The Hockey PDOcast - Breaking Down the Vegas Golden Knights Stanley Cup Run

Episode Date: June 15, 2023

Jesse Granger joins Dimitri to break down the run the Vegas Golden Knights went on en route to winning the 2023 Stanley Cup, and all of the key contributions they got along the way.This podcast is produced by Dominic Sramaty. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

dressing to the mean since 2015. It's the Hockey P.D.O.cast with your host, Dmitri Filipovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEOCast. My name is Dimitri Philopovich. And as promised, joining me today is my good buddy, Jesse Granger. Jesse, what's going on in? Not much. Anything new happening?

Right. Well, it's the summer of Jesse, right? First, your Denver Nuggets win the NBA title. And then the Vegas Golden Knights, the team you cover on a day-to-day basis, win the Stanley Cup final in a 24-hour window. essentially. It's quite a, yeah, quite a run for you. Yeah, what a stretch. I, if you look back to the last week, because I actually got to go to game three between the Nuggets and Heat because, I mean, the craziness of that, right? Like, I'm a Nuggets fan. They've never been to the NBA final ever in

franchise history. The one time they go, I just happened to be in the city because I'm covering the cup final there. So I got to go to in a matter of four days. I went to four championship games, whether it was Cup finals or NBA finals. And then, like you said, my team, wins it one night and then the team I cover wins at the very next night. It's been a pretty crazy weekend. Yeah, that's what it's all about. Very exciting. Okay, here's a plan for today. So we're going to put a bow on the 2023 postseason. We're going to commemorate Vegas's thoroughly dominant run, really from start to finish on route to winning the Stanley Cup. I've noted these stats a few times, just for the sake of posterity. So we have it here

as a time capsule. They outscored their four opponents, 66 to 33 of 5-1-5. They led for 49% of their game time in this postseason trailed for just. 20%. They won nine and their 16 games by three or more goals in, in blowout fashion. And so let's try to break it all down in terms of how they did it and kind of celebrating all of the individual contributions along the way that played a role in getting that done. You know, and thinking about this in hindsight, I guess you certainly, when it was two, two against Edmonton, particularly the Oilers had played so well in that game before. I thought, you know, that series could have really gone either way.

I never really thought even though Dallas won those two games to claw back into that series that they ever really tested Vegas, or at least put a scare into them. Really, you have to go back to like the game, was it the start of the postseason, right? And like in hindsight, that game won against Winnipeg where they only had 17 shots on goal and lost 5-1.

And then it started off slowly in game two as well before finally kind of getting it together in the second and third period of that game. That's kind of like in its own little time capsule of, it was one of the most dominant playoff runs I can remember and against the worst team that probably made the postseason out of either conference, was the one to like just at the start catch them kind of sleeping a little bit.

That was the only time they trailed in a series was one nothing against Winnipeg. And I went back to look at it. In game two, they were getting outshot 22 to 12 at one point before they finally scored a goal and then got back into that game as well. Yeah. It's, uh, it's funny because I'm, I'm literally like in the middle of writing a piece right now. It'll probably come out around the same time as this podcast about just how dominant this team was.

It's, it's incredible because of how undominant they, were in the regular season. Like they, they won a bunch of games as the, the one seed, but they, they weren't a dominant team. And I even have a quote from Bruce Cassidy,

kind of towards the end of the regular season that was like, we don't dump truck teams. Like, we don't, we, we just kind of win here and there. And then, and then they scored nine goals to win the Stanley Cup.

So it's, it was a pretty wild run. And it's just, they just played the best hockey of their lives for two months. And it was, and they just like it happened. We see it all the time in hockey. Like it usually just doesn't happen in this two months. So, I mean, they deserve all the credit.

It was a, it was an incredible run. Well, I think for for most fans, part of why the Stanley Cup final felt so anti-climactic or I guess like devoid of any real drama is just because, you know, much like the rest of the postseason for Vegas, they really just took care of business in such decisive fashion. And, you know, the game five clincher on Tuesday night in particular. is sort of like a perfectly fitting final note to hit in that regard because it's one-one. But then as you get into that second period, they just emphatically close the door on the Panthers

and really just like punch an exclamation point on that series to the point where, you know, it was a one-sided beat down. I think in the final four games, the score sometimes didn't reflect it because Brovsky's game three and four had played so well. But I had the scoring chances, as I've noted previously, game one, 18 to 16 for Vegas, Game 2, 22 to 16 for Vegas. Game 3, 17 to 9. Game 4, 18 to 6.

Game 5, 21 to 8. And you could sort of see that once we got into that game 2, and that was a blowout itself, the series really shifted. Vegas started to assert itself. And I guess I want to start this conversation with you kind of how they did it, right? Because you and I, the first show we did together this season

was all the way back at the start of November. It was about like 10 games into the season. And we had a whole section. I went back and listened to it in preparation for this about Bruce Cassidy's system that he was installing, how he had come in and he wanted to fundamentally change the way they play, particularly in the defensive zone. But I think you could see it in the offensive zone as well,

that mentality of we used to be a dominant shot quantity team, right? You'd look up at the scoreboard, Vegas would be out shooting teams 35 to 21, but they only had two goals and they were losing somehow. And it's like, all right, we want to get away from that. We want to actually control the important areas in both zones. And we want to become more of a shot quality team. And that's easier said than done certainly. But you could see as this postseason went along that impact and kind of how they had changed the way they played.

And so I wanted to get into that with you a little bit here in terms of how Bruce Cassidy goes about. I'm not sure if you've had conversations with him on it. But, you know, it helps that he's a year one coach in terms of coming in and having like a fresh message, right? And it's sort of a clean slate with a lot of the players. But also it is a very veteran group as well. Right. And so getting these guys to change their tendencies in. zones and kind of what they're trying to do, I imagine was a pretty big undertaking, right?

It's not like you're kind of taking over this young team that's still learning how to play in the NHL. These are a lot of players who have had individual success previously in different stops, and now you're forcing them to play an entirely different way than they played last year. Yeah, I think in the defensive zone, it was a lot easier. It was because of just the player's tendencies and it was just an easier sell. It was working. They have a really good blue line. I mean, the Golden Knights, that's the strength of this team is it's blue line and how deep it is. Alex Petrangelo and Alec Martinez are a phenomenal top pair with tons of experience. They've been in a million situations. They just won

their third and second Stanley Cups. The second pair with Shea Theodore and Braden McNabb. That can be a top pair for half the teams in the league. I mean, they're really, really good. And Theodore wasn't great throughout the playoffs, but he did get better as it went on in the cup final. He was very good. And then Nick Hague and Zach White Cloud on the bottom pair is, that's a second pair. That's a second for a lot of hockey teams and a second pair that they're pumped with that they they and at times for the golden nights when Theodore was struggling they were essentially Vegas's second pair they like they played a lot of even strength minutes because of all the the the special teams time that Patrangelo and Martinez and Theodore play so roster wise personnel wise their blue line is phenomenal

and then you give them this zone defense that we talked about before that Bruce Cassidy installed where he doesn't ask them to leave the front of the net they just stay there. They don't stray. They don't chase guys. They don't go into the corners for battles much. They let the wingers do that. They let the center do that.

They protect the front of the net. And I think the mentality of it's like these guys could always protect the front of the net physically, right? Like they didn't change physically. They didn't get stronger. What happened is when you don't ever move and you just stay there and you're just, it's drilled into you all season long for 82 games, this is your area. No one goes here. That change in mentality suddenly creates.

created a defense that no one could get to the middle against. And the first two game, the first two series, Winnipeg and Edmonton, they don't have big strong forward presence that get to the front of the net. They try to beat you with more speed and skill. So that didn't really challenge it as much. Then you get to Dallas, who does this as good as anyone. And Joe Pavelski and Jason Robertson gets to the front. They've got so many big strong forwards like Jamie Ben that get to the front.

And Vegas didn't allow them to do it at all. Joe Pavelsky was invisible in that series. I can't remember a single deflection by Joe Pavelsky, which is like, when does that happen? He goes six games without a deflection. And then you get to Florida, who I was like, you know what? This is like the next step up. You're playing a video game. This is the next level.

Can you keep Matthew Kachuk and these guys that have just been owning the front of the net? Can you keep them out? And they did exactly that. They were so strong in front of their net. They didn't allow any pucks or players to get into that area very often. So I think that's a huge key defensively. And then when you look at the other end, to me, that's where the, the, the Bruce Cassidy's task of controlling the front of the net in the offensive zone, that was a much bigger ask, a much more challenging change for him to make in this team. Because like you said, the Golden Knights under Pete DeBoer, they would own all the shots.

But every game, we'd ask Pete, what went wrong when you lost? And he says, we didn't control the front of the net. We didn't get bodies there. We didn't get second chances. We didn't get deflections. We didn't get screens. We made it too easy on their goalie. So the roster didn't change much, but what I think really helped for Bruce Cassidy was he decided about midway through the season. I think he probably had this in his mind in training camp, but it really implemented about halfway through the season where he said, every line is going to have somebody who just crashes the net. And you look at the Golden Knights lines, and they're definitely created in a unique way. He didn't load up his top line and then put his next three best players on the second line. And the third line, I mean, basically he created three lines that are equal offensive lines.

I mean, the first line with Eichel and Marcia So, they did all the scoring in the playoffs. And Ivan Barbashev was very good. But Barboshev is not a player that typically plays on a first line. But Bruce Cassidy put him there as the, look, Ikele and Marcia, so you can play on the perimeter. You can make plays. You can do your skilled offensive stuff. Barbashev, when we get in the offensive zone, you are a wrecking ball to the front of the net. And it worked.

second line built similarly. Chandler Stevenson and Mark Stone, phenomenal players, but they don't, they're not real net front guy. Stone does it on the power play, but he's not a big net front guy. He put Brett Howden on that line and said, look, Brett, I know you were a skilled guy in junior. It hasn't worked out in the NHL. You're not scoring the type of goals that maybe you thought you would when you were drafted in the first round. We want you to change your game and crash the front of the net. And then when Brett Howden does it in the regular season and suddenly he's scoring all these goals because Mark Stone,

is brilliant and just puts the puck on your stick. It's like, how do you not score the goal? It's a lot easier to go to those areas and take that punishment because going to that area sucks, right? There's a reason nobody. It sucks to go there. But when you're getting rewarded with goals and you're playing on top six minutes with Mark Stone and Chandler Stevenson, suddenly it's like, this is awesome.

I'll do whatever. I'll take as many cross checks as I need to. So now you've got Brett Howden doing it. On the third line, or I mean, you can call them whatever order you want, but the third line we're going to talk about William Carlson and Riley Smith have played together forever. more perimeter speed, skilled players. He put Michael Amadio on that line. And he's again, kind of like Brett Howden.

He didn't do this his whole career. And honestly, Phil Kessel, he got to do this at certain points during the season. He convinced these guys that you, you aren't skilled enough to play on this line and try to score skilled goals. But we're going to put you on this line. You're going to crash the front of the net. And it's going to create havoc.

And it's going to create goals. And it did. Amadio did it. Howden did it. Kessel did it at times. Barboshev did it. And then the fourth line is three guys that they all crashed front of the net. Walk, Harry, you don't have to tell them, Colossar.

That's what they do. But I was super impressed with the way Cassidy built this lineup with one guy on each line who's all their job is, is to that center lane drive and transition to open up space for the other guys. And then once we're set up in the offensive zone, you're living in front of that net and taking as much punishment as it takes to get the goals. And they did. And I think that was the most interesting part of their success in watching them play this postseason was that concerted effort, whether it was tactical or whether it was getting the players

to buy into certain roles that they installed here along the way, right? Because when you watch them play, it was clear that there was something intentional about what they were trying to accomplish. And then obviously, like, teens can go into these games hoping to do something and then you run into a roadblock or an opposition and maybe you don't have a way to go about and then you wind up reverting back to all tendencies. their execution was obviously through the roof throughout this postseason at both ends of the ice. But there was something so satisfying to me about seeing that play out because often we don't

necessarily talk about hockey in that kind of like X's and O's scheme perspective, the way we might about football or about basketball, right? We break those plays down on more sort of minute, like plays in certain zones. Whereas in hockey, we're like, all right, well, you know, you have to kind of embrace the chaos of the sport. It's so free-flowing. It's so fast. There's so much craziness happening.

You can't really like meticulously control it in that way. And then you have this team that clearly by design goes, all right, we were playing one way previously. We need to change that. And then actually pulls it off and does it en route to winning a Stanley Cup. And to me that like from a storytelling perspective and also like seeing it tactically, like that that that is a cool thing that happened. Yeah. And you know what? Florida on the other side, they didn't get it done in the final, but they were very similar.

Like Paul Marie's lots of stories about how this team like, yeah, they won the president's trophy, but they weren't playing the kind of hot. that wins in the playoffs. They needed to be more direct. They needed to be stronger in front of their nets. And they ran into a team that was that was just stronger than them in front of the nets. But I think the Panthers are a similar story. And if they had come out on top, if if, if things had gone their way in the final, I think it'd be, it'd be similar of a team that was very skilled and very talented, but maybe wasn't, wasn't going to the areas. And like, you look at Dom decision wrote a great piece on the PDO of how Vegas was like super lucky. that's why. I mean, like, yes, they got some fortunate bounces, but in hockey, you make your own luck.

And if you are in front of the net and you're controlling that area, your, your PDO is going to be high because the other team isn't going to score a lot of goals because they're not getting to the good areas. All their shots are coming from the outside. So your safe percentage is high. So you're safe percentage is high. And then if you have a bunch of guys in front of the net, you're going to score rebounds. You're going to score tips. You're going to score off of screens. So you're shooting percentage is going to be high. So yes, I think you could argue they had some fortunate something. I mean, every team that wins a championship has fortune. But Vegas, because they were so strong in front of each net, that's a huge, huge factor as to why the PDO was so high, and the safe percentage was so high, and so was the shooting percentage. Well, and another element of that is they were playing from ahead in advantageous positions so often, and I think that allows you to be more selective offensively, for example, as well, right?

If you're like up and you're not, you're not just necessarily trying to, like, throw everything at the net and trying to frantically tie a game up or get back into it, you're allowed to sort of be more methodical offensively in terms of passing up shots you might have taken previously in a more hurried state for like great A looks. And we saw that time and time again where they would like get into the zone and then they would sort of work it around and wait for someone to come up, pop up in a slot and all of a sudden they would get a great A look. And that's just not a way they were necessarily playing previously.

And part of that is the luxury of when you're dominating the way they have on the scoreboard, you get into those spots far more often. And I think that's an important part of it as well. So yeah, I mean, you mentioned if Florida had had more success, we'd be talking about them that way. They obviously did not have that success in this series. And I don't think that is accidental either because much like the stars in the previous round before them, to me, they, like I cited all those scoring chance numbers. They demonstrated no real ability to pierce through that Vegas defensive structure. And that was something that they had done so well in previous rounds against, you know, the Leafs, the Bruins, the hurricanes through the Eastern Conference.

and you could just sort of see that Vegas was giving them no access in the middle of the ice, right? And they had no way of getting through there. And then as the series went along, that reality started to kind of seep into them. And obviously, you know, Matthew Kachukh getting hurt, eliminated one potential problem solver for them. But as the series went along, they started to, like the Vegas defense almost turned Florida's offense into like the Carolina Hurricanes offense because they gave them nothing. where they wanted it and they kept pushing them to the outside and so Florida just eventually kind of gave up and was like all right well I guess we'll just take these point shots and we'll bomb away from the point with our defensemen because we have no other recourse we're not going to

get anything else and once that happened Vegas had already won like the mental warfare but also in terms of tactically what they are forcing to do because that's not Florida did not play that way previously in the postseason right you watch that series against the hurricanes the hurricanes are dominating the shot quantity and they're getting all of these point shots. But then Florida just goes back to the other end, gets a great A look and scores on it. And that just, they got almost like Vegas, always flipped that on her head in this series. And you could tell they were rock. They just had no way to kind of deal with that.

And that's a full credit to Vegas for forcing them into that position. Yeah. And that's why Aiden Hill's stats are so spectacular. And I was just on another podcast. And they had a mailbag question that, a listener that wanted to, take, revoke my goalie card from the goalie union because I didn't have Aiden Hill on my top three for my Kahn Smythe ballot. And listen, I love Aden Hill. I think if, and I said, if there were four spots on my ballot, he would have been the fourth. I just didn't think he was the most valuable

player on the team because the defense was so phenomenal that his stats were inflated because he got a lot of shots from the outside. And not only were they from the outside, but he saw him clean because this defense was so good that they weren't just forcing the shots out. there. They were forcing them out for, to come from outside without a screen, without a deflection, without someone sitting in front waiting for a juicy rebound. So, um, Aiden Hill was phenomenal. He played as well as you could possibly ask, especially a guy of his caliber, of his, of his, of his reputation, of his career standing, whatever you want to say. He did his job as well as you could ask. I just don't think his job was as difficult as Jack Eichols or Jonathan

Marcia. So, so that was, um, my thoughts on it. And it's for all the reasons you, you just went over. Yeah, I had, so by round, this is the percentage of shots Florida's defensemen took on their team totals, round one against Boston, 38.6, round two against Toronto, 38.2, round three in the East Final against Carolina, 33.4. They were just relying on their forwards so much more to get shots in tight. In the Stanley Cup final, 45.7. And it was almost an even split. And that to me is the story of the series. They were just getting pushed further and further out. And then even when they did get in tight, the shot block totals in the series were 123 to 66 for Vegas. And so even if they would pop up in the slot and get a look and be like,

all right, we're finally broke through that structure, there'd just be someone standing there to either disrupt it or block it or for, you know, rush of miss. Like, and that's not to take away from Ait Hill because he certainly made some exceptional stops when he was tested one on one. But the degree of difficulty in terms of what they asked him to do was minimize and that's that's credit to Vegas' defense, not a knock against A&L. I think that's a fair way to view it. Right, for sure.

Yeah, I mean, this team blocked the most shots all year long. Alec Martinez is an absolute monster when it comes to blocking shots. And Zach White Cloud is just following in his footsteps. Like he's learning from him. He's going to basically be the next Alec Martinez, I think. And I mean, it was funny because the team, Bruce Cassidy came up with his little catchphrase for the postseason. It hurts to win. And they all were wearing it like the players printed out T-Shouse.

shirts with it on the back of it with the cup and it hurts to win over it and they were all wearing it in the locker room throughout the postseason and they really bought into that blocking shots. I mean, this team's blocked shots for a while, but it ramped up this season and then it ramped up even more in the postseason. It was and it's so frustrating, right? Like there's nothing more frustrating than a team blocking all your shots. Like offensively, just every chance you create, it's going right off the guy's shin pads a foot in front of you.

It's just, it's demoralizing. It's frustrating. And they did that to every team they played. The other note that I had that I want to ask you about was the second periods, right? That was a theme all postseason for them where they outscored opponents 34 to 11, I believe, in second periods. And in the Stanley Cup final, it was also where they distanced themselves from the Panthers. I think they outscored them 10 to 3 in second periods in this series. Games four and five, I mean, game five in particular, obviously, where, you know, it was just a, it was a masterclass in,

they just stacked one shift of top another. They put the, they put the Panthers on the mat and just didn't let them up and just punish them and eventually broke through, scored a bunch of goals, put that game away. Have you talked to Bruce Cassie at all about sort of what leads to that specific success?

Because obviously with the long change, I think there's some certain elements where their depth and their player interchangeability, right, where Florida was so concerned all series about how they use their fourth line. and then when they had injuries, even their third line, in terms of not getting them out on the ice in certain matchups against certain Vegas players,

whereas Bruce Cassidy was very comfortable, oh, if my fourth line, actually, I'm just going to start my fourth line against Matthew Kajek's line, right? Like, I'm cool with that matchup. In the second period, when the long change, you potentially get caught on these extended shifts deep in your zone, I think just having more players that you're cool with,

like not feeling like they're vulnerable or reliability certainly plays into that. But do we just view that as kind of like a random thing? or is that actually kind of like an embodiment of what made this team so good, and that's why they were able to use these second periods to their advantage. Yeah, and it's really interesting because actually in the regular season, the second period was their worst of the three. And specifically early in the year,

I can remember we were asking Bruce Cassidy in press conferences after games, what do you think's wrong in the second period? Because they were getting beat in second periods. And that got better and better as the regular season went on. And they ended up at the end of the season, they outscored the opposition 85 to 82 in second period. But that's still their worst. I mean, in the first period,

they outscored them 87 to 57. They outscored teams by 30 goals in the first period. So the second period was their worst. But then in these playoffs, it was very good. And I think it's a lot of the reasons you just said depth and being able to roll over lines. And because of that long change, you can one shift,

if you can hold it in the offensive zone, blends into the next, blends into the next. And it's just a shooting gallery. I think the fourth line plays a big role in that, not just because they're a strong fourth line. Like, yes, I think they're probably one of the better fourth lines in the league. And you need that to win a Stanley Cup. But I think it's specifically their ability to hold on to pucks in the corners.

Like Nick Waugh is brilliant at it. Like once he's got the puck and he's got his body between him, the puck and the defender, you can't get it off him. He's got a long reach. He's strong, especially his lower body. He holds guys off well. He'll just hold the puck forever down there. And then he sends it over to William Carrier, who's a wrecking ball.

Like, how are you going to get the puck off that guy's stick? And then he sends it over to King Colissar, who's another big, strong forward with enough hands, enough puck skills to hold on to pucks. They flipped the flow of play for this team so often. And like even in game five, like, yes, they won nine to three. But early in the first period and early in the second period, Florida was getting the better of the play. Like Florida had the majority of possession.

And then Cassidy would send the fourth line over the boards. They'd get the puck. They'd get it into the neutral zone. They'd throw it deep. They'd win the race down there. And then they would hold it for the entire shift. And the other team couldn't get it off them. Then you suddenly, you pass it back to a Petrangelo.

He holds onto it. You get a line change. And now you've got one of these dangerous offensive lines. And like you said, they're interchangeable. And I mentioned earlier, the way Cassidy built these lines, he's got three top lines, essentially. And if you can get to, defunds, tired defenders and wear them out with that fourth line. They're probably not going to score.

They don't get the puck to the middle very often. They're holding it along the boards the whole time. But they tire you out and then they get a change. And now suddenly your next three shifts are you're defending against Jack Michael and Jack Eichael and Jonathan Marshall. So then Mark Stone and Chandler Stevenson, then William Carlson and Riley Smith. And you're tired and you're trying to get a change in the long. Like you're in trouble.

If that fourth line can hold you, hold the puck deep and get a change, you are now, in trouble for the next three shifts. And we saw that quite a bit in that final game. Yeah, we did. Yeah, it was really fun to watch the way they were. It was kind of blend one shift into another that way. It was hockey at its finest. All right, Jesse, let's take a break here. And then when we

get back, I want to talk to you more about some of these individual performances and kind of highlight them. And we can talk about the cons might as well, because I've got a few thoughts on that. You're listening to the Hockey Kethast streaming on Sportsnet Radio Network. Your number one spot for Flames coverage can be found on Flames Talk with me, Pat Steinberg. inclusive interviews, trusted insiders, and the latest news.

Listen live weekday afternoons and four or stream the Flames Talk podcast on demand. All right, we're back here with Jesse Granger talking about the Vegas Golden Knights and how they won the Stanley Cup final. Jesse, let's talk about, um, well, okay, let's talk about the cons might because Jonathan Marshall won, right? And I think from like a storytelling perspective, it was certainly a delicious plot twist, right? It comes in the Stanley Cup final against this team that sort of carelessly just discarded him. seven years ago in the expansion draft. From a statistical perspective, there's also a very fair argument.

In the first seven games, this postseason, he has just zero goals to assist. Then in the final 15, he has 13 goals, 10 assists. With him on the ice at 515, they're up 24 to 7. You know, he had the most scoring chances

of anyone in the team. He was very opportunistic in converting them, scored some huge goals along the way. I get all that. I was a bit surprised to see that 13 out of 18 voters voted him for first because I thought it would be a bit closer between him and Jack Eichael, Jack Eichael, I think got all five of the other ones. But I kind of, I want to talk to you about the process of the consummate voting in terms of like how the voting process comes together,

then like the contingencies in place, how it all plays out over the course of that final game because I think like a peek behind the curtain for listeners might be interesting. Yeah, it's kind of cool. So it's the way it works is for every potential clinching game. So we only had one in this series, obviously, because Vegas closed it out at its first chance. But for every game that could possibly be the last one, with 10 minutes left in the third period,

we all have to submit our votes. So there's 18 of us, a couple from Vegas, a couple from Florida, and then the rest are national writers. And you have to submit your three picks with 10 minutes left in the third, and you're allowed to write contingencies on it. So, for example, you could write, okay, I have Marsha, so one, Iicle two, Hill three.

But if Hill gets a shutout, he moves up to one. Or you could put, or if Ikel scores the game winner, he moves up to one. And then they will, they will, because you have to do it early, they will take that into account. And they'll tally all the votes. And then if that contingency that you wrote ends up happening, they'll switch your ballot and before they add them all up. So it's a cool way to, so that they can do it quickly. because obviously they like there's not a lot of time when the buzzer ends I mean they bring the

consomite out before they even bring the Stanley Cup out so it's it's got to be quick so that's their way of of getting all those votes in while still allowing you the chance because like in this series it wasn't really like if if the game was one one going into the the final 10 minutes of the game and the next goal is a massive goal like it was a close race between ickel and marsha so if if it's one one going into the third and one of those two scores the goal that wins them the Stanley Cup. It absolutely could swing it. So they allow you to take that into consideration with your vote even without actually doing it by kind of saying, okay, if this happens, I want to change my vote, basically. So I didn't have any contingencies

on mine because I felt like by the, I mean, with 10 minutes left, it was already pretty much over. Whatever happens from here out, like it doesn't really matter to my vote. And Stone, I had Stone third. Stone did get his hat trick after the 10 minutes. So that did happen. but that wasn't going to change my order. So, yeah, it was, it was interesting. Second time I've had the honor of voting on it. I did it the first year, and I voted for Ovechkin in that one. And that was a tough one, too, between Ovechkin and Kuznetsov.

So some, and Vegas, I mean, this one, I tweeted it out after I submitted my ballot. It speaks to how good this team was as a team that I think there were five legitimate cons my, like, and when I say, like eight-tell, William Carlson weren't on my ballot, I'm not saying they're legitimately top three. I'm saying you could make an argument for either to win the whole thing. Like, I think William Carlson has a legitimate argument to win the consmite. And same for Aden Hill. They had five guys that could have won it. And I was only allowed to pick three. And it was a really tough decision that I, like, I'm agonizing over it in the third period before that 10 minute mark.

I'd be so curious to see what like the most sort of niche convoluted contingency would be like, all right, if this one very specific event happens. I'm totally changing by vote. That'd be a fun story to uncover. You know, I'm with you. Like, I think, and that's the, that's the thing because for me, I wouldn't have personally had Marsha's, number one on my list. And it's not because he did anything wrong.

He was absolutely phenomenal this postseason and he was so clutch for them. I just had, and we'll talk more about what whom I pick would have been. But, you know, you really could make that case for four or five guys and that kind of certainly complicates. It also tells you about the depth of this team and sort of why they were able to be so successful, the breakdown of 5-1-5 scoring by unit for them this postseason, line 1, 18 goals, line 2, 16 goals, line 3, 16 goals. So in that case, it doesn't matter who you have at line 2 or 3.

They had the same amount, line 4, 8, and then their defense had 8. And so, and then you go like leading scorers in all situations, 26, 25, 24, or the three leading scores. Like, it is about as evenly packed as you're going to get. So I had no issue with Marshallsau winning. I did have an issue with no one giving wild vicarious. Gil Carlson a single top three vote because he would have been my pick for this award. And I get that it wasn't necessarily the flashiest choice.

And his usage came down a bit in this Stanley Cup final. They weren't necessarily hard matching them against Florida's top players the way they had been previously. I just thought that the totality of his work and especially early in the postseason, what he did for this team in allowing Marsh Soanichael to cook offensively was so important. because without him and without him winning those minutes particularly, I think this could look a bit different, right? All of a sudden, oh, McDavid's roasting us.

Oh, Rupa Hintz is roasting us. Now these guys either have to play tougher minutes or what they're doing doesn't matter as much because we're still losing. And so in this case, I just thought what Carlson did certainly weren't at top three, but I get it, right? Like there's so many deserving candidates that I don't think anyone viewed it as disrespect against his own candidacy. I just would have, like, I valued, I guess,

what he did more than maybe others did. Yeah, I totally agree with you that he was phenomenal. And I did not feel good, not having Carlson in my top three. Because I was honestly going into the final, I was the one saying, I think he's the favorite to win it. And I think what hurt Carlson's cons my candidacy is just that his shining moments came too early. They came against McDavid in the second round, to a lesser extent, but against Rupert-Henson

in the conference final. And then in the cup final, he didn't have the moment. that Marcia So and Eichael had and obviously Stone in game set or game five. So it, I think he was phenomenal. I think recency bias hurts him, I think. And I don't want to call it recency bias because that implies that it's not like that you shouldn't have it. I do think that as the playoffs go, the like at least for me, for my cons,

my vote, as it goes on, I place more importance on on. I have a weighted scale where the, I wait the cup final more than I do the first round or the second round, the third round. And even the clinching game. Like I think Jack Eichel had three assists in the clinching game, but they weren't like spectacular assists. They were just, he just was the last guy to touch it. If he had, if those three assists were like the one,

the one he fed Marcia So for the one timer in front. If you had three of those, I probably would have voted Jack Eichel for, cons to me, it was between those two. And I ended up going Marcia So because Jack Eichel was phenomenal all over the ice, but he didn't score for 12 games. Like he didn't score in the last 12 games. And Marsha So did.

He scored all the goals and the timeliness of Marsha's goals. To me, every time the Golden Knights needed a goal and like you look back to this. And they didn't have a lot of drama in these playoffs. And they didn't have a lot of adversity that they faced. And I think a big reason for it was Jonathan Marsha. So every time there could have been adversity. Oh my God. They're down a goal going into the last couple minutes.

He scores. it's tied going into the third. He comes out and scores a goal. It's like he was the biggest reason they avoided adversity in these playoffs. And it's just that for me, it was not so much the total as it was when I think back on this playoff run, who was the guy that just delivered every time they needed it? It was Jonathan Marcia.

So that was why he ended up getting my vote. No, that's a, I mean, it's a very compelling case. I just, man, Carlson, the totality of nine five-on-five goals, five-on-five assists, all primary. Opponents had five goals total against him all postseason. The list of players he played against without taking a single penalty, I just thought, like, when he was on the ice, and I think at the end of game four, Mark Stone had a quote about this. Like, you know, if I had an important defensive zone shift, I'd be throwing Carlson out there, too. just it felt like whenever he was out there, there was a level of

kind of comfort or calmness or confidence that like everything was going to be okay. And sometimes in these games, you can get very scattered, you know, and chaos ensues and one thing leads to another and you don't know what just happened, the puck's in the back air net.

And it really felt like that never would happen when William Carlson was out there because he was in such complete control of the play. And so I just, I thought it was phenomenal. I wanted to mention it because he didn't get any top three votes, but number one in our hearts. William Carlson.

Mark Stone, I thought he was the best player in the Stanley Cup final. Five goals, four assists in the five games. He led all players with 22 scoring chances that he either had or set up himself. And the game five, you mentioned the hatcherick and the clincher, was the cherry on top, right? It really kind of felt like it doubled as like a career achievement or like a night of celebrating Mark Stone, right, along the way because he was just so dominant and he did it in such Mark Stone fashion to even one of the three goals he didn't score.

Like he strips Aaronickblad clean at the blue line and then he goes in for a break on the actual hatcher goal, which is an empty netter from his own zone. It's like a sweet little takeaway that he jumps in the passing lane and picks it off before scoring. It was just the entire series.

It felt like everything he did was in the most Mark Stone fashion and it was very on brand. And so I guess it was really cool. I was personally very happy as a big fan of his game to see him get that moment. especially what he's been through not only with the injuries,

but also how his past couple postseason runs had ended in very unspectacular fashion. I just thought that this was the culmination of years of excellence, and it was really cool to see him get that shine. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. You put it very well. This guy's been doing this his entire career. Like I said it in game one when he knocked that puck out of the air, and it was like almost a high stick,

and then he just roofs it over Bobrovsky. It's like this guy who is so dedicated to this sport and loves this sport so much and works as hard as anyone that's ever played it. I've watched him do that in practice a million times. Knock that puck out of the air and then roof it. And for him to be able to do it on this stage in this moment for him is just so cool. Like so many players don't get that. And for Mark Stone to get that, not just in game one with that spectacular goal,

but then in the biggest moment to clinch the cup, he was just phenomenal for this team. I mean, that short-handed goal to start things off was so big because Florida, it was all Florida early on. And I talked to players on the ice after the game, and they were like, yeah, we were tight.

Like we, William Carrier was like, we were trying to play it cool for the last two days acting like, it's not that big a deal and we're not that worried. He's like, dude, I couldn't sleep. It was like, we were tight going into that game. And they were tight. And Florida was all over them early. And it looked.

like, wow, Florida's backs are against the wall. They're going to push this to at least a sixth game. They, like, they're playing really well early on. And then Aden Hill makes that huge save on the power, on Florida's power play with the kick save with the guy tried to go around him. I forgot who it was. And then immediately after Stone gets that two on one break and just the patience like this, like Bruce Cassidy said it earlier in the playoffs saying like he just processes things so

much faster than most guys where it just feels like it's in slow motion. And that play, even watching it felt like it was in slow motion and he even came to a full stop. But just the way he waited things out. Like most guys panic in that situation. Like even skilled players, like you're on a two on one. You feel like you've got to do something. Whereas Stone, he saw that the defender was taking the pass away. And he was kind of waiting like, okay, are you going to close on me?

No, you're going to take the pass. You're going to take the pass. You're going to take the pass. I'm just going to wait for Sergei Babrovsky to back into his own net and then roof it. And he made it look so easy. and that play almost looks like, wow, they made that too easy for Mark Stone. But most players don't have the patience to wait that out and make that play. They panic and they just fire it quickly.

So in so many ways, showing everything he can do on the ice in the biggest moment for him was really, really cool. And then we got, I mean, this dude is the goat for goal celebrations and his hat trick goal celebration, where the entire bench is sitting there waiting to like group hug. That was a phenomenal way to end the night for Mark Stone. It was really cool. Yeah, his effort, and I think like the best way, but his competitive spirit was really on display in every shift in this series. And, you know,

something I've really gained an appreciation for is it's probably one of the more subtle parts of his game. But off of every draw, how he is, you know, while the two guys taking the draw, tie themselves up and the puck's kind of sitting there, his ability, despite not having a quick first step to like anticipate it and then jump in and scoop it up and in secure possession for his team,

time and time again is one of the coolest little kind of like subtleties to his game. And, you know, obviously everything he put his body through to like be available and prepare himself for this is, is part of the story. But I sort of mentioned how his previous post seasons had ended as well. And, you know, in 2020 in the bubble, he has this like magical performance against Vancouver to push Vegas. over the hump in that series. And then he just sort of, I thought ran out of gas.

And then against Dallas, he has one goal and two points in those five games. The following year, he has that monstrous performance against Nathan McKinnon in round two to kind of spur that comeback. And then amongst Montreal, he gets held off the score sheet entirely in those six games. And so for him to have this type of a capper on a long, whole season run after going through that, that added context, I think is especially cool for me. And, you know, maybe that ties this neatly together because we talk about, the depth of this team and everything and how like no forward played more than 19 minutes per game

during this postseason run for them. I think that's part of this as well, right? Like it allowed them to keep their players fresher than they had been previously, allowed them to optimize their efficiency when they were on the ice. And I think the fact that Mark Stone, for all the jokes of all, he didn't play in the final two months of regular season or whatever. Like he clearly wasn't 100%, but he still had enough in the tank to deliver this performance. And I think that's a testament to the depth of this team. Yeah, I mean, it's huge. This team is an older team. I wouldn't call them old, but they're definitely not young.

And they're on the older side of things when you look at rosters around the NHL. And they were super banged up all of last season. It's the reason they missed the playoffs. And then they were banged up in the regular season this year. They've got a bunch of veteran guys with a lot of miles on their on their bodies. And I think that, yes, it takes some fortune. They were very fortunate. I can't.

It's like almost unbelievable how healthy this team was in the playoffs. They had one injury and it was Bresois. And then Aden Hill came in and was even better than he was. So they were very fortunate, but Bruce Cassidy said it like, yes, there are some injuries that you can't avoid because you just have some bad luck or a puck hits you in the foot and it breaks your foot. But there are also injuries that are results of overtaxing players. And he goes, we haven't had any of those because we've set ourselves up to not have any of those. And Alex Petrangelo and Alec Martinez is a great example. That's an older defensive pair with a lot of.

miles on those bodies. And they looked good all the way to the very end. And the biggest reason is because Zach White Cloud and Nick Hay can play as many minutes as they need. And then and then the forwards, it's the same thing. You've got, they trust their fourth line. They can play them a lot. And not only that, but then the third line is getting way more minutes than a normal third line would get at five on five. And they've just got, they have so many different guys that can play on special teams. They just, they're just a really, really well-balanced team. And that ended up being, to me, every team they faced in the playoffs, they just were deeper and better down the lineup than they were.

Dallas was probably the deepest team they played, and they made them look not all that deep. Dallas's bottom six really struggled in that series. So yeah, they're just a really complete team. They used everyone, and they did it all year long, and it allowed them to have some older guys that have had injury problems, play long into the postseason and play well. Oh, another player that I wanted to mention here before we get out of here,

is Jack Eichol, and you mentioned him in terms of, you know, he goes those final two series without a scoring a single goal, go back to game five of the Edmonton series in round two for his last actual goal. But in the West Final and the Stanley Cup final, he has 12 assists in 11 games, nine of them primary. And it's remarkable to me how much, I guess like general perception or like the story can change after a run like this, right? Like for all the, all the slander and all the talk about what he wasn't as a player or whatever like oh you can't win with this guy oh he's he's not putting in the effort defensively this and that now all of a sudden what's what's what's the perception it's like oh he's a battle tested complete player who you know he's

tough as nails he battled through like multiple spots where he could have been seriously hurt throughout this run especially in the stanling club final and they wound up winning and obviously part of it is right place right time right team all that we talk about this the depth of this team that's obviously a big part of the story. But for Ikel, I thought his performance without scoring, the way he impacted these games was so huge. And you wrote a cool story about him. And I thought Marcus Folino, his former teammate, really summed it up best where just the impact of how he could use that speed to backtrack and apply pressure on the back check and disrupt you in transition that way and then take the puck from his own defensive zone. And within like two or three of those long strides of his,

all of a sudden, Vegas finds themselves in a threatening position in the offensive zone, in a blink of an eye. And so seeing him do that time and time again this postseason was really fun to watch. And despite the lack of goals, like his imprint on this run was obviously very clear. Yeah, it was really cool to see it. You mentioned the flipping narrative.

And I obviously wrote pretty heavily on that. It's so cool to see a guy who like throughout the first six years of his career, everyone said, well, yeah, he scores goals, but everywhere else, he's just not good enough to then win a Stanley Cup without scoring any goals because he was so good at everything else. And Bruce Cassidy deserves a ton of credit. Like I spoke with Jack's father. And he mentioned like Bruce Cassidy has done a world of good for Jack as a player, both in terms of getting his commitment to that side and also teaching him how to how to be better in, in the defensive zone. And Ikel obviously has the physical tools to do basically anything on the hockey rink. Like there's nothing on the ice Jack Eichael isn't capable of doing just with his physical tools. Like he's so fast. He's got that quick first step. He's not he's not fast like McKinnon or McDavid in terms of top speed like when they when they wheel around in their own zone and get going. Like that top speed for Eichl is not as fast as them. But there's no one in hockey

who's faster on the first two steps to to create that. that explosion. And you mentioned it like Felino said, he gets on his horse and he gets back on that back check. When there's a change of possession, the amount of times in this postseason where Ikel would see the rush going the other way and just say, nope, take two super powerful strides. Suddenly, he's right there next to the guy. And then once he's there, he uses his size and strength and sticks. I mean, he's just so strong on his stick. He, he bumps his hip into them, walls them off, lifts their stick, takes it and goes the other way. It makes it look really. easy. Like he makes taking the puck off of guys look so easy, like almost like it's not even

impressive because like, well, that didn't look all that difficult, but like no one else can do that. Like he, he was taking the puck off of guys so easily throughout the playoffs and in the cup final. He was so good defensively. I was, I tweeted out during that game five, like what a checking performance by Ikel. On the fourth check, he was just a hound on their defenseman getting, getting to guys creating turnovers with pressure. And then on the back check, he was equally good. he was just he was everything they needed him to be they I mean they they went out and they they traded for him they traded a lot and and the pieces they traded have done really well in buffalo like they gave up a hall for jack I because Kelly McCrimmon and George McPhee decided we don't have the franchise center we don't

have the number one center to win a Stanley Cup like we've got the wingers stone and Smith and Marsha so and like patch ready at the time like we've got the wingers we've got we added our number one defenseman in Patrangelo we've got Shea Theodore and McNabb we've got a great blue line the piece we don't have, and we have good centers, like Chandler Stevenson and William Carlson are great centers, but they aren't the number one franchise center. We need that guy, and they went out and got Eichel,

and not only did he come back from that surgery and be the player they all hoped he would, he got even better under Bruce Cassidy and with this group, and he's one of the biggest reasons that they won this Stanley Cup because he was exactly what they needed from their number one center. Well, it was one hell of a ride. There were a lot of stories to tell there. Hopefully we did a good job covering as many of them as we could here today. Jesse, you've been all over this and obviously doing all this on a day-to-day basis covering this team.

I'll give you a chance here to let the listeners know kind of where they check you out, what you've got coming in the hopper and sort of all that good stuff in terms of promoting your work. Yeah, thanks, man. It's been a heck of a ride. I'm not going to promote anything that I'm doing going forward because I've got a parade to cover. And I'm trying to go on vacation here eventually. like I've got the draft right after that. I am going to try to take some time off.

But if people go to the athletic, you can see all the stuff that I was able to write some really cool feature stories during the cup final. As a writer, you've got a plan ahead. Like you do a lot of work talking to people. Like Jack Iko was the big one that I had the morning after they won the cup. I talked to his parents.

I talked to the coaches that coached him when he was 13 playing with 20 year olds, which what the hell is going on there? Like a 13, think of how small a 13 year old kid is. and he's dominating 20-year-olds. Like, what is going on? So a big piece on Eichol and just growing up. I went from, I basically told his story from when he was four years old

until he won the Stanley Cup. So that was a fun one. I wrote a story on Aden Hill and how he got obsessed with yoga during the pandemic because he had nothing to do locked in his house and how that kind of helped him make that crazy paddle save in game one. So a lot of features that aren't necessarily like game stories that are still kind of, if you want to go check those out, they were a lot of fun to write and I hope people like them.

Well, it sounds like he was more productive than I was because my, I got obsessed with watching Netflix and snacking. So maybe that's why. That's why you can. Yeah. All right, man. Well, this is a blast. Enjoy the rest of this. And then hopefully you do get some sleep and catch up on that and get some time off.

The season may be over. And I've gotten some lovely messages from listeners in the past 24 hours about the season we had. But our watch has not ended yet. We're going to keep doing the show through the draft and free agency. And we've got hopefully a couple more fun weeks ahead of us before we do. do take some time off for the summer ourselves. So thank you to Jesse for coming on the show. Thank you to the listeners for listening to us. We'll be back tomorrow with another episode of the HockeyPedio guest on the Sportsnet Radio Network.