Graney: Misfits still define all that is good with Golden Knights

It rightly always comes back to them, the six remaining misfits, those who have seen every win and loss, every up and down, since the beginning.

Jonathan Marchessault. Reilly Smith. William Karlsson. Shea Theodore. William Carrier. Brayden McNabb.

They are, along with their teammates and coaches and entire organization, Stanley Cup champions. The Golden Knights cemented such history by beating the Florida Panthers 9-3 on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena.

You can’t overstate what the Misfits mean to such a journey, how big a part they have played in shaping a culture of an expansion team born six years ago. They’re the identity. They’re the tradition of it all.

Starting the Misfits

“This probably doesn’t happen without them,” center Jack Eichel said. “They came in here year one and created something special. Not only a culture but a belief. A belief that this was here. I’m so happy for those guys. Coming here year one and getting so close, tasting it and not being able to get to this. Obviously, six years later, here we are. Those guys, it’s a special moment for them.”

He’s right. They came close that first season, advancing to the Stanley Cup Final before falling to the Washington Capitals in five games. Maybe that team wasn’t ready to win it all. Not like this current one. Not like the one that just dominated the Panthers.

It was coach Bruce Cassidy who chose to start five of the misfits Tuesday, a nod to their time with the franchise and how they define it. A symbolic gesture.

“I was walking my dog, thinking about different things, and I thought it would be a good way to get the guys’ attention and reward the originals — the guys who laid the foundation for this hockey team,” Cassidy said. “I apologized to Will Carrier. You can only start one left winger. I thought it would be nice. See if it would give us a little juice. Whether it did or not, I don’t know. But they deserved it.”

Said president of hockey operations George McPhee: “I thought it was a bit of a gimmick, and we’d never done that sort of thing. Good for them … I understand why Bruce would do that, but just roll the four lines because that’s how we win.”

All good. Things worked out OK.

The juice was supplied from all angles, the Knights skating their way to a 6-1 lead after two periods and having all but wrapped up the Cup before the third began.

A special bond

More than anyone else, the misfits understand how this team was built and its unique relationship with a fan base that saw a record 19,058 pack T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday and thousands more celebrate the Cup victory outside it.

They know intimately about the special bond that was created that first season in the wake of a mass shooting. That the city needed something good to embrace, to hold onto in such a tragic time. And for Las Vegas, that meant the Golden Knights.

And it didn’t matter what the hockey knowledge of fans was. It didn’t matter if many latched onto the team having never really followed the sport. It wasn’t about that. It was about much more. Still is. What those players have meant to the community. How they have helped build the brand over the past six years.

“What the (misfits) have done in this town from day one, it’s pretty special,” defenseman Alec Martinez said. “It’s a testament to them. It’s not easy. You think about just them as human beings, moving to a new town you don’t know. New team, new organization, new building. The things that they did to build this program is pretty incredible.”

Mark Stone took the Stanley Cup first as captain and skated around with it. But next came Smith and then Marchessault and then Karlsson and then McNabb and then Theodore and then Carrier.

How it should have gone.

It rightly always comes back to them.

Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.