Plot

The story of the Las Vegas professional hockey team Vegas Golden Knights during their first year in the National Hockey League.

VALIANT chronicles the unprecedented inaugural season of the Vegas Golden Knights hockey team as they climb to the top of the NHL standings and make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, all against the backdrop of a city reeling from the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

The documentary film VALIANT chronicles two tales: the first is that of the National Hockey League's expansion team the Vegas Golden Knights, who in 2017-18 had the most successful inaugural season for an expansion team in the history of U.S. professional sports. The second is of the growing and unifying relationship between the new team and its desert community in the wake of the Las Vegas tragedy of October 1, 2017, the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, which occurred only days before the home opener of the Golden Knights' historic first season. The team's unprecedented streak to the Stanley Cup Final proved to be one of the greatest Cinderella stories in the history of the NHL, while they won the hearts of the people of Las Vegas and forged an indomitable connection between the team and its city.—Margarita Cortes

The documentary film VALIANT begins by chronicling the creation of the National Hockey League's expansion team the Vegas Golden Knights by billionaire businessman Bill Foley. Following the awarding of the franchise in 2016, Foley announced that former Washington Capitals general manager George McPhee would be the franchise's first general manager. The subsequent expansion draft (and NHL Draft) landed the team a star player in three-time Stanley Cup champion goalie and future Hall of Famer Marc-André Fleury from the Pittsburgh Penguins, as well as winger James Neal from the Nashville Predators.

After a couple of preseason home games that introduced the Golden Knights' razzle-dazzle, Vegas-styled pregame show and theatrics, the city of Las Vegas was shattered on the evening of October 1, 2017 by an unspeakable tragedy: a man with a near-automatic rifle in the Mandalay Bay Hotel opened fire at a field below where thousands of music fans were attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival. The ensuring massacre killed 58 people and wounded nearly 500 others.

The Golden Knights had to confront this horrific event and to help heal their grieving home city. They went on to win their first home game, beginning a streak that earned them the auspicious title of the first team in NHL history to start an inaugural season winning eight of their first nine games. It was the first of many records the Golden Knights would break as the team. Defying expectations, the Golden Knights finished their season with 51 wins, becoming the first modern-era expansion team from any of the four major sports leagues and the first NHL team since the 1926-27 New York Rangers to win their division in their inaugural season. The team ultimately made it to the Stanley Cup Finals where they faced the McPhee's former team, the Washington Capitals.

In one of the greatest Cinderella stories in the history of the NHL, the 2017-18 Vegas Golden Knights enthralled the hockey world with their historic performance while capturing the hearts of the people of Las Vegas and forging an indomitable connection between the team and its city.