The franchise began in 1971 as the
Tidewater/Virginia Wings in the
Norfolk, Virginia of the greater
Hampton Roads area. The team played in Virginia as an owned and operated affiliate of the
Detroit Red Wings until 1975 where after a two year suspension they moved to
Glens Falls, New York as the
Adirondack Red Wings. In 1999, the Red Wings suspended operations of the team. The franchise remained dormant until 2002, when it was purchased by the ownership of the
NBA's
San Antonio Spurs and resurrected as the
San Antonio Rampage. The team then spent the next eighteen years in San Antonio. On February 6, 2020, the
Vegas Golden Knights announced it had purchased the franchise from the Spurs with the intent to relocate it to the
Las Vegas area. The purchase and relocation was approved by the league on February 28. The team was announced to initially play at the
Orleans Arena in
Paradise, Nevada, while the club's new 6,000-seat arena is constructed at the site of the
Henderson Pavilion in
Henderson, Nevada. On May 28, 2020, the
Vegas Golden Knights announced the team name as the Henderson Silver Knights. The team is named for Nevada's nickname "The Silver State" and adopted the slogan "Home Means Henderson," inspired by the Nevada state song "Home Means Nevada." On August 31, 2020,
Emanuel Viveiros was announced as the club's initial head coach. The start of the Silver Knights' inaugural season was delayed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. On February 5, 2021, the team named
Patrick Brown as their first captain a day before their inaugural game of the
2020–21 AHL season. The Silver Knights finished their first regular season earning the top seed in the Pacific Division. The Pacific Division was the only division in the AHL that chose to have a postseason, and the teams had a playoff for the
John D. Chick Trophy and division title. As the top seed, the team earned a bye to the semifinals, where they swept the
San Jose Barracuda in two games before losing the division championship to the second seeded
Bakersfield Condors in three games. When the
2021–22 season schedule was released, it was revealed the Silver Knights would begin play in Henderson earlier than expected with the first home game at the new
Dollar Loan Center (now
Lee's Family Forum) to take place on April 2, 2022. In the 2022 AHL Calder Cup Playoffs, the Silver Knights lost in the first round to the
Colorado Eagles in a 2–0 series sweep. ==Season-by-season records==