We are near to the end of the 2025-26 NHL season, with the start tonight of the Stanley Cup Final, featuring the Carolina Hurricanes and the Vegas Golden Knights. The Canes broke through a long streak of not getting past the ECF (or even winning a game in it) and are looking for their second Stanley Cup; the last was in 2006, when current head coach Rod Brind’Amour was the captain. Vegas had fewer wins in the regular season than Columbus did, but nevertheless won the Pacific Division and have been on a 19-4-1 tear since replacing Bruce Cassidy with John Tortorella with just eight games left in the regular season.
Full schedule:
Game 1: Vegas at Carolina, 8 p.m. ET, Tuesday, June 2 (ABC, SN, CBC, TVAS)
Game 2: Vegas at Carolina, 8 p.m. ET, Thursday, June 4 (ABC, SN, CBC, TVAS)
Game 3: Carolina at Vegas, 8 p.m. ET, Saturday, June 6 (ABC, SN, CBC, TVAS)
Game 4: Carolina at Vegas, 8 p.m. ET, Tuesday, June 9 (ABC, SN, CBC, TVAS)
*Game 5: Vegas at Carolina, 8 p.m. ET, Thursday, June 11 (ABC, SN, CBC, TVAS)
*Game 6: Carolina at Vegas, 8 p.m. ET, Sunday, June 14 (ABC, SN, CBC, TVAS)
*Game 7: Vegas at Carolina, 8 p.m. ET, Wednesday, June 17 (ABC, SN, CBC, TVAS)
In terms of other former Jackets in addition to Torts, Vegas of course still has William Karlsson and former farmhand Keegan Kolesar. Also, since the last time they won the Cup, in 2023, they added Brandon Saad. Carolina has Eric Robinson and former CBJ draftee (and Mike-Sillingeresque journeyman) Mike Reilly.
The most important reason to pay attention to Carolina is that a significant chunk of this roster was built when Don Waddell was GM down there. So, can he do the same thing here? Or was current GM Eric Tulsky the brains of the operation the whole time?
Another interesting thing to note is this post comparing how the two finalists were built. There are plenty of high draft picks on both sides, but few that were drafted high by those teams. The lesson of recent years is you can build a winner by taking big swings on the trade market.
How the Stanley Cup Final teams were built. Only two players selected by either team in the first round. Only one top-5 pick (Svechnikov at No. 2… and oddly enough, Carolina only had the 11th-worst record that year. Big lottery luck).
— Adam Gretz (@adamgretz.bsky.social) May 30, 2026 at 1:13 PM
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Here is how the Jackets (not counting pending UFAs) stack up:
Top-5 pick: Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson
6-32 first round pick: Denton Mateychuk, Cole Sillinger, Zach Werenski
Non-first round pick: Dmitri Voronkov, Kirill Marchenko, Elvis Merzlikins
Trade: Charlie Coyle, Conor Garland, Mathieu Olivier, Miles Wood, Ivan Provorov, Damon Severson
Free Agent: Isac Lundestrom, Sean Monahan, Egor Zamula
Undrafted Free Agent: Jake Christiansen, Jet Greaves
Waivers: Dante Fabbro
How do you think that compares to the Cup finalists? Which team are you rooting for?