Because after the Edmonton wunderkind scored in Philadelphia on Thursday, he left his team celebration and turned to Flyers defenseman Brandon Manning to utter a few choice words. Manning was the one who fell on McDavid last season and broke his collarbone.

McDavid defended Manning during the two months he missed following surgery, saying it wasn’t done on purpose. But Thursday night, Manning was in McDavid’s ear, saying it was on purpose. After the game, McDavid called it “one of the [most] classless things I’ve seen on the ice.” It’s hard to market McDavid because he is so reserved, but this was a great moment of openness. It’s clear he’s becoming the best player in the league, he’s the favorite to win the Hart Trophy as MVP, and both of these clips should be used over and over again, interspersed with his jaw-dropping on-ice highlights. Then, non-hockey people might actually become interested in him.

Stay tuned…

… to the Flyers. After that kerfuffle with McDavid, they went on to win their seventh consecutive game, their longest win streak since 2011, passing the Blue Jackets for third place in the Metropolitan Division. When goalie Steve Mason is healthy, he’s playing at a Vezina Trophy-like level, and the offense can be explosive. With Columbus (15-5-4) playing well, the Capitals (15-7-3) capable of going on a run and the Penguins (17-7-3) and Rangers (18-9-1) still in good shape — this is the division the Islanders (11-10-5) think they can compete in? Indeed, it’s a steep hill to climb in Brooklyn.

Parting shot

The Devils’ Taylor Hall put a brutal and clean hit on the Canucks Philip Larsen on Tuesday, which knocked Larsen unconscious and forced him to leave on a stretcher — one day before Larsen’s 27th birthday. Fortunately, Larsen was released from a New Jersey hospital on Wednesday and was medically cleared to return to Vancouver, where hopefully he can begin a recovery.

Those on the ice should have been far more careful about the unconscious player. If his brain or neck was jelly down there, those small kicks could’ve caused irreversible damage. This was one of those times where the injury itself was more important than retribution.