The Vegas Golden Knights have always been a 'Manitoba-heavy' squad. With general manager Kelly McCrimmon never straying far from his Brandon Wheat Kings roots, players with connections to Brandon, the Wheats Kings, or even simply Manitoba on its own, have long been looked upon with favour in the eyes of the 62-year-old Canadian prairie boy.
No, McCrimmon is not a Manitoban himself, but he's about as honourary a member as one could get.
Growing up in Plenty - a tiny village in northwestern Saskatchewan - the now general manager of the NHL's second-newest franchise spent 30 years with the Wheat Kings before joining Vegas as an assistant in advance of the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, McCrimmon ultimately usurped GM GM - AKA George McPhee - of his role in 2019.
Selecting three Manitobans in that 2017 draft, McCrimmon's Manitoban fingerprints were all over the roster makeup since Day 1.
Over the club's six total NHL seasons, 11 players of Manitoba descent have suited up in action for the Golden Knights.
In 2022-23 alone, five players skated in at least one game for Vegas. On top of those 11 players all-time from Manitoba, five others with ties to the province (Logan Thompson, Jiri Patera, Laurent Brossoit, Peyton Krebs and Paul Stastney) have played for the team.
With less than 90 players ever having pulled on a Golden Knights sweater for a regular season NHL game, the percentage of Manitoban content is at an absolute premium in Vegas.
The club's current roster sees Mark Stone (Winnipeg), Keegan Kolesar (Winnipeg), Zach Whitecloud (Brandon), Brett Howden (Oakbank) and the injured Nolan Patrick (Winnipeg) all serving as key pieces with Stone as the team captain.
A quick look at Vegas' goaltending situation also points back to the middle province. Of the five rostered netminders, two have served as No. 1 starters with the Wheat Kings over the past 10 years: Logan Thompson (2014-18) and Jiri Patera (2018-20), while another (Laurent Brossoit) was the Jets backup from 2018-21.
Yes, thanks to Brossoit's injury it currently is Adin Hill leading the charge in goal, but Brossoit was instrumental in the Golden Knights' opening round win over his former mates.
Typically, that sort of roster makeup would have Manitobans cheering left, right and centre, but thanks to recent postseason failure by the hometown Jets (at the hands of Vegas in both 2018 and 2023), those demons live on within the city, foiling any sort of support.
Some also have a tough time getting behind a team that has found a way to 'manipulate' the NHL salary cap rule. With Vegas and Tampa Bay being repeat offenders to have players miraculously return from major injury in time for the postseason, neither club has been looked upon favourably when it comes to their usage of the long term injured reserve.
Although discretionary, the LTIR aspect does leave a bit of a bad taste in the mouths of those unable/unwilling to take full advantage of the league's set reserve.
Vegas' play since entering the league has been outstanding. Having made the playoffs in five of its six years, the team has been to the Stanley Cup once and the Conference Final on three other occasions.
Currently awaiting the winner of the Dallas Stars/Seattle Kraken second round matchup (Game 7 on Monday night), the Golden Knights will look to make it back to their first championship appearance since losing to Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.
Stone leads the way with five goals and 12 points in 11 playoff games, while Kolesar's team-leading 38 penalty minutes have him involved in nearly every post-whistle scrum, the Golden Knights enter third round play as an early Cup favourite.
An injured Carolina squad and a rebounding Panthers team will certainly pose a threat out of the East, but for now, Lord Stanley's mug is the 'Manitoba' Golden Knights' to lose.