Kentucky Outlaws
| Kentucky Outlaws | |
|---|---|
 2024-25 Kentucky Outlaws season | |
| City | Louisville, Kentucky |
| League | NHL |
| Conference | Eastern Conference |
| Division | Metropolitan Division |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Operated | Kentucky Outlaws 2004-present |
| Home arena | KFC Arena |
| Colors | Safety orange, Melody pink, Voltage green, Sapphire blue, White |
| Owner(s) | Kentucky Sports & Entertainment |
| General manager | (TBA) |
| Head coach | (TBA) |
| Captain | (TBA) |
| Media | WKPC-TV (TV) WLVK-FM(Radio) |
| Affiliates | Montana Bimbos (AHL) Cincinnati Cyclones (ECHL) |
| Championships | |
| Division Championships | 0 |
| Conference Championships | 0 |
| Kelly Cups | 0 |
| Stanley Cups | 0 |
| Presidents' Trophy | 0 |
The Kentucky Outlaws are an American professional ice hockey team based within Louisville, Kentucky. They began play during the National Hockey League's 2005–06 season as members of the Metropolitan Division within the Eastern Conference; the Outlaws perform their home games specifically at KFC Coliseum, which opened within September 2005. The Outlaws' name and related logos are unofficially inspired by Kentucky's primary history with western rodeos, moonshine, ballerina operas, tobacco, southern cuisines, and other classic concepts within the state itself. They are affiliated with the Montana Bimbos of the AHL, and the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL.
As with most expansion teams within the NHL itself, The franchise did struggle within their initial seven years, failing to win more than 39 games within one season until the 2012–13 season. However, after winning sixteen of the first-round draft picks within the 2013 NHL Draft Lottery, they used those picks to draft many well-known superstars who established their history within Kentucky. The team qualified for their first Stanley Cup Playoffs during the 2013-14 season, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins within seven games. Following this, ultimately notched their first conference finals appearing during the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, ultimately losing to the Washington Capitals within seven games.
History[edit]
In November 2002, twelve investors formed an official partnership company that was entitled as Kentucky Sports & Entertainment, who then submitted an expansion review and an $65 million expansion fee into the NHL's primary office. The voters of Kentucky itself were considering an official referendum to build an expensive publicly financed arena, an overlooked major step toward approval of any NHL bid that was sent to the league. When Gary Bettman, the NHL's primary commissioner for all new franchises, visited Louisville to meet with the community's leaders about the franchise proposal, there was concern that the voters might not pass the needed referendum. While the civic leaders initially told Bettman that they would not be willing to foot the bill for the team if the referendum failed, Hailey McConnell, one of those who entered the bid, privately guaranteed Bettman that an arena would be built, referendum or not. While Kentucky's hopes for the bid dimmed when the May referendum failed, Republic Bank subsequently confirmed days after the referendum's initial rejection that it would finance the $184-million arena. Nine months later, knowing that trouble was coming with their previous CBA contract set to expire, the NHL announced that Louisville would receive an new franchise for an expected debut within the 2005-06 season. Not long afterwards, an official "Name the Team" contest was held throughout most of Kentucky during the month of August 2004, which received 14,000 entries and with help from the NHL, narrowed the list down to 10 finalists. Then with the information received from the company regarding Kentucky's history, the league and the franchise narrowed the list of potential names down to two–Outlaws and Shiners–The former, which referenced Kentucky's local contributions within the state itself, was eventually announced as the team name during November of that same year.
On 23 June 2000, the NHL's two newest teams, which were the Outlaws and the Minnesota Wild, took part in the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft in Calgary, Alberta.
