2023 Vegas Golden Knights Stanley Cup Championship Ring

The 2023 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2022?23 season and the culmination of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers four games to one in the best-of-seven series to earn their first championship in their sixth season. The series began on June 3, and concluded on June 13.

This was the first Finals series since 2018 in which neither team had previously won the Stanley Cup. For the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Finals ran through the first weeks of June.

his was Vegas' second Finals appearance. Their only previous appearance was in 2018, which they lost to the Washington Capitals in five games. The Golden Knights experienced immediate success after beginning play in 2017, reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural season and qualifying for the playoffs in their first four. However, they missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history the previous season, which led to the firing of head coach Peter DeBoer.

During the offseason, the Golden Knights hired former Boston Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy as their head coach. They also acquired goaltender Adin Hill in a trade, re-signed Brett Howden, Reilly Smith, Keegan Kolesar, and Nicolas Roy, and also signed Phil Kessel, a two-time Stanley Cup champion during his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, during free agency. At the trade deadline, the Golden Knights acquired forwards Ivan Barbashev (reuniting him with Alex Pietrangelo from the 2019 Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues) and Teddy Blueger, as well as goaltender Jonathan Quick who was flipped by the Columbus Blue Jackets from the Los Angeles Kings (reuniting him with defenceman Alec Martinez, both two-time Stanley Cup champions with the Kings).

The Golden Knights finished first in the Pacific Division and the Western Conference with 111 points via a 51-22-9 record. Vegas defeated the Winnipeg Jets in five games during the First Round triumphed over the Edmonton Oilers during the Second Round in six games, and knocked off the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final in six games.