What can the Carolina Hurricanes learn from new champions?

Every year, when a new champion is crowned, we begin to ponder the question: why them?

Often, the theorized answer is something like the size of the defense or elite goaltending or scoring depth.

And while all those things usually do help, 95% of the time the team that wins is the one that had the most luck along the way.

Because, for instance, Carolina's defense was just as big, Adin Hill ended up being the ultimate goaltender and Vegas' bottom six was having players shoot 16 to 28% through the postseason.

It's hard to really conflate any one or two things to a team's overall success, but here are three things the Vegas Golden Knights did that improved their odds, which the Carolina Hurricanes would do well to copy.

There has never been a star hockey player on the market that the Golden Knights didn't like.

They aggressively went after players like Max Pacioretty, Alex Pietrangelo, Jack Eichel and Mark Stone (Although to be fair, he wasn't a full-blown star yet in Ottawa) to supplement their group since they were never going to be able to add an organic superstar unless they were terrible for a long time.

Vegas routinely targeted that top-end talent they felt they needed and didn't worry too much about the cap situation. They made it work every time and it paid off.

Carolina has to be more aggressive in that department. They've reportedly been in deep on negotiations for players like Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk, but they need to be able to close the deal for these kinds of players.

Maybe it will destabilize their carefully laid out salary cap plans for a bit, but remember, Cups are forever. 

The Golden Knights marketed themselves as the scrappy, unwanted misfits in their first year in the league. It worked well for themselves and really gelled them to an identity.

However, that immediately went out the window after another year or two as Vegas showed they weren't afraid to move out good players and fan favorites such as the likes of Marc-Andre Fleury, Max Pacioretty, Alex Tuch and more.

They were all beloved players that had made them a good team, but the Golden Knights knew there were pieces out there that could make them even better.

Carolina is coming up on a lot of expiring deals and some hard decisions are going to come up. Everyone can't be brought back. Make the tough decisions, especially if it will create room for better players.

Whether you're $18 million or $14 million over the salary cap come playoff time, it doesn't matter. It's allowed and the record books will not care.

If you always play by the rules, you're going to get left behind.

Carolina has utilized a little bit of that LTIR cushion in each of the last two seasons, but when they had the ability to go way over - like how Vegas and other teams did - after the injury to Max Pacioretty, they should have taken the opportunity to do just that.

Use every tool at your disposal.

If you look at all four lines for the Golden Knights, they were perhaps the deepest forward group in the postseason.

And while nearly half of them were all on insane shooting percentage benders, they all forechecked well, were physical and contributed offensively too.

Carolina emphasized depth that can defend and while that has its uses, scoring is a much higher need. If your bottom-six can grind, great, but if your bottom-six can't score, you're going to be in trouble.

Now granted, Jesper Fast and Jordan Martinook really stepped up to the plate for Carolina these playoffs, but they needed more from the rest.

Vegas' roster is littered with former castoffs that found a role. That's how the team was formed. But in those castoffs, there were some players who've really elevated their games and become great producers.

Jonathan Marchessault, Chandler Stephenson, Nicholas Roy, William Carrier, and more made the Golden Knights able to roll all four lines and dominate opponents.

Carolina has followed a similar formula, looking for those diamond in the rough types and it's a way you can find inexpensive value in a hard-cap league. 

Keep doing that.