Las Vegas Thunder

International Hockey League (1993-1999)

Our Favorite Stuff

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Las Vegas Thunder
IHL Replica Jersey

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• Each jersey individually handmade

• Any name and number

• Sewn tackle twill crest, numbers and letters

• Heavyweight fabric made to game standards

• Fight strap included

   

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Background

The Las Vegas Thunder were a six-year entry in the International Hockey League during that organization’s gold rush era of nationwide expansion in the mid-1990’s.   Minor league baseball investors Hank Stickney and his son Ken paid a $2.0 million expansion fee for the Thunder in 1993. The Stickneys also owned the Las Vegas Stars Class AAA baseball team.

Name Players

The Thunder employed a fascinating menagerie of players during their six-year existence, including female goaltender Manon Rheaume, who played two games for Las Vegas in 1994, and Wayne Gretzky’s younger brother Brent Gretzky.  But what the Thunder were truly known for was renting erstwhile NHL superstars caught up in the the NHL’s labor wars of the 1990’s.

First to arrive was Alexei Yashin, the 20-year old rising star of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators, in 1994.  The IHL publicly discouraged its clubs from signing players under NHL contract during that league’s 1994-95 lockout. But the league didn’t prevent the Stickneys from signing Yashin to a reported $200,000 one-year deal. Yashin had the right to void the contract at any time if the lockout ended.  The Russian centerman tore up the IHL for 24 games (15 goals and 20 assists) before the NHL re-opened for business and Yashin skedaddled for Ottawa.

NHL All-Star goaltender Curtis Joseph arrived the following year during a holdout with the St. Louis Blues.  Like Yashin, Joseph toyed with IHL competition (12-2-1, 1.99 GAA) for a few weeks. Then a trade to Edmonton resolved his NHL contract woes and he was gone.

The Thunder also had a knack for importing young Eastern European stars.  Thunder GM Bob Strumm brought over both 17-year old Radek Bonk of the Czech Republic and 20-year old Belarussian Ruslan Salei to begin their North American careers in the IHL.  Both quickly became Top 10 overall draft picks in the NHL after showcasing in Las Vegas.

Red Ink Flows Down The Strip

Despite the glitzy signings and two divisional titles, the Thunder still bled through a reported $6 million during their first three seasons in Sin City.  The IHL’s business model proved to be hugely flawed.  Unlike the Stickney’s minor league baseball holdings, where player costs were covered by Major League patrons, IHL teams functioned primarily as independents.  Starting in 1996 the Thunder had a partial affiliation with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes. But the Coyotes only supplied a couple of players a year.  The Stickney’s were on the hook for virtually all of the IHL’s $1.3 million annual salary cap, plus the attendant medical and insurance costs.  By the mid-1990’s it was clear that the IHL needed NHL support to survive. But IHL leaders angered the senior circuit by expanding into NHL cities like Chicago and Detroit.  The NHL preferred to work with the more docile American Hockey League and didn’t truly need the IHL.

Midway through the Thunder’s fourth season in 1996-97, the Stickney family partnered with former Sony Pictures Chairman Peter Guber and his Mandalay Sports Entertainment on all of their baseball and hockey properties.  The partnership made the already well-heeled Thunder ownership even more formidable. But to some extent the Thunder had already taken their best shot at Las Vegas by the time Mandalay entered the picture.

“Club Med For Unsigned NHL Players”

Rumors began to circulate that the Thunder would leave Las Vegas for a new Mandalay-run arena under consideration in Ontario, California.  When Ottawa Senators star and former NHL Rookie-of-the-Year Daniel Alfredsson held out in 1997, his agent naturally placed a call to the Thunder. But GM Bob Strumm rebuffed Alfredsson’s agent with a low offer, later telling The Las Vegas Sun (10/8/1998) “We’re not a Club Med for unsigned NHL players. We’re not doing that anymore.”

But the Thunder did do it one more time.  Late in the 1997-98 season, the Thunder signed Pittsburgh Penguins holdout scoring star Petr Nedved. Nedved was one of the elite centers in the world and Thunder officials hoped we would spark a Turner Cup playoff run.  Nedved was different than Yashin and Joseph, the story went, because he wasn’t just an early season rental.  However, the IHL ruled Nedved ineligible to join the team so late in the season and he appeared in only 3 regular season games for Las Vegas.  Nedved’s contract dispute with Pittsburgh dragged into the next autumn. He re-joined the Thunder in the fall of 1998 for 13 games until a trade to the New York Rangers cleared up his contract fight.  He was the last world class player to wear a Thunder jersey.

Demise

The Thunder’s lease at Thomas & Mack Arena ended in the spring of 1999. The Thunder closed for business that April, a few days after the conclusion of the team’s sixth season.   The rest of the IHL folded two years later in May 2001.

Las Vegas Thunder Shop

Thunder Logo T-Shirt
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OUR FAVORITE STUFF

Order Now at Vintage Ice Hockey

Las Vegas Thunder
Ceramic mug

Available now from our friends at Vintage Ice Hockey, this fully-insulated porcelain mug is ideal for your morning brew. 

• Ceramic | Capacity: 11 fl oz

• Dishwasher safe

• Lead and Cadmium free

• Imported; processed and printed in the U.S.A.

 

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In Memoriam

Ex-Thunder defenseman Ruslan Salei died on September 7, 2011 in a plane crash in Yaroslavl, Russia. The disaster killed the entire roster of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team.  Salei was 36 years old.

Downloads

1-18-1995 IHL All-Star Game Roster Card @ Las Vegas

Links

International Hockey League Media Guides

International Hockey League Programs

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