For the first time in the franchise's short history, the Vegas Golden Knights are Stanley Cup Champions. So many stories with this group, where do we begin? In Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Golden Knights not only clinched the championship, but put themselves in the history books in the process by becoming the highest scoring team in a Cup Final game. The team previously with the most goals in a Cup Final game belonged to the 1973 Montreal Canadiens who beat the Chicago Blackhawks 8-7 in what is still the highest scoring Cup Final game in league history (15 goals). Vegas and Florida came pretty close to that last night in the Knight’s 9-3 dominant win over the Florida Panthers who have very little to hang their head over after an incredible postseason run.
Frankly, Florida didn’t stand much of a chance once we knew that Matthew Tkachuk was going to miss Game 5 with an injury. We saw him go down during Game 4 and as it turned out, it was serious enough to limit his ability to return to play that night and kept him out of Game 5 altogether. Tkatchuk isn’t the kind of player who sits out when he’s banged up so when word came out that his status for Game 5 was in question, you knew it had to be something significant. Prior to the game, that’s all we knew regarding the severity of it, but it would later come out that he had fractured his sternum. The fact that he was able to return in Game 4 at all is mind boggling. Between his absence and how noticeably gassed this Florida team appeared as the night went on, it became more and more evident that it wouldn’t be their night.
From the minute Mark Stone scored his first of three goals that night, you just knew it was Vegas’ time. Obviously going into Game 5 up 3-1 in the series they had the significant advantage. However, as a result of the way they played all along, they had what it takes to win and clearly proved so with their defining win. Not only did they have guys like Mark Stone, Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault leading the way, but you have a great group of defensemen, guys contributing up and down the lineup, getting goals from practically everyone. You’d be hard pressed to make the argument that this group didn’t deserve it. From taking down Winnipeg in 5 games with ease, to besting McDavid, Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers, to wearing down the Stars and eventually Florida, this team worked their asses off to get to this point and deserve all the praise they’ll undoubtedly be receiving.
One of the things that immediately stands out with this group is their whole “misfits” mantra. You love to see the team Captain and top scorer both being undrafted players that have been through it all to finally get here. Mark Stone, who went undrafted, spent all of his career prior to Vegas with the Ottawa Senators. He came to Vegas, dealt with several back injuries and surgeries to finally be rewarded by becoming the first Golden Knight ever to hoist the Stanley Cup. Jonathan Marchessault, who led the Golden Knights in goals and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, also an undrafted player. Marchessault came up through the NHL, fought his way to earn a role in the NHL, made a name for himself in Florida just for them to not only expose him in the expansion draft, but trade another player to ensure that Vegas selected Marchessault instead of other names.
Which segways right into Reilly Smith, another original Golden Knight alongside Marchessault who was dealt to Vegas from Florida for a draft pick and expansion draft considerations. Both Smith and Marchassault earned the last laugh as they not only won the Cup, but beat the team that gave up on them and allowed Vegas to take them in the expansion draft. Completing that line is William Karlsson, who along with Brayden McNabb, William Carrier and Shea Theodore go down as original Golden Knights. Theodore, who was another player traded to Vegas as part of expansion draft considerations, has certainly established himself among the top defensemen in the league, helping lead this team to glory.
Then you have the whole story with Jack Eichel. After being drafted second overall by Buffalo, behind Connor McDavid, Eichel led some pretty awful Sabres teams throughout the years. Not only did he have to go through being unhappy on the ice, but an injury left him unhappy off the ice as the team would not let him have the surgery he wanted to fix his neck. This led to a long year of trade rumors and negotiations that finally led him to Vegas in exchange for quite a haul. Sure enough, just two seasons later he’s leading Vegas to the Stanley Cup.
Goaltending always tends to be a massive story-line, but not often does a Cup winning team go through five different goalies to get there. Vegas started the season with the unfortunate news that they would be without starting goaltender Robin Lehner for the entirety of the 2022-23 season. This led to a ton of questions and uncertainty regarding who would be their starting goaltender. Sure enough, rookie Logan Thompson got the chance and ran with it. So much so, he became an NHL All-Star in his rookie season. Then he goes down with injury and the team has to turn to Laurent Broissoit who at best, is a fringe starter that has spent most of his career as Connor Hellebuyck’s backup. The team picks up two-time Stanley Cup Champion Jonathan Quick at the trade deadline but enters the playoffs riding Brossoit. Then he gets hurt and the team looks to Adin Hill, another mid-season trade acquisition who against all odds, shines and leads this team to a championship, making some truly spectacular saves in the process.
You could’ve awarded the Conn Smythe to nearly half this team. Obviously Marchessault led the team and goals and is certainly well-deserving of the honor, but Jack Eichel was right up there in the conversation. Eichel had nearly as many points, scoring goals, dishing out assists, doing everything you expect your team’s top player to do. It could’ve gone to Adin Hill who really was the backbone of this team in net, stepping up when they needed him too. William Karlsson was up there in points for this team,I mean look up and down the line up of this roster. Everyone contributed, everyone was a valuable player.
You have a handful of players winning their second or even third Stanley Cup. Alex Pietrangelo and Ivan Barbashev both won it relatively recently with the St. Louis Blues. You have a couple of future Hall of Famers in Jonathan Quick and Phil Kessel winning their third Stanley Cups along with Alec Martinez. Chandler Stephenson, who has previously won with the Washington Capitals in 2018. You also have a guy who came so very close just to fall short, finally getting to hoist the Cup. Head Coach Bruce Cassidy knows exactly how Paul Maurice and the Florida Panthers felt last night as just four years ago, he was behind the bench of the Boston Bruins who lost in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the St. Louis Blues. Cassidy, who had his dream crushed by Pietrangelo, Barbashev and the Blues, now gets to celebrate his first championship alongside those two almost one year exactly from his hire date.
You also love to see diversity and inclusion represented in the game of hockey because at the end of the day, representation is so important as hockey is for everyone and needs to continue to be prioritized. That being said, it’s great to see Zach Whitecloud, the first indigenous NHL player from the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation winning the Stanley Cup. Alongside Nic Hague, he played an outstanding shutdown defensive role on this team. You also have Keegan Kolesar becoming the 10th Black hockey player to hoist Lord Stanley’s hardware as he played a pivotal role on one of, if not the best fourth line currently in the league. It’s such a cool and important thing to see, especially for young kids of similar backgrounds watching at home, actually seeing it happen, knowing it’s possible for them one day as well. It was also a special night for Kolesar, who lost his father during the 2020 playoffs, finally getting to lift that Cup in his memory.
There’s just so many stories, with this Cup winning team, there always are each year the best trophy in sports is presented. There’s a reason it’s not only the best trophy, but the most difficult one to win. Four rounds of best of seven hockey, not to mention an entire regular season that comes before it. It’s always so special seeing each player’s reaction while holding the Cup over their heads on a little victory lap. While I’m sure not everyone can say the same, especially fans of Western Conference teams whose elimination came as a result of Vegas, it’s nice to see them do it. It was especially refreshing going into the Cup Final knowing it would be the first championship for whichever team came out of it on top. While it’s hard not to be a little bitter knowing it only took six years of them being a team to get there, as a lover of the game it’s hard not to be happy for that group.
Just like that, another season is in the history books. It’s always bittersweet seeing the team pile in for that big team picture. As exciting as it is watching the celebration, you know the second you turn the TV off there’s no more hockey until October. It’ll be a long off-season, always is but there’s plenty of dates to circle and stories to come. As for me, I’ll have plenty of content to come this summer. Mainly focusing on the Rangers but covering big events and stories for the league as a whole so if you’ve never read my work before, be sure to sign up via email so that you don’t miss any news or updates. In the coming weeks I’ll have plenty of articles related to the Entry Draft and Free Agent Frenzy so stay tuned for what’s bound to be a hectic summer. Once again, congratulations to the Vegas Golden Knights on their first ever Cup and a lot of respect to the Florida Panthers for an incredible run to get there.
And as always, let’s go Rangers!
Chris Feldman
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