Back-to-back champions? Golden Knights relish the challenge

Alec Martinez might have inadvertently set the tone for the Golden Knights’ chase of a second Stanley Cup before they even won their first.

Seated at a podium at City National Arena, the then-two-time champion was asked to reflect on the possibility of winning another Cup one day before Game 5 of the final. Martinez, a two-month playoff beard fully formed on his face, said he wasn’t the type to reminisce on old times while he was still playing.

His focus was on making more memories while he still had the chance.

“When you’re in it,” Martinez said, “it’s so much damn fun you want to do it again.”

Those words sum up the attitude the Knights returned to training camp with this season. They’re coming off what many players consider the best summer of their lives. And, potential pitfalls be damned, they want to do the same thing this season.

Most teams have tried and failed to repeat as champions in the modern NHL. The Knights are daring to dream differently, believing they have the talent and attitude to do something special.

“You’re always going to have doubters; you’re always going to have people who don’t think you can do it again,” defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “Our belief in the locker room is ‘why not?’ ”

The challenge

Winning two Stanley Cups in a row is not impossible.

Is it rare, though? Absolutely.

The NHL has had dynasties, such as the 1976-79 Montreal Canadiens, 1980-83 New York Islanders and 1984-88 Edmonton Oilers, who won four of five Cups in that span.

But those teams didn’t face the same hurdles the Knights do.

The NHL’s salary cap wasn’t put in place until 2005, which made it harder to keep elite teams together. Expansion pushed the number of teams from 20 at the end of the 1990-91 season to 32 by 2021-22.

It’s no surprise then that only the 2016-17 Pittsburgh Penguins and 2020-21 Tampa Bay Lightning have gone back to back since the turn of the millennium. Even the Lightning did so under special circumstances because of COVID-19, as they won the 2020 title in a special bubble playoff and then repeated as champions in a shortened season in 2021.

The NHL’s leaguewide parity makes it hard for any team to stay on top for long. Making another deep run requires a winning team to stay energized and motivated after a shorter summer than 30 other teams. It also demands the kind of breaks that turn a great team into a champion.

The Knights didn’t have a skater miss a game because of injury after the first round last season. There’s no guarantee they will be that fortunate again.

There still have been blueprints for the team to follow.

Martinez and the Los Angeles Kings didn’t go back to back, but they did win two of three in 2012 and 2014. The Chicago Blackhawks won three Cups in six tries from 2010 to 2015. Those clubs, plus the Penguins and Lightning, proved sustained success is possible.

The Knights have no doubt they can be next in line.

“We have as good a chance as anybody,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I’d come out and say that. It’s not being arrogant. That’s just what I feel about our team.”

Running it back

Key to the Knights’ confidence? Their roster is almost unchanged from a season ago.

Eighteen of the 19 players who appeared in the Stanley Cup Final return. So do forwards Paul Cotter and Pavel Dorofeyev, who combined for 20 goals last season as rookies.

The only player missing is left wing Reilly Smith. He was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins in June in a move that helped open enough salary cap space for the Knights to re-sign left wing Ivan Barbashev and goaltender Adin Hill.

“It’s nice to basically have everyone here,” Barbashev said. “We just have another chance to go at it.”

Bringing almost everyone back should help the Knights enjoy many of the same advantages they had last season. Their blue line again should be among the NHL’s best one through six. Their center depth is likely to remain almost unmatched. Their goaltenders are going to have their lives made easier by Cassidy’s defensive system.

All that gives the Knights a leg up on some of the NHL’s most recent champions.

Colorado lost second-line center Nazem Kadri, top-six forward Andre Burakovsky and starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper after winning the Cup in 2022.

Tampa Bay said goodbye to its entire third line after its second championship in 2021.

The Penguins, as Knights fans well know, hoisted the Cup in 2017 and then said goodbye to franchise legend Marc-Andre Fleury in the expansion draft.

The Knights might face similar challenges in the future given Martinez, Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Marchessault, center Chandler Stephenson, left wing William Carrier and defenseman Ben Hutton are free agents after this season. But for this season at least, they still boast one of the NHL’s most complete rosters.

“From a personnel standpoint, from a roster makeup, from the genuine chemistry and care that this team has for each other, we’re excited heading into the season,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “So are 31 other teams, but I think we’ve got reason to have faith in our group and trust in the players that we have that we’re going to put our best foot forward.”

Still hungry

There’s an obvious question for a team such as the Knights.

Can this group — which came close for so long, which spent the summer of 2022 fuming after missing the playoffs, which rallied behind the slogan “it hurts to win” last postseason — maintain the same passion that got it over the hump?

The Knights have no doubt the answer is yes.

“When I was beginning my career, I maybe thought the winning desire goes away,” Marchessault said. “It doesn’t. I have the same desire to do the same thing.”

Players to a man said the joys of the summer — the postgame victory party, the parade down the Strip, the days with the Stanley Cup — made them eager to experience it again. Captain Mark Stone called it addicting.

“It’s kind of more motivation,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “We know we’re a confident group, obviously, and we know we have the players to do it. It’s just a matter of doing it.”

The Knights have enough veteran leaders to prevent the group from getting complacent. Stone pointed to Martinez as the ultimate example.

The defenseman missed 53 games in 2021-22 after a scary facial laceration that required more than 50 stitches. He admitted he thought the injury could have been career-ending. Instead, a player who already had been part of two Stanley Cup celebrations came back, led the NHL in blocked shots and won his third title.

“He probably could have just hung up his skates, right?” Stone said. “But he had won before, understood how great it is to win and kept coming back for that reason. We need everyone to have that same feeling.”

The Knights think they’re off to a good start with the energy everyone came into training camp with. They understand more than ever their ultimate goal is a long way away. That knowledge isn’t dampening their enthusiasm one bit.

“Obviously, we want it now,” center Nicolas Roy said. “But I think we want it even more because when you win it, you know the feeling.”

Starting over

The Knights recognize winning the Cup doesn’t give them any points in the 2023-24 standings.

They know there will be obstacles along the way, such as when they used a franchise-record five goaltenders last season. As McCrimmon said, “every team runs its own race.”

The locker room is still excited about a group it thinks can go the distance again. Cassidy’s question for the Knights has been: “Do you want to be a team of the decade or a one year sort of thing?”

The Knights will get a chance to answer that this season. They know the opportunity is rare. If they take advantage, they will reach a new level in NHL history.

“You’ve got a short career, right?” Carrier said. “Especially everyone right now, being an older group, we’re at (our) peak. Everyone’s playing well, everyone’s at their ‘A’ game right now. We got to cash in here.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on X.