LAS VEGAS – After the Carolina Hurricanes finished off a march to the Stanley Cup that was as clinical as it was cathartic, the emotions started bubbling over as soon as Jordan Staal wrapped his big paws around its silver edges.
The Hurricanes captain let out a guttural roar while thrusting it into the air, culminating a 17-year wait for him that included 14 seasons with Carolina. The first teammate Staal skated towards hadn’t even been in uniform for Sunday’s series-clinching 3-0 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights.
Instead Frederik Andersen had found himself “nervously shaking” in the dressing room for three and a half games while watching Brandon Bussi come in to close out the series in his place. Andersen had tweaked his knee during a Game 2 win over Vegas and was pulled during the second intermission of Game 3. But everything he contributed during the 12-1 run that got the Hurricanes to the final, not to mention the years of blood and tears spent before it, wasn’t forgotten.
“He’s been grinding the longest,” Staal said. “He got us going in the playoffs. … Figured he’d be a great start (to give the Cup to first).
“I wanted to win that thing so bad, but I wanted to win so much more for everyone else in that room, and how much they deserved it, and how hard they’ve all worked, and it just gives me chills that we were able to pull it off for each other.”
Andersen had no idea it was coming.
The 36-year-old Dane had been riding an emotional roller coaster in recent weeks, starting with the death of his longtime agent and close friend Claude Lemieux on May 28, to reaching his first Stanley Cup Final, to getting injured in the middle of this series.
Finally, as he looked skyward with the Cup over his head, he could exhale.
“I’ve always heard people say it’s heavier than you think, but it didn’t feel too bad,” said Andersen. “It felt good. It felt right.”
He was unsure whether he was dreaming.
His journey to this heartfelt celebration mirrored that of an organization that took 20 years to get back to the NHL’s summit. Once upon a time, Andersen was a seventh-round draft pick by Carolina in 2010, but chose not to sign with the team and re-entered the draft. He went to Anaheim in 2012, established himself as a NHL regular and got traded to Toronto for five seasons before he signed with the Hurricanes as a free agent in 2021.
He continued to be tested by blood clots and a knee surgery, but even after watching the Cup clincher in workout gear, he could take heart in knowing that there would be no championship parade in Raleigh this spring without him.
Staal made sure that wasn’t forgotten by singling Andersen out for the first Cup pass.
“I mean, it means we’re a group that we appreciate everyone here and what we’ve been through,” said Andersen. “And I think that speaks to that.”
Staal was first. Andersen was second.
And their coach, their former 2006 Stanley Cup-winning captain, the beloved Rod Brind’Amour, received it last.
When Brind’Amour finally got his hands back on the Cup for the first time in 20 years, he playfully tossed it in the air and gave it a bear hug. Someone who spends less time in the gym would likely have botched that maneuver.
Not Rod.
“You don’t even know what you’re thinking at that point,” he said. “This is why this is the most special trophy in the world. No. 1, how you have to acquire it, what goes into it, and then what it means to everyone because they know. They know all of the sacrifice that everybody has put in and you just see it pouring out of everybody.
“It’s the greatest thing in the world.”
Brandon Bussi and his fiancée, Mary Raclawski, are interviewed postgame by NHL Network’s Jason Demers and Cory Schneider. (Michael Russo / The Athletic)
Bussi, the unexpected hero
As Mary Raclawski stared at her fiancé, tears came to her eyes.
A week ago, nobody — not even Mary, his biggest supporter — could have envisioned Bussi would become a Stanley Cup hero.
Undrafted, Bussi was thrust into action when Andersen got hurt earlier in the series, then started Games 4, 5 and 6 and won them all, including becoming the third goaltender in NHL history and first since 1937 to record a Stanley Cup-clinching shutout during their first NHL season.
“Oh my gosh. I’m so emotional right now,” said Raclawski, who will marry Bussi next month, in an interview with The Athletic. “I can’t even comprehend what is happening. It’s been such a long road here for him, and he’s never given up, never doubted himself. And I’m just … I can’t believe we’re standing here today celebrating him and his team. I’m so proud of all of them.”
Bussi shared the ice with his proud parents, Lisa and Robert, who hustled to Las Vegas from the East Coast when they found out he was starting in Game 4. Family and friends on the ice appropriately wore hats labeled with what has been Bussi’s longtime motto, “HOUSE MONEY,” a Vegas term that works so well for him. These hats are available for purchase, with all proceeds going to The Autism Society of North Carolina and Pucks for Autism.
“It’s something that he’s not only played by but lived by, and it’s betting on yourself, knowing that you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be in that moment, and you’ve earned the right to be where you are, and just be confident,” Raclawski said. “And I mean, they killed it tonight.
“He amazes me every single day. He’s taught me so much. He’s been very even-keeled throughout this whole process, and I cannot wait to celebrate, because we haven’t really celebrated throughout this whole season, because it’s always on to the next. So I just have no words. I am so excited, and these guys deserve this so much, and they work so hard for this, and their families have sacrificed so much, and it’s a blessing.”
Back in October, the Florida Panthers placed Bussi on waivers. He and Raclawski were driving two separate cars from South Florida to Charlotte, N.C., because he thought he was being sent to Florida’s AHL affiliate.
On the road for 10 hours, Bussi got a call from his agent telling him he was claimed by Carolina. Bussi called his fiancée and told her they needed to pull over. They stopped at a gas station.
“Our entire lives changed from that point on,” Raclawski said.
“The next thing you know, the following day I’m in Raleigh and I’m on the opening-night roster,” Bussi said.
And now he’s a Stanley Cup champion.
“It still hasn’t hit me just yet,” Bussi said, still on the ice more than an hour after that clock hit zero. “I’m losing my voice and I really need to pee.”
“It’s kind of funny that this has happened again 20 years later,” said Eric Staal, left, who was the Canes’ leading scorer when they won their first Cup in 2006. (Michael Russo / The Athletic)
The Staals’ brotherly love
The Zamboni entrance opened. Eric, Marc and Jared Staal sprinted to their brother Jordan. Fired up, the four brothers embraced wildly.
Eric Staal is a Canes legend. Twenty years ago, he was their leading scorer when they won their first Cup. His No. 12 hangs from the rafters at Lenovo Center. He fired up the home crowd by sounding the siren in advance of Game 1.
“There’s a lot of people that have grown up and been around the Carolinas, where they don’t really know the team without a Staal on it,” Eric Staal said. “So it’s kind of funny that this has happened again 20 years later, and obviously Jordan at the front of it, it’s super, super unbelievable. Like it really is.
“It’s just kind of one of those storybook kind of things. And he was a horse. He was unreal the whole playoff, and the whole year, and the whole last however many years he’s been there. He’s just grinded from Day One, and he deserves it.”
What a moment for the Staal family 🫂 pic.twitter.com/WzO7chpPRm
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 15, 2026
Eric was traded to the Rangers 10 years ago. Jordan could have left, had he wanted.
But after becoming the oldest player in history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, Jordan is “happy I stuck around.”
“I wanted to do it with him,” Staal told The Athletic. “That was the plan. And to have everyone here, all my brothers supporting me, it’s amazing. And they are a massive reason why I’m standing here today. It’s my brothers, my wife, my kids, and my parents, and all my support systems. And Eric’s a massive part of that. He believed in me right from the start, and I wanted to do it with him. It didn’t work out, but I’m glad we pulled it out.”
Marc Staal played 17 years in the NHL, but he never won the Cup in his two trips to the final.
“It’s been a long road for all of us,” he said. “I mean, we’ve all been blessed to play a very long time, and then for him to be able to do this at where he’s at in his career, and how much he’s invested into this team, to watch him do it, it’s very special, obviously, for all of us.”
Jackson Blake could not contain his emotions when his dad, Jason, grabbed him. (Michael Russo / The Athletic)
A father-son bear hug
Like the Staal brothers, Jason Blake couldn’t wait to embrace his son Jackson, who scored Carolina’s second goal Sunday night.
Jason played 13 years in the NHL and never got out of the first round. So to see his 22-year-old boy achieve this milestone in just his second season had Blake bawling on the ice.
“It’s a dream come true, man,” Jason Blake told The Athletic. “I played in this league for a long time. To be able to do what he did, and the magnitude he did it is some of the most special times in my life. You always want your kids to be better than you, and what he’s done throughout the playoffs and throughout the year, and just as a man, he’s just an unbelievable kid. He’s the kindest human being I’ve ever met. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Jackson couldn’t hold it together when his dad grabbed him.
“You know, he’s been there for me my whole life, on and off the ice, and to see him just let loose, honestly, I didn’t think I was gonna cry or anything, but it’s so emotional, because this is why you grind, this is why you have those summer workouts, this is why you play the game,” Jackson said. “It’s been a really long year, honestly. It’s June 14th — it’s long. But it’s so worth it, and to have moments like that, and to do it for my family, and do it for these guys, it’s awesome.”
Blake was part of a line with Taylor Hall and Logan Stankoven that combined for 25 goals and 55 points in 19 playoff games.
“It’s a testament to their line, and it’s a testament to Rod, to be honest with you, to put trust in those guys,” Jason Blake said. “Jackson and Logan are very young players, and obviously I played against Hall back in the day. He’s the veteran on the line, and the way that he’s carried himself through that line, and did everything that he could to help these kids out, and they played most of the year together, I couldn’t be more proud, more happy. Everything in my life, I mean, this is like the epitome of everything right now.”
Jackson had the Cup given to him by fellow Minnesotan Mikey Reilly.
“That’s what you dream of,” Jackson said. “When I saw it before Game 1, I was like, ‘I want to win that thing so bad,’ because I’ve never really seen it in person, honestly. To finally do it, and to lift it and give it a kiss, it’s storybook.
“It’s worth it. I don’t care if we have training camp in a week. It’s worth it.”
Ehlers forgiven by his pops
On the same ice surface where Lars Eller became the first Danish-born Stanley Cup champion by scoring the winning goal for the Washington Capitals in 2018, countryman Nikolaj Ehlers made sure he and Andersen became the next Danes to win the Cup by icing this final. He intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and hit the empty net at 18:52 before looking into the stands with a look of bewilderment on his face.
That touched off a celebration that would eventually spill onto the Las Vegas Strip. It was a moment Ehlers will never forget.
“It was insane,” he said. “You know, 3-0 with (1:08) left, that should do it. I turned the corner and I was celebrating as hard as I could. I look up and I see my parents, my sister, my brother and my nephew up there and I kind of stopped.”
Almost an hour later, Ehlers still had tears in his eyes.
He was among multiple Hurricanes who took up the family business, and pushed the dream further than his father, Heinz, the first Dane ever drafted by a NHL team. Heinz Ehlers never made it in North America after being drafted 188th overall by the New York Rangers in 1984, but he’s been an ever-present figure in Nikolaj’s career – so much so that he had joked he was afraid to see his dad after Game 5, when he took two delay-of-game penalties by accidentally clearing the puck over the glass.
“He didn’t watch the last three minutes of the last game so I think it means a lot,” said Ehlers. “He’s usually not like that. He leaves when I don’t play well, but he was nervous. My dad has been playing since he was 3 years old and started coaching when he was 38, and he’s still coaching. So hockey is his life as well. It’s our whole family’s life.”
A special journey for Hall
Taylor Hall traveled a long road from being called to the draft stage with the first overall pick in 2010 by the Edmonton Oilers to being crowned a champion. The 34-year-old is on his seventh team and sits 11 games shy of 1,000 — making the gesture from teammate Sebastian Aho during the Cup pass line even sweeter.
Andersen attempted to hand the trophy to Aho in the third spot, only to see him step aside and send Hall out instead.
“Yeah, he’s the best,” Hall said. “Those guys are amazing. The guys that have been here for seven, eight years, that really built this and put a lot of work in to make this a great place to play. And I’m so happy for those guys. They did the work that allowed someone like me to come in and be successful, and I’m so happy for them.”
Aho didn’t have an explanation for the gesture. He said his instincts took over in the moment and he went with them.
It didn’t go unnoticed by his father, Harri, a former defenseman in the Finnish pro league who now serves as the general manager of SaiPa.
“Yeah, that shows something,” said Harri Aho. “He’s humble. He’s very quiet, hard-working and competitive. A nice person.”
The kind of guy you win with.
Just like Hall, who led the Hurricanes in scoring in the playoffs with 19 points. Why did this work?
“I think the way we play was a good fit,” he said. “We skate a lot, we skate hard, we put pressure on teams, you know, we’re always at the front of our skates, and just the group. I mean, everyone says they have a tight-knit group, but it really is that way here. It’s amazing, just being at dinner last night with the guys, it’s just special, it’s so cool, and we’ll always be linked together.”
“I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to share it with,” Seth Jarvis said of his childhood friends. (Michael Russo / The Athletic)
Jarvis parties with his pals
Seth Jarvis’ friends are well-known at this point.
His childhood friends from Winnipeg trekked to the 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal and Boston and traveled all the way to Milan for the Olympics. So naturally they became famous during this final going between Raleigh and Vegas.
Jarvis, sitting on the ice along the boards in a pile of confetti, talked with reporters as his buddies partied by his side.
“I’m not the only Stanley Cup champion here,” Jarvis said. “All these guys are. They’ve been through everything with me. To enjoy this moment with them, I couldn’t ask for a better group of guys to share it with.”
Buddy Bryan Hanna added, “Congratulations to us? Congratulations to him. We wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
Like Hall, Jarvis said of him and his teammates, “Now we’re champions forever. When you get the Cup up there (over his head), it’s weightless. Everything pours out. It’s the most incredible feeling in the world.”
A special time for Miller
After Carolina’s Eastern Conference final win over the Montreal Canadiens, K’Andre Miller gave us one of the most memorable moments of the postseason. Cameras captured him on the bench at Lenovo Center, cradling his newborn, Kashton, and basking in the glow.
Kashton didn’t make the trip to Las Vegas, but he was still on Miller’s mind.
“He’s back in Carolina right now, and he gets to see Daddy in a few days,” Miller said. “He’s been awesome. I can’t wait to get back home to Minnesota and get to celebrate with him and hopefully see if he fits in the Cup.”
Tulsky cool as a cucumber
After the game, Brind’Amour raved about some of the additions over the past few years.
Eric Tulsky has spent the past two years methodically reshaping Carolina’s roster, turning organizational depth and draft capital into immediate impact. His acquisition of Miller, the addition of Bussi and the signing of Ehlers came after he landed both Hall and Stankoven last season and made the Hurricanes roster younger, deeper and more skilled than the one Tulsky inherited.
“We did what worked for us,” said Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky, who will soon turn his attention to next season. (Michael Russo / The Athletic)
“It’s a long and winding road,” the Hurricanes’ shockingly cool, calm and very much collected general manager said on the ice … not exactly looking like a man that just reached the pinnacle. “Never thought I would end up here. Still don’t really understand how it happened, but thrilled to be here.
“I think every team is different. It’s hard to copy what anyone else does. We did what worked for us and it brought us where we wanted to be.”
Tulsky vows he won’t be in the office Monday morning, but it won’t take long for him to turn his attention to next season.
“We’re always trying to make the team better, no matter how good we are,” he said. “We’re going to exit this year, having had an incredible year, and starting tomorrow, the question will be, ‘How will we make the team better?’”
— Sean Gentille contributed to this report.
