There has been a myriad of coverage from traditional and social media in recent weeks as the Las Vegas Golden Knights have continued their amazing journey from forming stage as an expansion team in the NHL to make it to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season.

Many of the top minds in hockey and in sport are shaking their heads in disbelief and if they accomplish the unthinkable, many Las Vegas Bookies who accepted bets before the season started with odds of 300:1 will be paying out BIG time to those that rolled the dice as their pick to win it all this year.

They have dominated the first 3 teams en route to the final winning 12 games, losing only 3, and many of those wins were by high margins.

As hockey has been one of the many sports I played, have coached, and for almost a decade have mentored coaches in the sport, I too must confess watching this play out since the summer of 2017 has been surreal.

Initially, when Gary Bettman announced that Las Vegas was awarded the next expansion franchise I should my head in disbelief.  Why would they put another franchise in the southern US sunbelt city when Phoenix (home of Austin Matthews) has struggled to attract fans, developing a season ticket base and losing money year over year.  I shared with many of my hockey counterparts that Vegas could not sustain an NHL team, and not only would they have difficulty filling the stands, they would not be competitive for years IF they managed to sustain the losses.

Fast forward 9 months later and they amassed 109 points as one of the top teams in the NHL in league play, have had an extended layoff after they defeated the Jets, the top team in the West this season, and will face Ovie and the Caps in the final.  Hollywood could not have written this script and I suspect like the story about Herb Brooks who tool his group of college players in 1980 to defeat the Russian Red Army, if Gerard Gallant does the same with his team of players who were not protected to win it all, there will be screenplay written and Hollywood production soon after.

The irony to all of this is that everyone is trying to figure out what the secret sauce has been, how have they done it, how did they get to the final in their first year?

This is how … they developed a culture of excellence starting off with great leadership, George McPhee, General Manager, who ironically will be facing his former team in the very same Stanley Cup Final.

They hired an amazing group of coaches, lead by Gerard Gallant, head coach.

They also have incorporated a motto, PLAY FAST.

Below is a TV screenshot I took when I was watching one of the Knights games vs. the Jets and commentators showed this sign in the Golden Knights Dressing Room (hence the low resolution)

 

Who would have thought that an NHL franchise would use the word “Play” in their motto?  This is their mantra, their core belief and everything revolves around the importance of playing a game that all the players love and as a result of the expansion draft where NHL teams could not protect all of their players, all of the players on the knights were ones that their former teams did not feel would be top players short or long term on their teams.

Play Fast for those not familar with Hockey term time and space, means that the Knights focus on taking away the other teams time (pressuring them to make mistakes) and space (not giving them room to make plays, taking away passing lanes, fighting hard for the puck along the boards).

The list of accolades that players have achieved under the direction of Gerard have been well documented, Will Karlson, scoring 43 goals this season vs. 6 last year, and 9 the prior season under John Tortorella who was the NHL Coach of the year 2 seasons back.  His other first-line teammates, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith also unprotected by their former clubs to have career years.

Marc Andre Fleury, who backstopped the Penguins to Stanley Cup wins in 2009 and due to injury sustained early in 2016 then backup Matt Murray took his spot literally, he was no longer the starting goalie and left unprotected during the expansion draft although he played many games for the Penguins during their back to back Stanley Cup runs in 2016 and 2017.

Other reasons why the Knights have accomplished what they have in their inaugural season;

1. Focus on Fun (the number one reason why kids and even those getting paid millions of dollars to PLAY a game)
2. Supporting them if they make mistakes to learn from it and not putting intense pressure so it develops their confidence

 

 

Have Fun?  Really? Isn’t the NHL like any other professional sport a multi-billion dollar business?

Shouldn’t all the employees be under the gun if they make mistakes?

This is the biggest reason why I believe the Knights have accomplished what they have.

Gerard Gallant and the rest of the Knights Coaching Staff have developed a culture where it is safe for the players to fail (if they make mistakes they won’t be screamed at or benched), which in turn has developed their confidence leading to every player and Fleury having breakout seasons.

The other reason why the Knights are where they are at, when they were choosing players for their team, the not only looked for players with the core skills they would looking for but as, if not, more importantly, they looked for players that would accept their roles on their team and had great character.  Another “pretty good” organization known for doing so, the New Zealand All Blacks who believe that “Better People Make Better All Blacks”.

Those that did so, have flourished.

Those that did not, did not.

Jason Garrison is one of those that did not, he did not buy into the culture the Knights developed, did not PLAY FAST and as a result was back and forth between the big club and their minor club and big unknown is if he will be picked up by another team when he becomes a UFA in July.

The Knights have had numerous injuries to their goalies, at one point they had more goalies on injured reserve then they actually had signed to contracts.

Each one that filled the net, played with confidence because their coaches did not put intense pressure on them.

The other thing that Gerard has done that I give him huge kudos for is recognizing the importance of rolling all of your lines to be successful in today’s NHL.

This is one of my biggest pet peeve when I see minor hockey coaches running short benches to win games, tournaments etc.  This does not develop the confidence that ALL your players need to perform at the highest level they can in regular season or have long playoff runs.  It puts too much pressure on the top lines to perform each night and it also leads to injuries, fatigue as was the case a few years back when John Tortorella rode his top lines when coaching the Vancouver Canucks only for them to sustain many injuries and have their worst years EVER.

All youth sports organizations and coaches could learn from what the Knights did to get to the final

1. Develop a Culture of Excellence
2. Focus on the Process
3. Encourage players to make mistakes (growth mindset)
4. Develop Confidence

AND similar to Gerard sharing “we just go out there and have fun” another great quote I have shared with my son for years now after reading in Bobby Orrs Book My Story what his dad told him before every ice time

“Just Go Out there, have fun, and see what happens.” – Doug Orr

I for one will be anxious to do just that, to see what happens when the Knights face the Capitals in the Final, and suspect all those bookies that took that longshot bet last summer will be doing the same.

Let’s all work together to bring the game back to the kids … where it belongs