The National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup championship playoffs wrapped up Sunday with the Carolina Hurricanes defeating the host Vegas Golden Knights, 3-0, to capture the best-of-seven series in six games, four games to two.
It marked the Hurricanes’ second Stanley Cup championship in three trips to the Finals and the Golden Knights’ second runner-up finish in three trips to the NHL’s biggest show.
For hockey fans of a certain age, greats like Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Robbie Ftorek, Ernie Wakely and Andre Lacroix have a special meaning.
Howe and Hull were among the founding members of the World Hockey Association after long careers in the senior National Hockey League.
Hull, already established as a Chicago Black Hawks superstar, gave the fledgling WHA some instant credibility after signing a $1 million bonus to play for the Winnipeg Jets in 1972.
With Hull, nicknamed the “Golden Jet,” in tow, Winnipeg won Avco Cup titles in 1976 and 1978. He was a two-time league MVP and set a single-season scoring record with 77 goals in 1974-75.
Howe was the NHL’s all-time scoring leader before being eclipsed by Wayne Gretzky in 1989. Howe had a rare chance to play alongside his sons Mark and Marty both with the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers in the WHA, winning back-to-back Avco Cup titles in 1974-75.
Wakely and Lacroix both suited up for the San Diego Mariners and became name players with the WHA team during its three years of operation in town.
Both are members of the WHA Hall of Fame. Wakely played 334 games in the WHA from 1972-79, including three seasons in San Diego. He holds the WHA record with 16 career shutouts. Lacroix, the “Magician” to his legion of fans, is the only player in WHA history to post six 100-point seasons.
Lacroix racked up a then professional record 106 assists during the 1974-75 season with the Mariners en route to claiming his second league scoring title. A 32-game point-scoring streak the included 16 goals and 53 assists for 69 points made him a celebrity on local ice.
Lacroix, the all-time WHA career leader with 798 points, played with Hull and Howe for the Whalers in their final NHL seasons.
During the 1976-77 season, Ftorek, among the few Americans playing at the level at the time, scored 46 goals and recorded 71 assists for the Phoenix Roadrunners en route to winning the Gordie Howe Trophy as the WHA’s most valuable player. He was often a thorn in the side of the Mariners.
Ftorek played through the 1985-86 NHL season and later coached the New Jersey Devils, Boston Bruins and Los Angeles Kings. His name is engraved twice on the Stanley Cup.
The Mariners qualified for the Avco Cup playoffs all three years representing America’s Finest City. They advanced to the quarterfinals in 1975 after defeating the Toronto Toros in the first round before being swept in the next round by Houston and advanced to the semifinals in 1976 also against the Aeros. They lost in the division semifinals to the Jets in 1977 to end their Avco Cup playoff runs with 12 wins and 16 losses.
The Hurricanes became the third former WHA team to win the NHL’s biggest prize alongside the Edmonton Oilers (five times) and Colorado Avalanche (three times as the former Quebec Nordiques).
Former WHA teams now have 10 Stanley Cup championships between them since the 1979 merger between the two leagues. Call it sweet revenge for the way in which the WHA teams were harshly greeted (to put it mildly) into the NHL. It was appropriately served cold — ice cold, in fact.
In the seven-year history of the WHA, the Winnipeg Jets won three Avco Cup tmes (1976, 1978, 1979) while Houston (1974-75) won it twice and Whalers (1973) and Nordiques (1977) each won one title.
There is a short video on Wikipedia of the Jets’ 1979 Avco Cup victory over the Edmonton Oilers, a 7-3 decision that served as the final WHA game in history (May 20, 1979). It is absolutely electrifying to watch and think back to a different era.
Four of the six surviving WHA teams joined the NHL following the conclusion of the 1978-79 season but at a high price as NHL teams reclaimed players off WHA rosters for which they had NHL playing rights.
WHA teams entered the NHL shed of most of their marquee talent and fared poorly in the standings. The once mighty Jets, for instance, went 20-49-11 in their first NHL season.
Were NHL executives afraid that Winnipeg, fully-stocked with all its stars, might win the Stanley Cup?
Interesting conjecture.
Not all the WHA teams that entered the NHL remained in their original cities. The Nordiques were sold and moved to Denver as the Avalanche in 1995 while the Jets moved to Phoenix as the Coyotes in 1996.
The Whalers set sail to North Carolina in 1997. Edmonton is the only one that has stayed put. The Coyotes are no more, having had their assets acquired by the expansion Utah Mammoth.
It must have been caustic to those old NHL execs when two former WHA teams met in the 2006 Stanley Cup Final with the Hurricanes defeating the Oilers in seven games.
Interestingly, the Avs won the Stanley Cup in their first year in their new home.
The Avs nearly made it another all-WHA Stanley Cup Final after advancing as far as the Western Conference Finals before being halted in a four-game sweep by the Golden Knights.
Relocations of the former WHA teams came about by low revenue streams in small markets. With the expansion of media platforms, merchandising and social media, revenue streams have improved significantly.
The Canes generate more than $218 million in annual revenue. The franchise is valued at $2.66 billion.
The Golden Knights proved that expansion teams can fit right in. Vegas advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first year of existence and made a triumphant return in their sixth year to win the coveted NHL prize trophy in 2023.
One of the few expansion franchises to experience immediate success, the Golden Knights advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first year of existence and have qualified for the NHL playoffs in eight of nine seasons.
Vegas posted some unreal numbers during its expansion season, including a 51-24-7 regular season record, Pacific Division title, and successive playoff series wins over the Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks and Winnipeg Jets (formerly Atlanta Thrashers).
The Golden Knights met the Eastern Conference champion Washington Capitals in the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals. Vegas kept its magical season going with a 6-4 win in Game 1 in Nevada, but the Capitals came back to win the next four games, including two by one-goal margins, to claim the series championship.
The Golden Knights set an expansion team record with 13 postseason wins.
The VGK met the Florida Panthers in their second Stanley Cup Finals appearance, winning in five games.
Former San Diego Gulls defenseman Shea Theodore was on both the VGK’s 2023 and 2026 Stanley Cup Finals rosters. A testicular cancer survivor, he appeared in 22 playoff games with 18 points this past season.
An original Golden Knight after being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks in a trade prior to the expansion draft, Theodore appeared in 76 games for the Gulls between 2015-17 with 57 points (14 goals, 43 assists).
Add Gulls
The Gulls capped a winning 33-27-8-4 regular season with their first Calder Cup playoffs appearance since 2022 with a first-round exit to the Colorado Eagles.
With success also comes change. Assistant coach Michael Babcock left the organization in early June to become head coach of the Brantford Bulldogs in the Ontario Hockey League while head coach Matt McIlvane left the organization shortly afterward to become an assistant coach with the NHL Boston Bruins.
McIlvane, the Gulls fifth head coach in their AHL history, posted an?88-97-23-8 record from 2023-26, his first three seasons as an AHL head coach. The Gulls saw an improvement of 20 points in the Pacific Division standings during his first season with the team and a further three-point improvement in his second season. The Gulls saw a further improvement of 12 points this past season in securing a playoff berth.
Among Gulls head coaches all-time, McIlvane ranks second in both games coached (216) and wins (88), behind only Dallas Eakins in both categories.
“We would like to thank Matt for his commitment to San Diego during his three seasons leading the Gulls,” San Diego general manager Rick Paterson said. “Matt helped us re-establish an identity of Gulls hockey we could build upon by leading the team to three consecutive seasons with standing points increases, capped with the team’s first playoff berth since 2021-22 this past season. He also was a community champion for the city and integrated himself and his family into the fabric of San Diego from his first day on. We wish him the best as he continues his coaching career in Boston.”
McIlvane had signed a contract extension with the NHL parent Anaheim Ducks, prior to his departure.
The Gulls will be looking for an entirely new coaching staff heading into the 2026-27 season.
In player news, the Gulls resigned veteran defenseman Ryan Carpenter to a new one-year contract while goaltender Calle Clang returns to his former team in Sweden after signing a two-year contract with Rögle BK.
Carpenter, 35, has been one of the team’s more consistent players after tallying 48 points in 71 games in 2024-25 and 49 points in 72 games in 2025-26 for a total of 97 points and 38 penalty minutes in 143 games. He has served as the Gulls team captain the past two seasons.
“We are excited to bring Ryan back for next season,” Paterson said. “Ryan has been an integral part of our success since arriving in San Diego. He exemplifies incredible leadership both on and off the ice and was a key figure in helping us back into the Calder Cup playoffs this season.”
Clang appeared in 104 AHL games over parts of four seasons with a 40-41-17 record, 0.896 save percentage and three shutouts. He recorded his best stint in 2025-26 with an 18-9-6 record, 2.80 GAA and 0.897 save percentage.
The AHL Calder Cup Finals are nearing completion with the Eastern Conference champion Toronto Marlies holding a 3-0 series edge over the Western Conference champion Chicago Wolves. Game Four is Thursday with the Wolves needing a win to keep the series going. l
Central Division champion Chicago edged Pacific Division champion Colorado in a climactic seven-game series in the Western Conference Finals.
