Former Vancouver Canucks defenseman Ben Hutton is part of a Vegas Golden Knights team looking for its first Stanley Cup championship
Roberto Luongo has been here before. For the second time in his career, the Florida Panthers Senior Advisor to the General Manager finds himself four wins away from a Stanley Cup Championship. This time, however, he'll have to watch from a private suite as opposed to being front and centre as he was when he was the Vancouver Canucks starting netminder in the 2011 Final.
Despite holding 2-0 and 3-2 series leads against Boston, Luongo and the Canucks came up a win short in their efforts a dozen years ago.
Luongo is far from the only one with Canucks connections vying for this year's title. Former Canuck defenseman Bryan McCabe is now Florida's Director of Player Personnel. And Zac Dalpe, a depth forward, who has appeared in 14 regular season games and has suited up in nine Panther playoff contests, spent the 2013-14 NHL season in Vancouver. In fact, the 33-year-old established single-season highs for games played (55), goals (4) and points (7) in his season in Canuck colours under John Tortorella.
Gustav Forsling, a 2014 Canucks fifth round draft choice, has developed into a mainstay on the Florida blueline. Forsling never played for the Canucks, but is certainly included on a list of those in this year's final with ties to the organization.
Vegas has its share of former Canucks on the ice, behind the bench and in the front office, too. Ben Hutton appeared in 31 regular season games for the Golden Knights and saw one game in each of the team's first two playoff series against Winnipeg and Edmonton. Now 30, Hutton broke into the NHL and played his first four big league seasons in Vancouver.
Sean Burke is the Golden Knights director of goaltending. The Canucks were one of nine teams he played for during his NHL career. His time in Vancouver was brief totalling just 16 games in the 1997-98 season.
And Vegas President George McPhee broke into NHL management with the Canucks serving as an assistant to then General Manager Pat Quinn in 1992. McPhee was in a management role when the Canucks went to the 1994 Stanley Cup Final against the New York Rangers.