Honestly, the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals felt less like a series and more like a coronation. People talk about the Vegas Golden Knights winning it all in just six years as this "overnight success," but if you were watching closely, it was actually a brutal, calculated masterclass in team building. Vegas didn’t just win; they dismantled a Florida Panthers team that had basically run out of miracles.
It was a weird series.
You had the Panthers, an eight-seed that had somehow survived a 3-1 deficit against a historic Boston Bruins team, coming in with all the momentum in the world. Then you had Vegas, a team that played hockey like a giant, suffocating blanket. By the time it was over, the scoreboards looked like something out of the 1980s. Nine goals in a clincher? That doesn't happen anymore.
The Reality of the Vegas "Misfits"
One of the biggest misconceptions about the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals is that it was won by the same scrappy group of "Golden Misfits" from year one. That makes for a great story, but it’s mostly a myth.
By June 2023, only six of the original expansion draft picks were still on the roster.
- Jonathan Marchessault
- William Karlsson
- Reilly Smith
- Brayden McNabb
- Shea Theodore
- William Carrier
The rest of the squad was built through cold, hard aggression. Owner Bill Foley and GM Kelly McCrimmon didn't care about "loyalty" in the traditional sense; they cared about winning. They traded away fan favorites like Marc-André Fleury for nothing just to clear space. They went out and grabbed Jack Eichel when he was essentially a broken asset with a neck injury. They signed Alex Pietrangelo. They traded for Mark Stone.
It was "ruthless" hockey management. And it worked.
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Adin Hill and "The Save"
If you want to know why the Florida Panthers lost, you have to look at Game 1. There was this moment—I still don't know how the puck didn't go in—where Adin Hill stretched across the crease to make a paddle save on Nick Cousins. It was pure larceny.
Hill wasn't even supposed to be the guy. He was the backup to the backup.
Vegas used five different goaltenders during the regular season because of injuries. When Laurent Brossoit went down in the second round, Hill stepped in. Most people expected him to crumble under the pressure of the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals. Instead, he posted a $.932$ save percentage throughout the playoffs and outplayed Sergei Bobrovsky, who was making $$10$ million a year to Hill's $$2.1$ million.
What Really Happened to Matthew Tkachuk?
Florida fans will always wonder "what if" regarding Matthew Tkachuk. He was the heart of that team. He scored the game-winners, he got in people's faces, and he was the reason they even got past the Hurricanes.
But in Game 3, Keegan Kolesar absolutely leveled him.
It came out later that Tkachuk was playing with a broken sternum. Think about that for a second. His brother, Brady Tkachuk, had to help him get out of bed. His teammates had to help him tie his skates and put on his jersey because he literally couldn't lift his arms.
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He played Game 4 in that condition. He couldn't go for Game 5.
The Panthers were a walking hospital ward by the end. Aaron Ekblad had a broken foot, a torn oblique, and a popped shoulder. Radko Gudas had a high ankle sprain. It’s a miracle they even kept the games competitive for as long as they did.
The Game 5 Bloodbath
Game 5 was just... mean.
Vegas won 9-3. It was the most goals scored in a Cup-clinching game in the modern era. Mark Stone, the captain with the "glass back" who had undergone two surgeries in a year, scored a hat trick. He did it with a fractured wrist, too. Because of course he did.
The atmosphere in T-Mobile Arena was suffocating. If you've ever been to a game in Vegas, you know it's loud, but this was different. It felt like a six-year party finally hitting its peak.
Why the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals Matter Now
Looking back, this series changed how GMs think about the trade deadline. Vegas showed that depth wins. They didn't have one superstar carrying the load; they had four lines that could all score.
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Jonathan Marchessault won the Conn Smythe, and he deserved it. He was undrafted. He was told he was too small. Then he went out and put up 25 points in 22 games.
Practical takeaways from the 2023 run:
- Size still matters: The Vegas defense was massive. Pietrangelo, McNabb, Hague—all huge humans who made the front of the net a nightmare for Florida.
- Health is luck: Florida’s stars broke down at the worst possible time. Vegas, despite their injury history, got healthy exactly when the playoffs started.
- Aggression pays off: The "Vegas Way" of trading anyone for an upgrade is controversial, but you can't argue with a ring.
If you’re looking to understand the modern NHL, study the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals. It wasn't about "heart" or "destiny"—it was about a team that was built to be bigger, deeper, and more clinical than everyone else.
To really grasp the impact of this win, you should go back and watch the highlights of the Mark Stone short-handed goal in Game 5. It perfectly encapsulates that series: a veteran leader making a high-IQ play while playing through immense physical pain to finish a job six years in the making.
Check the final rosters of both teams to see how many of those "depth" players are now top-line stars elsewhere. It's a testament to how stacked that Vegas squad actually was.