The NHL is a copycat league. It has been for years. Over the past few decades, we’ve seen teams mimic each other with the neutral zone trap, building through strength up the middle, playing heavy hockey or spending money on defence and not on goaltending … and tanking, then building through the draft.
So you have to wonder if watching the Vegas Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup will set another trend? You see, when the Knights hoisted the trophy last Tuesday, they had one — just one — of their own draft choices on the playing roster. That was defenceman Nick Hague. All those draft picks that George McPhee and Kelly McCrimmon had accrued in the team’s early years have all been used to get veteran players to help right now. And I suppose you can say it worked.
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Players like Peyton Krebs, who was part of the Jack Eichel trade. Nick Suzuki is now a Montreal Canadien in a trade for Max Pacioretty, and Cody Glass is now in Nashville.
McCrimmon and McPhee have never been afraid to make moves … and not just on the ice, but behind the bench. Many were shocked when Gerard Gallant was removed as coach, and following a season when the team had more than 500 man-games lost to injury, many thought Peter DeBoer would get a do-over. That didn’t happen when Bruce Cassidy became available.
In winning the Cup this year, the Golden Knights always appeared to be changing, and trying to find that magic combination to create a champion. Not being fearful of change was a good thing for the VGK, and the message they sent to their whole organization was that winning was the only option. Change was good! It also sent a message throughout the NHL, and perhaps it’s a message that many teams might just start emulating.
After all, winning is good. And copying that formula may not be a bad thing after all.