9/13/2023 0 Comments Black tampa bay lightning jerseySimilarly, when the team traded Schmidt to clear the cap space for Pietrangelo, the original Golden Knight didn’t find out about the deal until it was already finalized, completely blindsided by the move. They unceremoniously traded away Marc-Andre Fleury in what became a very public situation. And then they nearly changed it from top to bottom. They utilized a clean slate with the salary cap to fill their roster. The new expansion rules didn’t hurt, but Vegas knew who they were picking, knew who they were willing to take on a trade for expansion rights and used it to their advantage. The instant success of the Golden Knights – a Stanley Cup Final appearance in year one, four trips to the conference finals in the first six seasons, and now a Stanley Cup – is largely viewed as the league helping out the new expansion team. And finally, perhaps the biggest of all in this year’s Stanley Cup Final, the team acquired Adin Hill for a fourth-round pick.įor all of the savvy moves made by George McPhee and Kelly McCrimmon at the top, this didn’t happen controversy-free. Brett Howden was acquired for the signing rights of a prospect and a fourth-round pick. Chandler Stephenson, known as a depth player on Washington’s roster at the time, was acquired for a fifth-round pick. Nicolas Roy was acquired as a prospect in a trade that sent Erik Haula to Carolina. Keegan Kolesar was acquired three days after the expansion draft for a second-round pick. There were plenty of smaller acquisitions along the way that proved to be equally as important. It added star power to the group of misfits. The acquisitions of Stone, Pietrangelo, and Eichel was not part of a rebuilding process, but a quick aggressive retool of the original Vegas roster. In his first career postseason appearance, he scored six goals and had 20 assists for 26 points in 22 games. This season, he got back to form, scoring 27 goals and 66 points in 67 games. He scored 14 goals and 25 points, but clearly was a player still in recovery. Eichel, the second overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, was now part of the group of misfits.Įichel had the surgery, and returned to play in 34 games that season. Eichel had requested a trade out of Buffalo, wanting the freedom to have artificial disk replacement surgery that no NHL player had ever had. 4, 2021, when Vegas gave Jack Eichel what he was looking for. Pietrangelo was just over a year removed from hoisting the Stanley Cup as captain of the St. When free agency opened, they signed Alex Pietrangelo to a seven-year deal. Stone signed an eight-year contract extension on March 8 of that year.įollowing the bubble playoff in 2020, the team shed salary by trading Paul Stastny and Nate Schmidt. Vegas sent Oskar Lindberg, Erik Brannstrom, and a second-round pick to Ottawa for Stone and Tobias Lindberg. Mark Stone, the captain of this championship team, was acquired on Feb. How did that inaugural team evolve to the 2023 Stanley Cup champions? It was done with big swings at impact players. From day one, they were a force to be reckoned with. That first Vegas Golden Knights team that came within three wins of a Stanley Cup took the NHL by storm. That brought the team even closer, as it worked with the community to help heal a broken city. 1, 2017, when a mass shooting in Las Vegas killed 58 people. When everyone starts on the same day and comes from different backgrounds, histories, and locker rooms, it can certainly be a struggle to form the chemistry championship teams have. Alex Tuch was traded to Vegas from Minnesota as a prospect.Ĭollectively, this group joined the league as a brand-new team composed of a bunch of misfits. Brayden McNabb, now a Stanley Cup champion with Vegas, came from the Los Angeles Kings. Īlso on that inaugural roster were names like Marc-Andre Fleury, who instantly brought a recognizable star to Vegas. Īnaheim traded Shea Theodore to Vegas to select Clayton Stoner. īuffalo traded a sixth-round pick to have Vegas select William Carrier. To get Vegas to make that selection, they also traded Reilly Smith to Vegas.Ĭolumbus traded William Karlsson and a first-round pick to Vegas to get the to select the contract of David Clarkson. Jonathan Marchessault, who claimed the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, was the selection from the opposing Florida Panthers. There are still faces on the team from the inaugural season that almost shocked the world. Sure enough, in Year Six, the Vegas Golden Knights are indeed Stanley Cup champions, defeating the Florida Panthers in five games. In fact, it only made the belief that this expansion team could win a Stanley Cup in its first six years of existence more of a realistic possibility. After winning Game 1 against the Washington Capitals, they lost the next four games. The Vegas Golden Knights, a team full of newly-assembled misfits, went to the Stanley Cup Final that year.
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