Jeff Paul: Golden Knights Win the Stanley Cup! Who Gets it First? If the Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup, who what would be the pecking order for the celebratory laps? I dive into it below and give my personal opinion and desired order.

Engelland in my opinion. He lives in Vegas and was the one who addressed the crowd after the Vegas shooting. I feel he should be the one to raise the cup. Still surprised he doesn’t wear the C.

Fleury

I don't even think it's very debatable tbh

Engelland in my opinion. He lives in Vegas and was the one who addressed the crowd after the Vegas shooting. I feel he should be the one to raise the cup. Still surprised he doesn’t wear the C.
- LAkings96

Agreed. The guy is a leader on/off the ice. Plus it's old news for Flowers.

Fleury

I don't even think it's very debatable tbh
- farooge

Exactly.

Then I have Flower handing it off to Jon Merrill.

You don't have accurate orders for past hand offs. Blues went Pietrangelo -> Bouwmeester -> Steen.

In your lists of past hand offs, it's obvious that how much a player contributed has nothing to do with when they get the Cup. Guys like Gagne, Mayers, Regher, Dupuis... they were healthy scratches most or all of playoffs for their respective teams but were handed the Cup early. Chris Thorburn got the Cup 4th for St. Louis, and he literally played less than 2 minutes for them the entire regular season and playoffs combined that year, and it was back in October. So you pointed out a lot of the vets aren't different makers... that seems to be completely irrelevant. The general rule is, the Cup gets handed to whoever has been waiting to longest to get it once the players have it from Bettman.

You can claim it's not a jinx all you want. The players I've heard speak publicly about it feel otherwise. Blues players talked about it last month, that there wasn't any plan because players don't want to jinx it; they just all kind of know those who have been waiting the longest get it first, so guys push people they think need to get it before them up to the front for the guy who has it to see.

In absence of a Captain, unless specifically told by someone prior, Bettman will just call up whoever gets the Conn Smythe to get the Cup, since it's really not his place to decide. The players aren't going to talk about it before hand, it's a jinx/against tradition. Seems like it's probably 50/50 whether the GM will feel it's his place to give Bettman a name, or whether they will just let it be whoever wins the Smythe.

The captain gets it 1st say no more.

The captain gets it 1st say no more.
- Nighthawk

It will look good in McDavid's hands true...

You don't have accurate orders for past hand offs. Blues went Pietrangelo -> Bouwmeester -> Steen.

In your lists of past hand offs, it's obvious that how much a player contributed has nothing to do with when they get the Cup. Guys like Gagne, Mayers, Regher, Dupuis... they were healthy scratches most or all of playoffs for their respective teams but were handed the Cup early. Chris Thorburn got the Cup 4th for St. Louis, and he literally played less than 2 minutes for them the entire regular season and playoffs combined that year, and it was back in October. So you pointed out a lot of the vets aren't different makers... that seems to be completely irrelevant. The general rule is, the Cup gets handed to whoever has been waiting to longest to get it once the players have it from Bettman.

You can claim it's not a jinx all you want. The players I've heard speak publicly about it feel otherwise. Blues players talked about it last month, that there wasn't any plan because players don't want to jinx it; they just all kind of know those who have been waiting the longest get it first, so guys push people they think need to get it before them up to the front for the guy who has it to see.

In absence of a Captain, unless specifically told by someone prior, Bettman will just call up whoever gets the Conn Smythe to get the Cup, since it's really not his place to decide. The players aren't going to talk about it before hand, it's a jinx/against tradition. Seems like it's probably 50/50 whether the GM will feel it's his place to give Bettman a name, or whether they will just let it be whoever wins the Smythe.
- Antilles

I watched all nine, but I'll go back and see if I missed Steen.

Wouldn’t worry about it...your defense is horrible.

You have 0 chance to beat stl, col, or dal.

So...the whole first year finals thing...yea that was a fluke.

Wouldn’t worry about it...your defense is horrible.

You have 0 chance to beat stl, col, or dal.

So...the whole first year finals thing...yea that was a fluke.
- bruceflyers

The defense is not horrible and the offense/goaltending is good enough to get them there. I was very honest in my previews against StL and COL. Give them a read.

My vote is Fleury.

Has there ever been a goalie first to touch the CUP?