Here are Saskatchewan's connections to the 2023 Stanley Cup Final
The Vegas Golden Knights and the Florida Panthers will compete for the NHL’s top prize beginning this week and both teams have ties to Saskatchewan on their respective rosters.
Brayden McNabb – Vegas Golden Knights
Davidson, Sask. born defenseman Brayden McNabb has been a member of the Vegas Golden Knights since their inception, joining the team in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft.
McNabb played in all 82 regular season games for Vegas in 2022-23, scoring one goal. Over 16 games in the 2023 NHL Playoffs, he has two assists.
Chandler Stephenson – Vegas Golden Knights
Golden Knights forward Chandler Stephenson is in pursuit of his second Stanley Cup championship. His first came in 2018 with the Washington Capitals, a win he followed by taking the trophy to Humboldt as the community came to terms with the Humboldt Broncos bus crash.
Prior to his NHL career, the Saskatoon product spent four seasons as a member of the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Regina Pats, capped off by an 89-point season in 2013-14.
Stephenson was traded to the Golden Knights by the Capitals for a fifth-round draft pick in 2019 and has remained with the team since.
During the 2022-23 NHL season, he played in 81 games and led the team in assists with 49.
Brett Howden – Vegas Golden Knights
While he wasn’t born in Saskatchewan, Vegas centre Brett Howden spent four full seasons with the Moose Jaw Warriors in the WHL, including two years as the team’s captain.
Following his time in Moose Jaw, Howden made his NHL debut with the New York Rangers in 2018, later joining the Golden Knights via a trade in 2021.
So far in the playoffs, Howden has three goals including an overtime winner in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars.
Brayden Pachal – Vegas Golden Knights
Brayden Pachal’s time with the Golden Knights has been limited in 2022-23, appearing in 10 games for Vegas during the regular season.
Pachal did appear in his first career NHL playoff game on April 27 against the Winnipeg Jets in the first round.
Originally from Estevan, Pachal spent most of the season with the team’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights.
Prior to playing in the NHL and AHL, Pachal captained the Prince Albert Raiders to a WHL Championship in 2019.
Kelly McCrimmon – General Manager – Vegas Golden Knights
Despite spending much of his pre-NHL career in Manitoba, Vegas General Manager Kelly McCrimmon originally hails from Plenty, Sask. near Kindersley.
McCrimmon followed his playing career by becoming a head coach and general manager in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, before making the jump to the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, where he had spent time as a player in the late 1970s.
In the years following, McCrimmon became the head coach, general manager and owner of the Wheat Kings until joining the Vegas Golden Knights organization following his second WHL Championship in 2016.
McCrimmon is in pursuit of his first Stanley Cup in any capacity, after being an assistant general manager during the debut season for Vegas.
Josh Mahura – Florida Panthers
Alberta-born defenseman Josh Mahura capped off his WHL career by playing a season and a half with the Regina Pats, playing in the 2018 Memorial Cup.
Mahura was drafted by the Anaheim Ducks in 2016 and joined the Florida Panthers via a waiver pickup in October of 2022.
This season marks Mahura’s first NHL playoff run. He’s played in 16 games, picking up two assists.
Aleksi Heponiemi – Florida Panthers
Born in Finland, Aleksi Heponiemi has yet to make his first appearance in the playoffs.
The 24-year-old was taken by the Panthers in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft and appeared in 10 games for the team over the course of the regular season.
Heponiemi spent his time in the WHL with the Swift Current Broncos.
Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals is set for Saturday in Las Vegas.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Former Air Canada employees among suspects identified in gold heist at Pearson Airport: police
Nine people have been arrested in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year, Peel Regional Police said Wednesday.
MPs summon ArriveCan contractor to the House to be admonished in rare parliamentary display
Enacting an extraordinarily rarely used parliamentary power, MPs have summoned an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon to be admonished publicly for failing to answer their questions.
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
Gas prices across Ontario expected to climb to levels not seen since 2022, analyst says
Ontario is going to see a big jump at the pumps later this week as gas prices in the province hit levels not seen in nearly two years, according to one industry analyst.
Ancient skeletons unearthed in France reveal Mafia-style killings
More than 5,500 years ago, two women were tied up and probably buried alive in a ritual sacrifice, using a form of torture associated today with the Italian Mafia, according to an analysis of skeletons discovered at an archaeological site in southwest France.
10 years in U.S. prison for Canadian man who stole millions with fake psychic fraud
A former Montreal resident has been sentenced to 10 years in a United States federal prison for a multi-decade fraud that manipulated more than one million Americans into sending money to fake psychics.
'Enormous sum of money': Actor Hugh Grant settles privacy lawsuit against tabloid
British actor Hugh Grant has settled a lawsuit against the publisher of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid newspaper, The Sun, over claims journalists used private investigators to tap his phone and burgle his house, he said on Wednesday.
O.J. Simpson was chilling with a beer on a couch before Easter, lawyer says. 2 weeks later he was dead
O.J. Simpson's last robust discussion with his longtime lawyer was just before Easter, at the country club home Simpson leased southwest of the Las Vegas Strip. About a week later, on April 5, a doctor said Simpson was 'transitioning.'
Some of the winners and losers in the 2024 federal budget
With a variety of fiscal and policy measures announced in the federal budget, winners include small businesses and fintech companies while losers include the tobacco industry and Canadian pension funds.