How Hurricanes And Golden Knights Proved There Is No Single Blueprint For Winning

Pro sports leagues are all considered copy-cat leagues, but the NHL's Stanley Cup finalists prove that isn't always the case.

The Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights are gearing up for what should be a great matchup, led by two of the best coaches in recent memory and two GMs who think entirely differently from one another, specifically when it comes to drafting. Both philosophies have brought them to the Stanley Cup final. 

Carolina has drafted and developed a core that includes some great players chosen outside of the first round. Vegas has always been a "win-now" team that's worried less about the draft, so they get players in the prime of their careers and try to win at all costs.

Eric Tulsky stepped in as the Hurricanes' GM after the 2023-24 season, and the team has looked better in each year. 

The Hurricanes have built around a drafted core through aggressive trades and free-agent signings. 

They traded for K'Andre Miller from the New York Rangers last off-season. Miller leads the Hurricanes in points by a defenseman in the playoffs, with eight.

They also received Logan Stankoven in the second Mikko Rantanen trade last season. Stankoven is leading the team in goals heading into the Stanley Cup final, with nine.

Tulsky also took a swing on July 3 when he signed Nikolaj Ehlers to a six-year, $51-million deal. 

Frederik Andersen, Sean Walker, Shayne Gostisbehere, William Carrier and Taylor Hall were also brought in to help make this team one of the deepest in hockey.

But the core of this team came from the draft. 

Six players on Carolina's roster were drafted by the team: Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, Jaccob Slavin, Alexander Nikishin, Jackson Blake, and Seth Jarvis. Although each of those players are important to the team's success, Svechnikov and Jarvis were the only two first-round selections.

Kelly McCrimmon has become an iconic name in the hockey world since taking over as the Vegas GM. He's been a cutthroat GM who will do whatever it takes to win, and his roster resembles that.

Pavel Dorofeyev and Kaedan Korczak are the two lone Vegas draft picks playing for the Golden Knights, and both were drafted outside of the first round. Trevor Connelly is the only Golden Knights first-round draft pick still in their system.

Noah Hanifin and Rasmus Andersson were both brought in from Calgary in 2024 and 2026, respectively. The two have been a very solid pair and average the second- and third-most minutes on the team this post-season.

The playoff scoring leader, Mitch Marner, has been with this team for less than a year and is already seeing success. Jack Eichel was brought in from Buffalo to be the team's top center, and he's been one of the best two-way players in the game, not to mention he's second in points. Their captain, Mark Stone, was acquired from Ottawa in 2019 and has 10 points in 11 games in these playoffs.

Both teams have had different levels of patience with their coaches as well.

For Carolina, losing in the conference final three times in seven years raised some questions about Rod Brind'Amour's future, but Tulsky trusted him, and they finally made it to the final.

Vegas​ has had four coaches since Carolina hired Brind'Amour in 2018-19. They even fired Bruce Cassidy with eight games left in this season and hired John Tortorella, who has described himself as a guidance counselor. That decision has virtually paid off, with Vegas making the final.

There's no single blueprint for winning, as the Hurricanes and Golden Knights have shown. That said, only one of those blueprints will lead to a Stanley Cup championship this season.

Owen Cameron is an intern with The Hockey News.

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