The Stanley Cup is scheduled to make the second stop of its summer tour Monday.
Each Golden Knights player, coach or staff member that had their name engraved on the trophy gets a day with the Cup during to celebrate their championship. Center Nicolas Roy went first Saturday, participating in a parade and a party in his hometown of Amos, Quebec.
Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was set to receive it next in St. Louis, where he played from 2008-20 and won his first Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019. Pietrangelo’s wife Jayne’s family is from the area and the couple still spends time during the offseason there with their four children.
Pietrangelo had private events planned for his second day with the Cup. He took it golfing the last time he had it in 2019 in his hometown of King City, Ontario.
You know all those jokes about hockey players golfing in the summer?
ha ha ha ha ha pic.twitter.com/lEZ8kdlrJb
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) July 14, 2019
The Cup will next meet former Knights assistant Misha Donskov, who it was announced is leaving the organization July 2, in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday.
Here is more on what Pietrangelo meant to the Knights’ championship team:
Alex Pietrangelo
Position: Defenseman
Stanley Cup: Second
Born: Jan. 18, 1990
Height: 6 feet 3 inches
Weight: 210 pounds
Birthplace: King City, Ontario
Playoff stats: One goal and nine assists in 22 games
Pietrangelo remains the most expensive free-agent signing in Golden Knights’ history after signing a seven-year, $61.6 million deal Oct. 12, 2020.
So far, he’s lived up to his price tag.
Pietrangelo has continued to perform like one of the NHL’s top two-way defensemen since joining the Knights. He matched his career high with 54 points on offense this season, while still playing shutdown minutes against opposing top forwards with partner Alec Martinez every night.
His teammates often use the same word to describe Pietrangelo when summing up his all-around impact: “Horse.” He played 23:59 per game for the Knights in the regular season, 2:33 more than his next-closest teammate. That gap grew to 3:17 in the playoffs.
The Knights didn’t have someone capable of handling that kind of workload and doing it well before Pietrangelo’s arrival. His addition to the top of the depth chart had a domino effect on the rest of the blue line, putting everyone else into roles they could thrive in. It transformed the Knights from a strong defense corps into one that has a argument — and likely a winning one — at being the NHL’s best one through six.
Pietrangelo’s importance is such that he was the first player after captain Mark Stone and the six original members of the Knights to lift the Stanley Cup. His leadership and experience were crucial in getting the team over the hump, given he also captained the St. Louis Blues to a championship in 2019.
Nicolas Roy
Roy was the first player to get the Cup, taking it to his hometown of Amos, Quebec. There was a town parade in his honor Saturday and a party at his home later in the night.
First up on the 2023 #StanleyCup @GoldenKnights Tour: Nicolas Roy! A great day of food, family & friends in NW Quebec…and no wildfires. (Amos, QC) @NHL @HockeyHallFame pic.twitter.com/JfVwZPzZJP
— Philip Pritchard (@keeperofthecup) July 10, 2023
Here is more on what Roy meant to the Knights’ championship team:
■ Position: Center
■ Stanley Cup: First
■ Born: Feb. 5, 1997
■ Height: 6 feet, 4 inches
■ Weight: 205 pounds
■ Birthplace: Amos, Quebec
■ Playoff stats: Three goals, eight assists in 22 games
Roy was acquired before the Knights’ third season in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes for center Erik Haula. It was one of many shrewd moves that put the team on the path toward a championship.
Roy developed more and more as the years went on to become a player with enough size, skill and versatility to make an impact all over the lineup. He spent time up the middle and on the wing in the playoffs, but the Knights were at their best with him anchoring the fourth line.
Roy was overqualified for the role — he spent a lot of time in the team’s top six the last two seasons — but that’s what made the look so successful. Coach Bruce Cassidy could trust Roy to steal shifts against the opponent’s best forwards and set up the Knights’ other three lines with easier matchups. And if Roy faced off against other depth forwards, he had enough tricks in his toolbox to burn them offensively.
Never was that more apparent than in Game 6 of the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars.
Cassidy moved Roy back to the fourth line after using him with left wing Reilly Smith and center William Karlsson for a seven-game stretch. Roy was on the ice for three first-period goals — two at five-on-five and one on the power play — to help close out the series with a 6-0 win and send the Knights back to the Stanley Cup Final.
Florida didn’t have many answers for him, either. Roy scored two goals against the Panthers — including one with 1:02 remaining in the decisive Game 5 — to help clinch the Cup.
Contact Ben Gotz at [email protected]. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.