LAS VEGAS (AP) — Life is seldom dull around the Golden Knights, and that was certainly the case at the end of last season when Vegas fired its championship coach, hired another title-winning coach and then moved on to a third after an unlikely Stanley Cup Final run.
What truly matters to the Golden Knights is not so much the process, but the end.
They came two victories from their second Cup in four years, even leading Carolina 2-1 at one point.
“You
don’t forget coming two games short of winning the Stanley Cup,” center Jack Eichel said Thursday on the first day of training camp.
Now with another season seemingly suddenly upon them with Chicago visiting on Sept. 29, the Golden Knights are especially hungry to finish the job. They again are among the favorites, listed at between +850 and 10-1 odds at major sportsbooks.
As Vegas enters its 10th season, the standard has been the Cup since the Golden Knights made the final in its first year in 2018 and lost in five games to Washington.
“I sure think it's unfinished business,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “You're two wins away from a Stanley Cup and weren't able to make that happen. That's the focus going into every year. It's a long journey. You've got to be a playoff team first. You've got to take the steps that go with it, which starts with a good camp, a good start to the regular season and then it's 84 games.”
This franchise has never been afraid to make big changes, beginning with the run-up to the expansion draft in 2017. Vegas made a series of shrewd moves that landed them such cornerstone players as William Karlsson and Shea Theodore who remain key members of the roster.
Management never stopped trying to upgrade the lineup — and those who coached the players. The Golden Knights fired Gerard Gallant in January 2020 and Pete DeBoer in May 2022, and even Bruce Cassidy was far from irreplaceable after taking Vegas to the 2023 Cup title. He was let go with eight games left last season and the Golden Knights in danger of missing the playoffs.
In came John Tortorella, who led Tampa Bay to the 2004 championship and introduced a fiery element to the Golden Knights locker room. That sparked the players on a 7-0-1 season-ending run to go from third place in the Pacific Division to first. Vegas then rolled through the first three rounds of the playoffs, including pulling off a stunning sweep of Presidents' Trophy winner Colorado.
The Golden Knights then came close to winning another Cup, taking a 2-1 lead over the Hurricanes that probably should have been 3-0 if not for blowing a two-goal lead in the third period of Game 2. Carolina closed out the series in six games on Vegas' ice.
“When you come that close, it stinks,” forward Mitch Marner said.
Even though Tortorella got the Golden Knights so close, he was gone shortly afterward. The franchise had its eyes on Ryan Craig, who coached the club's American Hockey League affiliate in neighboring Henderson. Few know the organization better; he has been with the main club or in the system since 2017.
“I don't think Craig is going to have to change a whole lot when it comes to messaging as far as the way we do things and operate," captain Mark Stone said. "We were two games away from another Stanley Cup, so we like (how) the team was built. We like where the team's mindset is.
"He needs to kind of get his message out there, but I'm pretty confident in the ability of the guys in the room to take whatever message we're getting and run with it.”
The Golden Knights will never be satisfied with falling short. They have missed the playoffs just once in team history, one of the greatest expansion franchises ever in North American major sports.
Everyone knows the expectations and understands management will do whatever it can fulfill those.
“I feel like this group always feels like we have something to prove," Eichel said. "To ourselves more than anything."
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