The Vegas Golden Knights lost in the Stanley Cup final because their best players weren't their best players, for starters. But there was more to it, and more questions about their future to address.
Before they fell to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Vegas Golden Knights were having a terrific playoffs.
The Golden Knights knocked off the Utah Mammoth in the first round, and they beat the Anaheim Ducks in Round 2 before sweeping the heavily favored Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference final. They then pushed the eventual Cup-winning Hurricanes to a six-game series before succumbing to Carolina's attack.
By virtually all metrics, the Golden Knights were deep enough to be a final-two team. But their excellent depth vanished in the final three games of the Cup final, and Vegas didn't have the goaltending to steal games.
The Golden Knights mortgaged their future to win now – and that also meant firing coach Bruce Cassidy late in the regular season and replacing him with John Tortorella. They got very close but did not succeed.
Despite being the Western Conference champions, there are going to be significant questions – and perhaps, significant changes – so that, next year at this time, Vegas will be on the right end of the Cup final.
What Went Wrong For The Golden Knights?
The Golden Knights got out to a 2-1 series lead against Carolina, but in the final three games of the Cup final, Vegas was outscored 12-5 as the Hurricanes thoroughly outplayed them.
There are many Knights players and employees who share the blame for that failure. That said, Vegas' top players didn't do their part to lead their team to championship glory in the final three games.
For example, in Games 4, 5 and 6, Vegas right winger Mitch Marner produced only one assist, and he was a minus-5 in those three games.
Don't get it twisted – the Golden Knights didn't lose because Marner and Marner alone failed the team. He was a Conn Smythe contender for the vast majority of the playoffs with a league-leading 29 points in 22 games.
But we've said it many times – Marner was always going to be judged by the number of Cups he wins, and while he came close, he's still searching for his first.
Vegas center Jack Eichel also had a subpar ending to the playoffs. He did have four assists in the series, but he was a minus-1 in three of the final four games against the Canes. After scoring 27 goals in the regular season, Eichel didn't have any goals against Carolina.
Like Marner, Eichel alone wasn't the reason Vegas lost the Cup final. But the contributing factors added up and carried over to the power play, where Vegas went 2-for-18 against a Hurricanes penalty kill that made a habit of embarrassing other teams' top players this post-season.
Finally, while Carter Hart gave Vegas three rounds of great goaltending, that changed in the Cup final.
Hart had a hiccup during three games in the first round, but after Game 5 against Utah, Hart posted a save percentage of .914 or better in 10 of the following 11 games.
Unfortunately for Vegas, in five of its final six games, Hart put up a save percentage of .879 or worse. The Hurricanes methodically picked Hart apart, and Tortorella had no viable options he was comfortable with using in relief of Hart.
It doesn't matter who you're facing in the Cup final – when your best players aren't your best players, and your netminding doesn't play well enough, you're not going to win a championship.
Vegas came achingly close to winning its second Cup in franchise history, but it will be extremely challenging for the Knights to run the table and win a Cup next year.
What's Next For The Golden Knights?
The Golden Knights are famous for their bold roster moves, but Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon is going to have a good deal of difficulty making major moves to improve his group for 2026-27.
The Knights have only $4.625 million in projected salary cap space, and of the 24 players who appeared in the playoffs, only 15 are under contract for next season.
Their biggest pending UFA, defenseman Rasmus Andersson, is going to get a hefty raise on the $4.55 million he earned this season. Pending RFA Pavel Dorofeyev, meanwhile, has arbitration rights and scored 37 goals this season on a $1.835-million cap hit. So McCrimmon can't spend his way into improving his team.
McCrimmon's consistent wheeling and dealing has left the Golden Knights with precious little trade capital. In the next three drafts, Vegas has just one first-round pick, zero second-rounders and two third-rounders. Their cupboard is nearly bare, so trading their way into being a better team also feels like a real long shot for the Knights unless they trade a core player.
Vegas also must figure out who is coaching the team next season.
Tortorella told reporters he still has to swallow the Cup final loss first. He joined the Golden Knights for the rest of this season, and that was it for the contract. If Tortorella doesn't return, then the Golden Knights have another issue to handle this summer.
We're not here to dump on Vegas. They're near the top of the NHL pyramid for good reason – they value winning at all costs, and they don't care what anyone thinks about them. You have to respect that.
However, the Knights' combination of veteran know-how and hunger for another Cup ran into a Hurricanes squad that matched them or was better than them in just about every regard.
Vegas is almost assuredly going to be a playoff team in 2026-27, but unless they win two more Cup final games next year, they're going to be seen as taking either a step backward or a lateral move.
So while the pressure on the Golden Knights is considerable immediately after losing the Cup final, it's only going to ratchet up from here.
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