25 names to know in the Stanley Cup Final

Well sure, let's get the obvious one out of the way first. After an emotional, wildly successful end to his time in Pittsburgh, Fleury instantly became the face of the Golden Knights when they selected him in the expansion draft. Most observers expected Fleury to lend Vegas some credibility and steal the occasional win, but no one could have foreseen that he would have the best regular season of his career, despite battling concussion woes, and be the odds-on favorite for the Conn Smythe after stoning the Kings, Sharks and Jets on the way to the Final. Should Vegas win, Fleury will be a lock for the Hall of Fame.

You've heard of this guy before, right? He had another spectacular year, and he's four wins away from removing the dreaded "best to never win a championship" label from his resume. (We assume Charles Barkley, Karl Malone and the rest of their brethren are rooting for him.) Ovechkin was his usual electrifying self this year, leading the league in goals for the fifth time in the last six seasons, and has been outstanding in the playoffs, scoring big goals time and again, and playing responsible system hockey, to boot. There is plenty of talent in Washington, but Ovechkin still commands the most attention — as it should be.

No one matches Karlsson's breakout season, at least in terms of sheer unlikeliness. Marc-Andre Fleury was a known commodity for Vegas. Jonathan Marchessault was coming off of a 30-goal season with Florida. James Neal had a reputation as one of the league's best snipers. But Karlsson? His previous single-season career-high in goals was nine. As in, one less than ten. This year? All he did was rip off 43 goals, clinch a division championship with an audacious between-the-legs goal, and led the league in shooting percentage. Vegas has played a tight-checking style in these playoffs, but if there's anyone on the team liable to go off and take over a series, it's Karlsson.

If you think that the mental side of sports gets overblown, let me offer up Holtby as a compelling counterargument. He deservedly lost his net to Philipp Grubauer in the regular season, seemed to have lost his mojo, and was relegated to the bench at the start of the playoffs. Freed from the burden of playoff pressure, and very much placed in the role of rescuing hero when Grubauer faltered, Holtby stabilized the Caps and never looked back, staring down the Penguins with huge saves late in that series, then shutting out the Lightning in back-to-back games to clinch the Eastern Conference Finals. Marc-Andre Fleury is getting all of the attention, but Holtby is having an outstanding playoff run as well.

Marchessault was an example of the kind of player the Golden Knights acquired because they were willing to do his team a favor. In this case, the favor was taking Reilly Smith and his contract off of Florida's hands. As a result, the Panthers were willing to leave Marchessault unprotected in the expansion draft. He and Smith have teamed with William Karlsson to form a lethal top line that has carried the Golden Knights all season long.

Backstrom missed time in the Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay series due to a hand injury, and it's a testament to Washington's depth and will that they won without him. Alex Ovechkin is the finisher on the power play, but Backstrom is the man who makes everything work. Whether he's making subtly brilliant passes to T.J. Oshie in the middle of the opposition's penalty killing box, or hitting Ovechkin with brilliant cross-ice passes, Backstrom is arguably the most important piece on Washington's power play. Oh, and he's really good at everything else, too. One of the most under-appreciated players in the league.

Reilly Smith was the guy with the bad contract when he was on the Panthers. He was the guy Florida couldn't wait to get rid of, so much so that they offered Vegas Jonathan Marchessault to essentially sweeten the deal. Whoops. Smith has found his game again this year, and has teamed with Marchessault and William Karlsson to form Vegas' most deadly line. He's arguably Vegas' most versatile player, and has been a war horse all over the ice in the playoffs. If you're looking for the most important player on the Golden Knights outside of the guys you already know, Smith fits the bill.

If the Caps fall short in this series, one assumes that their fans will still take solace in the fact that they finally beat the Penguins in a playoff series. They had to KO the champs, and Kuznetsov was the one to do it, breaking in all alone and undressing Matt Murray for the series-winning goal. Kuznetsov also scored a pivotal tying goal in Game 5 of that series, and was Washington's second-leading scorer this season, notching 83 points. If you were to pick a guy other than Ovechkin, Backstrom or Holtby to steal the show for Washington, Kuznetsov would be the smart choice.

Nate Schmidt is an interesting case. The Capitals didn't think enough of him to protect him in the expansion draft, but they did like him enough to try and trade for him after Vegas selected him. McPhee said no, and now he's a mainstay on the Golden Knights' blue line, logging almost two full minutes more ice time per game than any other defenseman on the team. He's also one of the happiest-sounding athletes in all of sports, so if you happen to see him being interviewed, sit back and enjoy, because you'll probably be in a better mood afterwards.

Make no mistake — John Carlson is the best defenseman in this series. He's known for his offensive prowess, and understandably so, as he notched 15 goals and 53 assists this season, numbers usually associated with another Karlsson — Erik. This Carlson is a lethal power play weapon for the Caps, with 32 of his 68 points coming with the man advantage. That's impressive, but what might be more striking is that he still tallied 36 points at even strength. Vegas will have to neutralize his offense from the point.

Perhaps no player on the Golden Knights more epitomizes the "whole is greater than the sum of the parts" dynamic than Engelland. Known as a rugged, solid, but by no means spectacular defenseman during his time in Pittsburgh and Calgary, Engelland has been a rock for Vegas. A late bloomer who didn't break into the league until age 27, Engelland is a physical player, and a blood and guts guy who would do anything to win. In short, he's the kind of guy you don't always hear much about, but without whom championship runs would not be possible.

Oshie has the odd distinction of being an American Olympic hero for his work against Russia in 2014, and also being very, very disliked by virtually all opposing fans. He signed a big contract this offseason, but his production dipped significantly. Something tells me that Caps fans won't mind the sluggish regular season if he continues to utilize his lightning-quick release to score timely goals in this series. Oshie's one-timers from the high slot are almost as dangerous a power play weapon as Ovechkin's bombs from the left circle.

If you happen to find someone rooting against Vegas, and that someone isn't a Capitals fan, there's a decent chance they simply don't like James Neal. Never one of the league's most, well, likable guys, Neal is nonetheless an elite sniper, and has gone mostly unnoticed this year in Vegas. Despite being overshadowed by William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault, Neal still tallied 25 goals this season, and provides the kind of instant offense that teams treasure in the playoffs.

There is no man in the league who engenders more hatred from opposing fans than Wilson, and for good reason. His play is right on the edge of dirty on his best day, and frequently crosses the line. That said, he wouldn't be in the lineup if he constantly hurt the Capitals, and he's actually blossomed into a very effective, physical player on the Caps' top line. The book on Wilson is this; if he harnesses his physicality and uses it to his advantage, the Golden Knights will be in trouble. If he loses his mind, he will be a detriment to Washington — and Ryan Reaves might try to take his head off. 

Reaves isn't the most talented guy on this list. He's actually closer to the bottom in that regard, but he has given Vegas toughness and solid fourth-line minutes since coming over from Pittsburgh at the trade deadline. Plus, he's got a knack for scoring the occasional timely goal, like the one that proved to be the series-winner against Winnipeg, and perhaps most importantly, he's a built-in Tom Wilson deterrent. Reaves won't prevent Wilson from running around, per se, but he will be more than happy to take a physical pound of flesh from him every time they're on the ice together.

Orlov signed a big contract extension in the offseason, and after Carlson, logs the most minutes on average of any Washington defenseman. Orlov is offensive-minded, but generally pretty steady, though he can be prone to the occasional bad turnover or defensive breakdown. If Orlov has a good series, it will be a major boon for the Caps. Any offense they get from him is a bonus, and if he's skating and helping the Caps exit their zone effectively, he'll be a major factor in their efforts to beat Vegas' pressure.

At the time, it was a sad, sort of unfortunate image. Gerard Gallant, having been fired as head coach of the Florida Panthers, did not want to wait for a car service the team had called for him before they departed on a road trip, so he took a taxi instead. Though the situation was not as embarrassing as it looked, it still didn't look great for Gallant. Eighteen months and one day later, Gallant will lead arguably the most unlikely finalist in league history into a series many feel they will win. For Gallant, the best revenge is living well.

Much has been made of Alex Ovechkin finally making it past the second round of the playoffs, but Barry Trotz had his own demons with the second round, and he finally conquered them this year as well. He's nothing if not confident in his team, and deserves plenty of credit for finally getting a perpetually snake-bitten group over the hump. Trotz also was unafraid to pull the plug on the Philipp Grubauer experiment in the playoffs, and in doing so likely saved Washington from an early trip to the golf course.

Beagle is another one of those blood and guts, "do anything to win" type of guys. He's part of the glue that holds the Caps together. Not much of a scoring threat, Beagle is instead an ace penalty killer, and a rugged veteran who's seen his share of big games. He's also the kind of guy that, if he's playing well, won't have his name called all that often. Instead, he'll be making subtle plays to help his team win. They won't draw headlines, but occasionally an analyst will call him out to give him some credit. If you're at a party and everyone there is a casual hockey fan, focus on Beagle when he's on the ice, and say something like, "great body position by Beagle there, he negated a Vegas scoring chance." Everyone will be impressed (maybe).

As someone who has observed the Penguins closely for the majority of my life, I can say without hesitation that I did not know David Perron had this in him. When Pittsburgh got him at the trade deadline, he produced well enough, but things never really worked out with the Penguins. With Vegas, he's merely turned himself into an assist machine, notching 50 on the year, and is the primary facilitator on the Golden Knights' power play, with a team-high 17 assists with the man advantage.

Brooks Orpik is very much cut from the same cloth as Tom Wilson. Orpik was just cut from it years before Wilson. He's a classic "love him if he's on your team, hate him if he's not" style of player, and he's by far Washington's pre-eminent physical presence on the blue line. I enjoyed poking fun at Orpik the past few seasons, because he was a very poor match for the Penguins' team speed in the playoffs, but he's seemed re-energized in this postseason, and has acquitted himself well. Still, he isn't fleet of foot, and is the kind of guy that, if things suddenly go bad, the Golden Knights could exploit.

Quick, tell me where Erik Haula played before landing in Vegas. If you came up with "the Minnesota Wild, Chris" in under five seconds and without using Google, you win a prize. Haula was another mostly unknown player who suddenly blossomed with the Golden Knights. While his uptick in production wasn't as dramatic as Karlsson's, Haula nearly doubled his previous career high in goals, jumping from 15 last year to 29 this year. He's yet another weapon in a shockingly balanced offensive attack.

Connolly is a sneaky-skilled offensive player. He's not a guy that you'd necessarily game plan for, but that's part of what makes him so effective. He doesn't command a lot of attention, but is a talented finisher. If you're a Vegas fan and you're looking for a player that you didn't know existed before this series, but suddenly causes you to spasm angrily at the mere mention of his name by the announcers, look no further than Brett Connolly. 

McPhee isn't a player, of course. He's the man who built these Golden Knights, and there's plenty of history between he and Washington. McPhee was the Capitals' GM through the 2014 season, and one imagines that he would love nothing more than to see his Golden Knights deny his former franchise at the precipice. Despite some suggesting that Vegas was given a much easier path to contention than previous expansion teams, McPhee's job was still extremely difficult, and his team being four wins from a title is still exceptionally unlikely, and a major feather in his cap. My point is, expect some fun reaction shots of McPhee if this thing goes the Golden Knights' way.

Vrana hasn't done much in terms of point production in these playoffs, but he did have three points in Washington's pivotal Game 5 win over Pittsburgh. He's young, has first round pedigree, and is the kind of player that Barry Trotz might deploy on different lines if he thinks his team needs a spark or a new look. Vrana is a gifted offensive talent, and though he might not score a goal in this series, if he does, it's a pretty safe bet that it will be a big one.