Three Michigan Connections to this year’s Stanley Cup Final

DETROIT – A best-of-seven games series between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Carolina Hurricanes will decide which NHL franchise will be awarded arguably the greatest trophy in all of sports.

This years Stanley Cup Final is an intriguing matchup, featuring a Golden Knights squad that lifted the cup as recently as the summer of 2023, and a Hurricanes club that is playing on hockey’s biggest stage for the first time in 20 years.

No matter which side you might find yourself rooting for, it’s always interesting to see who is one step away from winning a championship that also happens to have some kind of tie to our great state of Michigan. Vegas stole Game 1 on Tuesday night, but for the rest of the series, here is who you can secretly support.

Shayne Gostisbehere

Shayne Gostisbehere ran the point for the 2023-2024 Red Wings first power play unit and that’s exactly what he finds himself doing for this years edition of the Hurricanes. The veteran defenseman led Detroit in assists that season with 46, while playing in 81 of 82 games.

The now 33-year-old came to Detroit in free agency after being a trade deadline acquisition for a Carolina team making a push towards the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Going off of the eye test, Gostisbehere was a substantial part of the offense during his one season with the Wings which made it a shame for some that he did not return to Hockeytown after his one-year deal expired.

Now in his second stint with the Hurricanes, Gostisbehere seems to have found his niche. He has appeared in every game during these playoffs, logging three goals and four assists, including a goal in Tuesday nights loss over the Golden Knights. Despite mainly being on their third and final pairing, Carolina relies on Gostisbehere to be their best offensive defensemen, and they hope to reward him by giving him the opportunity to lift the Stanley Cup above his head.

Jalen Chatfield

Also residing on the Hurricanes’ blue line is Jalen Chatfield, who was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Jalen is in his fifth season with Carolina and is one of four defensemen on the team to be averaging more than 22 minutes of ice time per game this postseason.

The Stanley Cup Final is coming at a pretty eventful time for the right-handed defenseman. During ABC’s broadcast of Game 1 in Carolina, it was reported that Chatfield learned that his wife, Drew, went into labor during Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals vs. Montreal. Perhaps the birth of his second child casted some good luck upon him as he rattled off two quick assists in the first period of a 5-4 loss to Vegas.

Kelly McCrimmon

You may not know the name Kelly McCrimmon unless you are a big NHL fan. Or a big supporter of Wolverines hockey for that matter.

Kelly McCrimmon, the current General Manager of the Vegas Golden Knights played four seasons with Michigan from 1980 to 1984, scoring 21 goals and adding 26 assists.

Those early 1980’s Michigan hockey teams were not overly successful, but McCrimmon has won in a lot of other places. He clinched the WHL Championship as head coach of the Brandon Wheat Kings in 2016 and of course was the general manager for Vegas when they won it all just three years ago. He started as an assistant general manager when the Golden Knights were in their early stages of being an expansion franchise in the NHL. You can only imagine what it might mean to him to be able to add another ring to his collection.