Here’s how all 52 Golden Knights names on the Stanley Cup contributed to the championship

Golden Knights players will be passing the Stanley Cup around all summer, but before they each take their day with the trophy, the Cup made a quick stop at a studio in old Montreal.

Inside the studio on Saint-François-Xavier Street, the Cup’s personal engraver, Louise St. Jacques, etched 52 new names onto the trophy. She stamped 14 rows of names onto the bottom ring using a hammer and metal letter punches, starting with Vegas owner Bill Foley and ending with defenseman Zach Whitecloud.

The Golden Knights are the first team in NHL history to have the names engraved onto the trophy prior to its summer tour. Fans are familiar with the vast majority of the names on the Cup — especially the 27 players — but there are other behind-the-scenes workers whose names may be less known that are now immortalized in hockey history.

Here’s every name engraved for the Golden Knights’ 2023-24 championship, and how they contributed to the title:

Bill Foley, owner, chairman, CEO

Foley believed in Las Vegas as a professional sports city before anyone else. He’s been rewarded with sellouts at every home game for six years, and now a championship. He’s helped the Golden Knights become one of the most popular destinations for players in the NHL with state-of-the-art facilities, and he’s willing to spend to the salary cap and beyond.

Vegas has an owner who is deeply invested in winning but doesn’t meddle in hockey operations, which is the perfect scenario.

Robert Foley, chief business officer

Robert Foley, Bill’s son, has worked with the team as the chief business officer from the inaugural season. He is involved in several different aspects of the team and works closely with pro and amateur scouts.

George McPhee, president of hockey operations

McPhee finally raised the Cup after four decades in the NHL as a player and front-office executive. He orchestrated a brilliant expansion draft in 2017 and has had a major hand in the roster construction ever since, even after moving from general manager to president of hockey operations.

Kelly McCrimmon, general manager

Over the last four years, McCrimmon has made bold moves. He believed the team needed an elite No. 1 defenseman and franchise center in order to win it all, so he went out and got Alex Pietrangelo and Jack Eichel. McPhee complimented McCrimmon’s aggression in those acquisitions, and both players played major roles in the championship.

Bruce Cassidy, head coach

Cassidy was a perfect match with the Golden Knights roster. His structured zone defense paired well with the big, strong blueliners. His insistence to have a net-driving winger on every forward line unlocked scoring that eluded this team in previous postseason runs.

John Stevens, assistant coach

Stevens coached the defensemen and managed the pairs all season. He brought Cup-winning experience to the room and played a vital role in Vegas’ stellar defense.

Ryan Craig, assistant coach

A Golden Knight since Day 1 in 2017, Craig worked mostly with the forwards this season. He’s coached under all three coaching regimes, and will now be coaching the AHL Silver Knights.

Sean Burke, goalie coach

The Golden Knights became the first team in NHL history to win four straight games with four different goalies. Every goalie who took the crease this season — no matter how unheralded — played well, and Burke deserves a lot of credit for preparing them.

Misha Donskov, assistant coach

Donskov is another Day 1 Golden Knight, but his role in the club has transformed over the years. His on-ice role grew each season, and he played a major part in skill development with Vegas’ bottom-six forwards this year. He put in hours of extra work with players like William Carrier and Keegan Kolesar to improve their puck skills, which paid big dividends.

Dave Rogowski, video coach

The Golden Knights won all four of the offside challenges they made this season, and Rogowski was the man behind the curtain who made it happen. He also assisted in a critical challenge in the first round of the playoffs, negating a late goal by Winnipeg due to a hand pass by Blake Wheeler on a faceoff.

Kyle Moore, associate head athletic trainer

Moore is another member who has been with the organization from its start, and played a major role in keeping the Golden Knights players healthy and fit throughout the season. After two straight regular seasons dealing with injuries, the team was incredibly healthy for all four rounds of the playoffs this year.

Mike Muir, assistant athletic trainer

While the Golden Knights didn’t suffer many major injuries in the postseason, there were plenty of scares, and Moore and assistant athletic trainer Muir were ready when they happened. Eichel took a huge hit from Matthew Tkachuk in the Cup Final and bounced back after barely missing a shift. Chandler Stephenson was hit up high with a puck against the Oilers and returned to the game shortly after. The list goes on and on.

Raul Dorantes, manual therapist

Dorantes is the team’s traveling physical therapist, keeping players feeling their best during the long, grueling season. Aside from giving massages, he also serves as the all-important postgame dressing room DJ, queuing up all the right songs following wins.

Doug Davidson, strength and conditioning coach

Many coaches credited Vegas’ brute strength in front of both nets during the long playoff run, and no one deserves more credit for that than Davidson, who works with the players in the gym on a daily basis.

Aaron Heishman, head of sport science and reconditioning

As the team’s head of sports science, Aaron Heishman is heavily involved in the players’ conditioning. He analyzes the data from the GPS devices worn by the players during practices to monitor their workload and see how they respond to it. He also helps develop conditioning programs for players returning from long-term injuries.

Chris Davidson-Adams, head equipment manager

Davidson-Adams ensures every player has exactly the equipment they need to perform at their best — from the obvious, like sticks with precisely the right curve, to the tape they wrap around their socks and the right insoles for their skates. He’s also repairing and replacing skate blades with the speed of a Formula 1 pitstop on the bench during games.

J.W. Aiken, assistant equipment manager

Aiken spends the entire game next to the stick rack on the bench, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice when a stick breaks on the ice. His shining moment came in Game 2 of the Cup Final, when he realized Mark Stone’s stick broke before Stone even realized it, and had a new one ready when the captain hurried to the bench. Vegas scored a goal seconds later, in part thanks to Aiken’s handiwork.

Golden Assists by Mark Stone and the @GoldenKnights trainer. #StanleyCup

: Game 3 at 8p ET on Thursday @NHL_On_TNT, @Sportsnet, and @TVASports pic.twitter.com/Paoz8ZsZSS

— NHL (@NHL) June 6, 2023

Rick Braunstein, director of team services

Braunstein, who the players call Bronco, is essentially the travel coordinator for the team. From booking flights, hotels and team buses, to setting up team meals on the road, Braunstein’s job is to make things run as smoothly as possible for the players so they can focus solely on hockey.

Katy Headman Boettinger, director of hockey administration

Boettinger was one of McPhee’s first hires when he was building a staff in Las Vegas in 2017. Similarly to Braunstein, Boettinger makes players’ lives easier, only she does most of her work at home. When a player is traded to the Golden Knights, she handles the relocation for him and his family. Passport or visa issues, finding a home, schools for the children, ordering tickets for family members, making sure parents can attend NHL debuts — it’s all handled by Boettinger.

Vaughn Karpan, director of player personnel

Karpan leads the Golden Knights professional scouting staff. If a player is signed via free agency or traded for, Karpan has either viewed and scouted the player himself or communicated with the scouts to gain intel.

Bob Lowes, assistant director of player personnel

Lowes leads the Golden Knights amateur scouting staff. He has overseen all seven draft classes in team history, including the selections of Nic Hague, Paul Cotter, Pavel Dorofeyev and Kaedan Korczak — all of whom played for Vegas this season.

Scott Luce, director of amateur scouting

Luce works alongside Lowes as head of the amateur scouting staff. Hague may have been the only draft pick to play in the postseason for the Golden Knights, but the organization has also used top-drafted prospects to bring in key players via trade such as Stone and Eichel.

Andrew Lugerner, director of hockey legal affairs

Lugerner is in charge of the Golden Knights salary cap, and there may not be a busier capologist in NHL history. Vegas’ cap gymnastics have been well documented over the seasons, and Lugerner holds the conductor’s baton on all of them.

Wil Nichol, director of player development

Once the prospects are drafted, Nichol takes over. He builds relationships with each and every draft pick and stays in contact with them throughout the year to help mentor their development into professionals.

Tom Poraszka, director of hockey operations

Poraszka is an analytics wizard who the Golden Knights hired in 2017 after his personal website, GeneralFanager.com, impressed hockey executives around the league. Poraszka is involved in discussions for essentially every move the team makes.

Mark Stone

Vegas’ captain returned from his second back surgery in less than a calendar year to give his team everything they needed in the playoffs. As usual, he was a menace in the defensive end, leading the league in takeaways. He also scored 11 goals, none bigger than the opening goal of Game 5 — a short-handed beauty to put the Golden Knights up early.

SHORTHANDED MAGIC FROM THE CAPTAIN

Mark Stone gives the @GoldenKnights the lead!

: @NHL_On_TNT https://t.co/LaJpv7c3yx #NHLonTNT
: @Sportsnet https://t.co/uEVY6yXLpz pic.twitter.com/amATZMV6pJ

— NHL (@NHL) June 14, 2023

Amadio set new career highs in goals (16) and points (27) this season and scored five more goals in the postseason. He bought into the role of the net-front presence on his line and played his best hockey when it was needed most. Amadio’s defining moment of the playoffs came in Game 3 of the first round against Winnipeg, where he roofed a shot past Connor Hellebuyck to win it for the Golden Knights in double overtime.

Barbashev finished fifth on the team in points in the playoffs, and seemed to score his goals at the most opportune moments. In Game 1 of the second round against Edmonton, he scored twice, with both coming seconds after a Leon Draisaitl power-play goal to zap any momentum the Oilers might’ve gained.

He played in only six playoff games, but Blueger provided a steady defensive presence on the fourth line and scored a big go-ahead goal in Game 1 of the conference finals against Dallas.

Brossoit outdueled his former goalie partner Hellebuyck in the first round, posting a .915 save percentage in the Golden Knights’ 4-1 series win over the Jets. Brossoit won five straight playoff games before an injury took him out of the crease in Game 2 of the second round.

William Carrier

Minutes into Game 6 of the Western Conference final, a loose puck popped out from behind the Dallas net right onto Carrier’s stick in the slot. He calmly collected it, deked to his backhand, waited out Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, and shoveled the puck into the net to give Vegas an early lead. It ended up being the game winner in a 6-0 rout.

Paul Cotter

Cotter didn’t play in the postseason, but had a strong rookie year with 13 goals in 55 regular-season games. The Golden Knights were 10-1-0 when Cotter scored, and 2-0-0 in his multi-goal games.

Jack Eichel

Eichel was the runner-up for the Conn Smythe Trophy after leading all players with 26 points in his Stanley Cup playoff debut. He capped it off with a brilliant three-point night in Vegas’ dominant Cup-clinching Game 5 against Florida.

Hague usually scores from long range with a blistering one-timer cleverly dubbed the “Haguerbomb,” but in Game 5 of the Cup Final, he crashed the front of the net and found the puck for a crucial goal to put Vegas up 2-0. He was on the ice for 23 goals for and only 11 against in the postseason.

Two words: Paddle save.

Hill had plenty of big moments during the championship run, but only one that will be etched into the minds of every Golden Knights fan for the rest of their lives.

Adin Hill with an incredible paddle save to keep this game tied pic.twitter.com/0Cg8VqCqrb

— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) June 4, 2023

Howden scored twice on two different occasions in the playoffs, but his biggest moment of the season came in overtime of Game 1 of the conference finals. He couldn’t handle the initial pass from Stone on the backside of the play, but collected the puck just behind the Dallas net and banked the shot into the net off Oettinger to give Vegas a 1-0 series lead.

Hutton was the consummate teammate throughout the season, regardless of how much playing time he was given. He always brings energy and laughs to practice, and on the two occasions his name was called in the postseason, he stepped in and gave Vegas a solid performance.

Karlsson was tied with Stone for second on the team with 11 goals in the postseason, but that pales in comparison to the moment Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft admitted he was avoiding playing Connor McDavid against Karlsson because of how well Karlsson defended in that series. Better than his timely offense or shut-down defense, though, was Karlsson’s unforgettable speech at the championship parade that will go down in Golden Knights lore.

Phil Kessel

Kessel broke the NHL’s all-time ironman streak in late October, and kept the streak going all the way through the regular season. He played only four games in the postseason but had two assists in Vegas’ Game 2 win over Winnipeg in the opening round.

Keegan Kolesar

Kolesar provided a physical presence all season long on the fourth line, which continued right through the playoffs. He showed his offensive touch in Game 6 against Dallas to help send Vegas to the Cup Final with a goal and an assist.

Marchessault has been a major part of the heart and soul of the Golden Knights for the last six years, and was deserving of the Conn Smythe as their most valuable player in the postseason. His natural hat trick was the difference in Vegas’ clinching Game 6 victory over Edmonton in the second round, and he ended the playoffs on a 10-game point streak.

Martinez led all players with 244 blocks (46 more than the next-closest) in the regular season. In the playoffs, he led the league with 57 more. On a team whose postseason motto was “it hurts to win,” no one personified it more than Martinez.

McNabb played through a painful rib injury for most of the postseason to give Vegas solid defense on a nightly basis. He didn’t score and had only four assists, but ask any player on the team and they’ll rave about how important McNabb has been to Vegas’ success both in these playoffs and throughout the last six years.

Pachal played in only one game but gave Vegas 11 solid minutes in his playoff debut to help close out Winnipeg in Game 5 of the first round. He played 10 NHL games in the regular season and served as the Silver Knights’ captain.

Alex Pietrangelo

Pietrangelo’s 491:45 of playoff ice time didn’t just lead the Golden Knights, it was more than 60 minutes clear of the next-closest player. The vast majority of those minutes came against the opposing team’s top offensive players. Pietrangelo was the anchor to Vegas’ dominant defense that won this championship.

Quick didn’t see the ice in the playoffs, but he came over at the trade deadline to give Vegas solid goaltending when it was decimated by injuries. With Hill, Brossoit and Logan Thompson all out, Quick came in and delivered four straight wins in March to keep the Golden Knights atop the Pacific Division standings.

Roy scored twice in the Stanley Cup Final. The first ended up as the game winner in Game 2, and the second was Vegas’ ninth goal of Game 5. It was the exclamation point on the blowout and the final goal of the NHL season.

Karlsson collected a puck in front of the Florida net midway through the second period of Game 5 of the Cup Final and calmly slid it between his legs. Smith swooped into the slot and blasted it past Sergei Bobrovsky to give Vegas a 4-1 lead. Speaking with players and their families on the ice after, many felt Smith’s goal was the moment they really believed Vegas might hoist the Cup that night. It ended up being the game winner.

Chandler Stephenson

Stephenson opened the scoring for Vegas in Game 4 of the Cup Final with a gorgeous breakaway wrister underneath Bobrovsky’s pads. He followed it up with another goal in the second period, slicing into the slot and one-timing Stone’s pass into the top corner of the net. His speed unlocked offense for the Golden Knights all season, and his best playoff performance pulled them within a game of the title.

Early in Game 1 of the Final, Theodore snapped a 20-game goal-less drought with one of the most sensational plays of the entire postseason. He danced around Panthers forward Anthony Duclair at the blue line, leaving him spinning out of control as Theodore cruised into the high slot, then ripped a wrist shot into the net to give Vegas a 2-1 lead.

SHEESH SHEA THEODORE pic.twitter.com/M2U8acTqZc

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) June 4, 2023

Logan Thompson

Thompson was thrust into a starting role as a rookie when Robin Lehner underwent offseason surgery and represented Vegas in the All-Star Game this past winter. He missed the postseason with an injury, but Thompson went 21-13-3 in the regular season and was a major reason the Golden Knights had home-ice advantage in the West.

Zach Whitecloud

Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final was tied 2-2 midway through the third period when Whitecloud caught a pass from Barbashev at the point. He toe-dragged the puck around the defender, fired a shot past Bobrovsky’s glove for the game winner and was mobbed by teammates in celebration.

(Photo of Jack Eichel lifting the Stanley Cup: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)