From 'Misfits' to Champions - Golden Knights are Stanley Cup Champions

Golden Knights finish the story by winning Stanley Cup within owner's timeline.

Six years to win a Stanley Cup? Even with the best front office and management teams, that prediction seems a little insane. Let alone for an expansion team.

But that’s the vision Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley had right from the start.

The first set of Golden Knights, dubbed “Misfits” based on the idea that most were discarded from their old teams. Think of them like some isle of “Misfit” toys.

That team was magical. They captured the heart of the city after the tragic events of Oct. 1, 2017 and gave the city a sense of hope, pride and unity. Then the Golden Knights did something that nobody foresaw.

They made it to the Stanley Cup Final.

They lost in five games to the Washington Capitals, but that run set forth the run that became what ultimately became the capturing of hockey’s most valued trophy – the Stanley Cup – on June 13, 2023.

Nobody could really expect winning a Stanley Cup in six years could they? Well, the first season gave the Golden Knights something most teams would kill for: a championship window.

Misfits came and went. Replaced by talent clearly above the level that was available in that expansion draft. Moves to dispatch an original Misfit came with sadness, but it always came with the feeling like they were trying to win at all cost.

"A lot of guys have gone through, right? Yeah, you're a survivor. You don't think about it," said William Carrier, one of six players who stuck around from that original 2017-18 team. "They try to have a winning team every year. They try to bring people in and pieces that can help us win. They believed in us right off the bat.”

But season after season, the window started creeping toward closing. After reaching the Stanley Cup Final, the Golden Knights lost in the first round. That was followed by two consecutive years of disappointment in the conference finals when the world was mired in the COVID pandemic.

Then the Golden Knights missed the playoffs.

Some felt the window had shut. Others blamed man-games lost and predicted a bounce back if the Golden Knights could stay healthy.

The latter proved to be true.

This season, Vegas came out of the gates blazing with a 17-6-1 record through the first two months of the season. They remained steady until January where they went 4-6-2 and limped into the All-Star break.

But the break was much needed as Vegas regained form, finishing the season 21-4-5 to finish atop of the Pacific Division and Western Conference. Once again, the West went through Vegas.

The Golden Knights breezed through the Winnipeg Jets in the first round, winning the series 4-1.

Then came the challenge of stopping the best players in the world in the form of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. They rose to the occasion, winning the series 4-2.

Then after jumping out to a 3-0 lead, the Dallas Stars made it interesting, but then the Golden Knights played their best game of the playoffs to capture the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl Award – which they did not touch this time around.

In the final challenge, they faced the Florida Panthers, the last team that got into the playoffs and one that had toppled the best teams the Eastern Conference had to offer.

Would this run end like the one in 2018? The Golden Knights answered with a boisterous no.

They played well in all five games of the series and could have swept had it not been for some late heroics from the Panthers in Game 3.

With the 19,058 announced fans in T-Mobile Arena and thousands watching outside and at home, the Golden Knights closed out the Florida Panthers with a resounding 9-3 victory.

The team had gone from a band of “Misfits” to a well-constructed Stanley Cup champion.

Only six remain from the original team – Carrier, Williams Karlsson, Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault, Shea Theodore, and Brayden McNabb – and all were among the first to hoist the Stanley Cup after Vegas captain Mark Stone carried it.

“I didn't expect it, but I know that Reilly came to me and said that 'Stoney was going to give it to me and I'm going to give it to you,’” Marchessault said. “I was kind of shocked a little bit because we have so many vets in our locker room and guys that came in a different times in the past six years and have been huge for us. But it was definitely a great gesture and something that will go down as one of the classiest things I've seen. I'm super happy to be part of that for sure.”

The timeline was always seen in jest. Nobody took it seriously until it inched closer to reality. Now it is. Cup in Six? You bet.

"All of us, the Golden Knights, we're all winners," said Marchessault, who was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the postseason. "It's definitely the best feeling in the world."