Danny Webster | Vegas Golden Knights Insider; The Vegas Sun

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You won't want to take your Bird Dogs off, we promise you. Right now we're pleased to welcome Danny Webster, who is a Vegas native, but also he covers the Golden Knights for the Las Vegas Sun. And Danny, what stands out about the last 24 hours since the Golden Knights finally won the cup and they've been celebrating?

Well, I think I'll start with the actual players themselves. They have shown that they are party animals. That's one way of putting it.

You see the video, Scarface all over social media, over at Omnia at one point, and then I think they made their way over a little bit more centralized to the strip. And I know the parties went on to the wee hours of the morning, that much I do know. So that part, definitely in full force. I was actually kind of surprised that the partying did not partake to the people. I honestly would have thought there would be a little bit more celebrations in the street. I don't know if it was a little bit more curtailed by about 1130 last night, but it's definitely an exciting atmosphere right now in Las Vegas. The fact that this team has through six years now has finally scaled the mountain and won the family cup. It's definitely an exciting time for those who have been here for a long time, even those who have just come over to Las Vegas and have just started settling roots here.

It's definitely a fun time for the people here. It's interesting that you talk about the streets of Vegas because I was working the night that the Capitals won the Stanley Cup in Vegas against the Golden Knights going back now five years ago or six seasons ago. There were videos and there were people surrounding what was a group of Capitals led by Alexander Ovechkin walking around downtown Vegas with the cup and people were taking pictures with it. And it was definitely a party atmosphere for the Caps.

So how different is it to cover a team that won versus a team that is on the wrong end of it? When the Golden Knights lost in year one, I think it was just a matter of they were just happy to be there, you know, with everything that had gone on for the entire season, obviously with the tragedy on October 1st and just them rallying behind the city, the city rallying behind them and to get all the way and make that run. I think they could have just, they could have been swept and I think they would have been totally fine with that. And, you know, obviously they, that group was heartbroken that they couldn't get the job done, but I think it was more so that they couldn't get it done for the city and for the people here than rather themselves. This time around, you know, they're, they're an established NHL franchise.

There's only six players left from that inaugural team. And every time they got close over the last couple of years, it was always about unfinished business, unfinished business. And it was always, you know, can this team get over the hump? You know, they make the moves for Jack Eichel. They make the moves from Mark Stone.

They sign out for Trangelo. They make all these additions for the big name players to pretty much set out to what Bill Foley wanted, which was winning the Stanley cup in six years. And finally they get it done. And it's just pure elation. When you see the original guys that were here in year one, and they go out and they win the cup for them to get to the point of where they started to really run roughshod through the entire league.

And they started winning games that are not a lot of people really had them winning and to get to the playoffs and to run through Winnipeg, to knock off Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and then to knock off their former coach and Pete the board to get to this point, to face a Florida Panthers team that I think a lot of people would have expected them to make it at least a very competitive series for them to finally get over the hump and for them to finally put the finishing touches on what has been a crazy six years is definitely an exciting time to watch it on the winning side this time. Why six years? Why did the owner Bill Foley target six years to win the Stanley cup? I think he was just, I don't know. I think he called it a silly statement. I think that was the one way that he had interpreted it.

I think just the way that when he looked at the landscape of he wanted to be different. He wanted to look at the history books, that team that stands out above the rest. I don't know if he had the vision of what that team would look like in year six, knowing you would have already a Stanley cup winning captain and Alex DiCarangelo, you get Jack Eichel, you have these guys you aggressively went after in terms of trades and free agency.

I don't think he envisioned Kelly McCrimmon and George McPhee building that team to that type of aspect. I remember actually after year two, after they lost to the Sharks in seven games and the whole controversy surrounding that, Bill Foley went to the podium two days later and said he wants to start a dynasty with the Golden Knights. It took a little bit but I think if this is the springboard to the dynasty he wants, it's hard to see them not trying to bring this team back and trying to go for two cups in seven or three cups in eight, whatever the case may be. We're spending a few minutes looking at the Golden Knights run to a Stanley Cup with Danny Webster who covers the Knights for the Las Vegas Sun.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You call this a crazy six years. I look at the number of moves and what I actually labeled a revolving door of players, even coaching staff has turned over. Looking back since you've covered the team from the beginning Danny, what would you say were maybe the top two or three most significant moves they made? Oh okay, that's you know what I think the first one now that we look at it in hindsight is the trade for Jack Eichel. I think the Golden Knights got much less on the dollar than what they got for Jack Eichel and that's no disrespect to Alex Tuck or Peyton Krebs or the first round pick that they traded in that deal but getting Jack Eichel, understanding the player that he is and at the same time knowing that he had done the research that he did to get the preferred neck surgery that he wanted.

He got it. He was back in three months. He was playing for the Golden Knights within three months and this postseason I think we have finally seen Jack Eichel take that step into superstardom for leading the league in postseason scoring with 26 points and just the way that he's evolved as a 200-foot player. He has become what the Golden Knights hoped for and probably an extra 35-40% on top of that. The second one is definitely getting Mark Stone. Kelly McKerman had said this after I believe it was following year two or after year three that when the Golden Knights made the Stanley Cup final year one that's when they were a great story but when they acquired Mark Stone in that trade with Ottawa in the middle of year two that's when they became a contender and you can see just the way that his impact on the Ices felt in many different ways but at the same time for him to have two back surgeries in less than a year have a second one in January so right before the all-star break for him to rehab as he did come back and be in be ready in time for the playoffs and still put up 20 points in 22 games however many it was and for him to record a hat trick in the cup final clinching game that that's the captain that is the guy that is the heartbeat of this group and he showed it again in the playoffs and third one I think is Alex Petrangelo just they needed a number one defenseman they coveted a number one defenseman and what Alex Petrangelo was in St. Louis he has become an evolved version of that as a guy that they can play 24-25 minutes a night never looked tired never looked out of shape never looked anything less than what he is as a complete defenseman so those three moves you know they're not the original guys but they are guys that have definitely made an impact to get the Golden Knights their first Stanley Cup. Great intel from Danny Webster joins us from Las Vegas in the wake of the Golden Knights winning the Stanley Cup it's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio Bruce Cassidy got them over the hump so how did he get them closer what was him his impact? Just the way that his defensive system worked you know when you look back in his time in Boston he has such talented players up front guys that were you know winners in previous years guys that were just superstars in the making and you never really saw with Boston whether that depth could actually get them over the hump and the other part of it was just trying to get a system going that I don't think curtailed to that roster and when he got to Vegas everybody had to buy into what they want to do the goalie friendly system it was a defensive first system that if you can get counter-attacks the other way it was going to benefit you in the long run and I think the one key area throughout this entire season and I think when everyone started to believe that Bruce Cassidy was the right guy for the job was right after the all-star break and they lose Logan Thompson to injury for the rest of the essentially the rest of the season Aidan Hill gets the start he then gets hurt which then prompts the Golden Knights to go trade for Jonathan Quick along with having Laurent Bursua coming back from hip surgery and then Bursua gets hurt and they eventually have to go to a fifth goalie in Yuri Patera and you just see the Golden Knights still finding ways to win still finding ways to believe in what Bruce Cassidy is selling them and the fact that they were at one point used five goaltenders and still found their way and then still go into the playoffs with Laurent Bursua getting hurt in game three in Edmonton and Aidan Hill who had never started a single playoff game in his career to come in and look like Dominic Hasek as many times in this postseason it's a testament to not only the belief in the room but the belief of what Bruce Cassidy has sold them on in becoming a championship caliber team they bought into it from day one and they bought into it immediately and that is the reason why that Bruce Cassidy worked for this group and the fact that they also stayed healthy in the key areas at the right time is another big reason why that he was the right guy for this job yeah some sweet vindication for Cassidy and also the Aidan Hill component of this is it's just one of those magical sports stories that we love so Danny we've seen the fans really embrace this team from the beginning it's been kind of fun to watch them fall in love with the Golden Knights immediately and it helps that they went to a cup final in their first season the Raiders have moved to town they've got the new stadium and there's the news that there could be a baseball team in the city as well before along with their own new stadium is Vegas ready for all of these pro sports teams you know it's crazy and you know you know the other crazy thing is is that the Las Vegas Aces just won the WNBA title a few months prior so right now Las Vegas is partying hard as the sports capital of the world at least in some retrospect you know it's an interesting time because when you look at the Raiders and you look at the athletics you know it's exciting because you know I'm born and raised in Las Vegas and I always wanted professional sports in my hometown and to see it happen in such a short amount of time is great but while I think there's people that are excited about the NFL and there are people excited about the possibility of the athletics coming here there's just something about what the Golden Knights have brought to this city being an expansion franchise being something that Vegas can call their own not something that they can relocate from another city and that's not really a knock as much it is just just having something of their own and I and I think what the Golden Knights have done for the community since day one it's definitely reciprocated to the fans here and and I think that when you look at what Las Vegas is becoming as a as a sports spectacle it does help that they have won it definitely helps now that they have won a Stanley Cup but I do think that in the next few years when the A's come here you know when the Raiders are well entrenched when and you know even the Aces too with now that they're winning and they're establishing roots in the community they're going to look at the Golden Knights as the team that defines the city of Las Vegas and and ultimately I think that is something that a lot of people in Las Vegas can be proud of you know they're going to be the Raider fans they're going to be the A's fans but a lot of people here are Golden Knights fans and you're going to probably see that in the parade on Saturday when they close down the strip for however many hours to watch this team parade down Las Vegas boulevard is going to be a sight I can only imagine how many people they're going to get here I can't I can't remember the exact number but I know it was close to about a hundred thousand hundred fifty thousand when UNLV won the the 1990 national championship over Duke and obviously I wasn't born at that time so I wasn't there so I don't know I can only imagine for this team and how much love they have for the players here in this organization I would not be shocked if it's just a sea of Golden Knights fans packing the strip on Saturday it's going to be a sight to behold how common is that closing down the strip I know there's a couple of of marathons a half marathons that go through there but that can't be a regular occurrence oh it's it's not common and you know what I I was at the aces parade I covered the aces parade when they won uh when the title in October and them closing down a mile of it from the uh from Caesar's palace to the Bellagio was very hectic in that sense and that and that was just the bus moving at like five miles an hour and they still closed it both ways and they're going to close the strip both ways for this two mile trek from Tropicana or from Flamingo to Tropicana so it's going to be a mad house it's going to be a wild scene and you know I I can only imagine what it's going to be like just people just flooding the streets of Las Vegas boulevard I personally can't wait to see it well as someone who's a native of Las Vegas uh quite a scene as things change in the sports scene there so you want to find Danny on Twitter at Danny Webster 21 covers the Golden Knights has not really slept since the Stanley Cup was won but has got some really cool photos on his Twitter and working for the Las Vegas sun it's great to catch a couple of minutes I'm sure you're bleary out and tired but we really appreciate it absolutely thanks so much for having me I appreciate it prepare for a righteous reckoning in the new season of the HBO original series The Righteous Gemstones when the spoiled gemstone children finally get their wish to take control of the church they discover leadership is harder than they imagined and that their extravagant lifestyle comes with a heavy price starring Danny McBride, John Goodman, Edie Patterson, and Adam Devine watch the all-new season of The Righteous Gemstones this 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