When the Vegas Golden Knights were announced, people were very excited. The National Hockey League was headed to Sin City. More importantly, the Major Leagues are headed to Vegas in general. What came after is just a cherry on top.
Vegas surprised a lot of people during its inaugural season. Their roster on paper didn’t look like a winner coming into that season and they made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. Proving people wrong became their thing.
Alexander Ovechkin winning his first Stanley Cup interrupted Vegas’s run but everybody knew they’d be good for a long time at that point. Of course, they have been nothing short of sensational since.
2022-23 was year six for them. They were coming off the one year that they didn’t make the playoffs but everyone knows that they just missed in 2021-22 because of injuries. The expectations were still high for them entering the year.
The Vegas Golden Knights are the standard in the National Hockey League.
Well, they made it to the Conference Finals for the fourth time in those six years and eventually their second Stanley Cup Final. Only this time, they won the whole thing. The Vegas Golden Knights became the Stanley Cup champions by defeating the Florida Panthers in five games.
This team has truly become a special organization in the NHL in such a short amount of time. There are Original Six teams that can’t figure it out while Vegas is just elite at everything.
Some people say that Vegas was just handed everything. That could not be farther from the truth. They had to pick a player from every team to start off. Those players were all left unprotected by their teams so they weren’t seen as these amazing players.
Only six of those “Golden Misfits” are still on the roster today anyway. One of them, Jonathan Marchessault, won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs. Other guys like William Karlsson and Reilly Smith have been truly sensational as well.
Vegas is here because they always do what they can to win. When good players become available, they are always in the mix. They made big trades for Mark Stone and Jack Eichel. They signed Alex Pietrangelo when he was a free agent. All of these moves paved the way for success.
They are obsessed with trying to win. Most other NHL franchises can’t say that. Following this run to the Cup, Vegas is going to have some cap troubles. Well, expect them to find a way to fix it while icing a team that has a chance to win big again.
About 25 fanbases across the league would love to see their teams put this much effort into winning year after year. Vegas sees results for its efforts.
Congrats to the Vegas Golden Knights on winning the Stanley Cup. There is no doubt that they will be a powerhouse in the Western Conference again as soon as next season. They have given hockey fans nothing but excitement since entering the league. Good on them.