Summary
The Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup for the first time in six years last year. The team is aiming to win the Cup for a second time in 2023-24. The Golden Knights finished the season with 111 points and were first in the Pacific Division. They are the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
Vegas opened 2023-24 with an 11-0-1 record and by mid-December had lost consecutive games in regulation just once. The Golden Knights didn't truly dip until going 1-5-0 from around Christmas into their Winter Classic dud against Seattle on Jan. 1. Since mid-February, Vegas is averaging 3.44 goals against per game (23rd) and allowing 30.5 shots per game.
Brian Dumoulin says winning the second Stanley Cup can be more difficult than the first. Dumouin: "It gets kind of harder to even play in the regular season that following year too" The Vegas Golden Knights return 20 players from last year's championship team.
The Golden Knights are among those teams that had no cap space entering the postseason. The Nashville Predators are the only Western Conference team in a playoff spot with more than $1 million in projected cap space. The next-closest team is the Winnipeg Jets, with less than $500,000 in cap space, Cap Friendly's data shows.
