LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's a new season as the Vegas Golden Knights return to the ice to defend their title as the reigning Stanley Cup champions.
On Thursday, players and coaches showed up for the first official day of training camp after a summer of celebrations with friends and family.
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For Jonathan Marchessault, that meant a stop at his mother-in-law's steakhouse restaurant. Jack Eichel and Adin Hill took the cup and visited schools and police stations as well as rinks and equipment shops they went to when they were growing up. For Nic Hague, that meant sharing the cup with two very special people. His grandma Ruth is turning 100 years old in about a week. While he was home for the summer, Hague got to share his cup day with her.
"She doesn't get to come and watch games anymore but she's definitely a huge supporter of mine. My dad tries to keep her in the loop as much as she can," Hague said with a smile. "I was showing her the names on the cup. She was a little confused because she kept asking why her name was on the cup and I said it's because it's my name too."
Another person that got to share that special day was a girl named Jessie that Hague said an old coach introduced him to about three or four years ago.
"Jessie's a goalie for the Kitchner Lady Rangers back home. She needed a kidney transplant. Her favorite player is Marc-Andre Fleury. I had a coach reach out and ask if we could put together a video together and that happened," Hague said. "Her mom reached out to my mom when she heard I was bringing the cup to Kitchener. It was the first time I was able to meet her in-person. She's doing really well now and it was a special moment."
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Now, the short summer is officially over as the team returns to City National Arena to get going for the 2023-2024 season.
"It's nice to be back on the ice and back to work. We're here to win a cup but so are 31 other teams," head coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We feel like we're in a good position to repeat. We feel like we're returning a lot of players that give us that opportunity. We're in a good age frame right now and with contracts. But until they get out there, it's wide open. It's day one but I like our chances."
General Manager Kelly McCrimmon adds while the off-season was short, he thinks the players ultimately benefited from it in more ways than one.
"For me, I've always felt if you play to the end and win, you don't mind a short summer. I think winning gives our team, and should give our team, confidence that they've been able to do it," McCrimmon said. "I've always been such a believer that playoffs makes your players better. If I go back 12 months, I could name a handful of players that are much better today than they were than when we started last year. First among them would be Jack Eichel. You've also seen growth in the games of Will Carrier, Nic Hague, and Zach Whitecloud."
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Players said they know other teams will be gunning for them and trying to take the title.
"We want to have that same chip on our shoulder. A lot of people say we can't do it again. It's fuel for us to get back to where we want to be," Mark Stone said. "We had a ton of success in the first four years of existence. We kind of came in a little soft in camp into year five. We missed playoffs and had a chip on our shoulder. We have to have that mindset of nothing is given. Everything's going to have to be earned. No one's just going to let us get to playoffs. We have a lot of work ahead."
Stone added that watching his teammates also inspires him to push forward.
"[Winning] is addicting. You talk to guys who have won multiple cups. You look at what Alec Martinez has been through," Stone said. "He probably could have hung up his skates but he has won before and understand how great it is to win and keeps coming back for that reason. We need everyone to have that same feeling. We can definitely learn from a guy like him who went through hell to prolong his career to have the opportunity to win again."
Marchessault and Eichel added that while the team is still on a high, they are ready to refocus.
"You're always going to be a winner for the rest of your life. It's living with it. It doesn't change our mindset," Marchessault said. "We come here to work. We want to keep being in the mix and winning some hockey games. We definitely know how to win and that's something you can use to your advantage. I always have new motivation. I've had a busy day with the cup and now, I want another day with it doing nothing. That's my motivation right now."
"Were we anyone's preseason pick last year? No. We had something to prove. We understand the target is bigger on our backs but it's a great chance to prove ourselves and prove that last year, we won it for a reason," Eichel said. "The goal shouldn't change. The goal is still to win the Stanley Cup. You go out there and prove yourself on the ice every night. Nobody cares what we did last season. We need to gel and click and find that same chemistry that we had last year. I think that's one of the things that allowed us to be successful."
According to team officials, 63 players reported to training camp this week. Cassidy said they're looking to help younger players get experience but it's difficult due to how short training camp is.
"We're moving some people around but we can't move everybody around. If training camp was longer, we'd try to get all the young guys with an older guy but we don't have a ton of time. Our veterans are not going to play every game so we're trying to get some of those reps in practice, the guys that played together," Cassidy said. "It's about teaching and pace. It's getting them ready to go and how we're going to do it all year. We're going to practice quick and we're going to execute well, at a fast pace, so when the games come, it almost slows down or at least you're not like a deer in headlights. We explain why we do these drills and how they translate to our systems."
The Golden Knights first preseason game will be on Sunday as they hit the road to play the San Jose Sharks. As the team looks ahead to the first regular season game, Brayden McNabb said one thing is running through their minds.
"Getting the rings and having that banner hung is going to be special and memorable. But once that's done, it's game on for the next year."