William Carrier glanced across the Vegas Golden Knights locker room in any respect the expertise round him: main scorer Jonathan Marchessault, first-line middle Jack Eichel, captain Mark Stone and extra.

He marveled on the crew’s depth and what it has meant.

“It makes a good team, right?” Carrier mentioned. “It makes you win a lot of games.”

And, in the end, the Stanley Cup.

The Golden Knights are NHL champions for the primary time because of the deepest roster within the league, which allowed them to face up to accidents at each place and maintain a protracted playoff run. They acquired manufacturing from 20 gamers over 4 rounds, vanquishing Winnipeg, Edmonton, Dallas after which Florida within the remaining with waves of expertise that overwhelmed every opponent.

“Our depth has been a strength all year,” first-year coach and first-time Stanley Cup winner Bruce Cassidy mentioned. “(Opponents) might have some better players or a better penalty kill or power play or goaltender - now we’re starting to see that our guys are pretty good, too. I do believe it’s been the big strength of our team. I just think it’s been really good for us.”

Cassidy mentioned in the midst of the ultimate he thought Vegas had the most effective crew in hockey “from player 1 through 20.” That’s exhausting to argue with now, after the Boston Bruins (the crew Cassidy coached to 6 playoff appearances earlier than firing him final yr) misplaced to Florida within the first spherical following their record-setting common season.

The Golden Knights eradicated the Panthers in 5 video games, profiting from their 4 sturdy ahead strains and three large defenseman pairings who made life as straightforward as potential on journeyman goaltender-turned stalwart Adin Hill, himself a primary instance of that depth after being a second-round harm alternative. With solely 12 ahead spots to fill, Phil Kessel - a two-time Stanley Cup winner in Pittsburgh - and commerce deadline pickup Teddy Blueger have been wholesome scratches.

“You have enough good guys here to make five lines,” mentioned Carrier, considered one of six unique Knights gamers left from their inaugural season in 2017-18 that ended with a loss within the remaining. “We just roll them. Some nights, some lines will have better nights than others, and they step up their games and it’s great to have. Anyone can score at any point, and everyone plays well.”

Vegas is simply the fifth crew for the reason that wage cap period began in 2005-06 to have three gamers rating 10 or extra objectives throughout a postseason. It’s the one crew this yr to have 4 participant with eight or extra.

But it wasn’t nearly scoring. The Golden Knights allowed lower than three objectives per sport and punished opponents with calculated physicality, a advantage of the depth that ensured nobody participant needed to be overextended.

“Everyone’s got to give a little bit,” mentioned defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, now a two-time Cup winner after captaining St. Louis to its first championship in 2019. “We’ve all done that, and we all understand that maybe giving up a couple minutes to each other’s going to keep the energy up throughout the game.”

Pietrangelo, crucial free agent signing in franchise historical past on a $61 million, seven-year deal in 2020, known as this the deepest crew he has ever been on.

How deep? Hill was considered one of 5 completely different goalies to win a sport this season for Vegas. Since changing injured starter Laurent Brossoit in Game 3 in opposition to the Oilers, Hill has gone 11-4 with the most effective goals-against common and save share within the playoffs.

“He’s played well all year for us,” Pietrangelo mentioned. “All of our goalies have played well regardless of who’s in here. It’s a credit to him for being prepared when he did come in there a few series ago.”

Five years after a loss to the Capitals allowed the visiting locker room to be the scene of a Cup-winning celebration, president of hockey operations George McPhee and Kelly McCrimmon, his assistant who was promoted to run the day-to-day present as common supervisor, have been working towards this second. McCrimmon mentioned the entrance workplace knew the inaugural season success was “lightning in a bottle” and took large swings so as to add Pietrangelo, Stone, Eichel and others in constructing a championship-caliber roster.

That course of concerned saying goodbye to beloved goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and making some powerful selections alongside the way in which.

“If you have these jobs and you want to avoid the hard decisions, you probably shouldn’t have these jobs,” McCrimmon mentioned. “But it’s been a process that’s, I think, been calculated. I think it’s been based on good decisions made for the right reasons.”

The cause, the top aim, was to win the Stanley Cup. Depth made it occur.

Copyright © 2023 The Washington Times, LLC.

Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com