Vegas Golden Knights beat Florida Panthers in five matches of the final series of the Stanley Cup and for the first time became the champion of the National Hockey League (NHL).
The Knights began their performance in the NHL in the 2017/18 season. Since then, the club has reached the play-off semi-finals four times and the final twice. The club's first attempt to win the Stanley Cup came in the team's debut season in the league, but in the final series, the Golden Knights lost to the Washington Capitals (1-4). The second for the «Vegas» Stanley Cup final was victorious for the franchise. It took six years to achieve the club's first championship title. This is the second most in NHL history since the league expanded in 1967. The record belongs to the Edmonton Oilers — the Oilers won their first trophy in their fifth year in the National Hockey League. 
Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel became the Stanley Cup top scorer with 26 points (6 goals) and 20 assists) in 22 matches. He also topped the rating of tournament assistants. Teammate Jonathan Marchessault and Oilers forward Leon Dreisaitl led the playoff scoring with 13 goals each.
Barbashev joins the circle of the Russian elite Russian forward Ivan Barbashev, who moved to Vegas during the regular season through a trade from the St. Louis Blues, won the Stanley Cup for the second time in his career. The 27-year-old forward became the 15th hockey player from Russia in the history of the NHL who managed to become the league champion more than once. Before him, such an achievement was submitted to Igor Larionov, Sergey Fedorov, Sergey Brylin and Evgeny Malkin, who won three Stanley Cups, as well as Sergey Zubov, Sergey Nemchinov, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Oleg Tverdovsky, Pavel Datsyuk, Vyacheslav Voinov, Andrey Vasilevsky, Nikita Kucherov, Mikhail Sergachev and Vyacheslav Fetisov, who won two trophies each as players. Fetisov won another Stanley Cup in the status of a coach. Vladimir Bure is also a two-time NHL winner as a coach. Sergei Gonchar has won one Stanley Cup as a player and another as a coach.
According to the results of the playoffs, Barbashev became the best Russian scorer, sniper and assistant. In 22 games, he scored 18 points, scored 7 goals and made 11 assists.
Bobrovsky was one step away from the title of MVP Russian goalie “Florida” Sergei Bobrovsky became one of the best players in the past playoffs. In 20 tournament matches, Bobrovsky scored 12 wins, scored one shutout and saved 585 out of 639 shots. a valuable hockey player in the playoffs. Its owner is determined by voting among the members of the Association of sports journalists of the league after the decisive match of the final series.
Among Russian hockey players in the entire history of the award, Evgeni Malkin (2009), Alexander Ovechkin (2018) and Andrei Vasilevsky (2021) managed to become the owners of the Conn Smythe Trophy. According to the results of the Stanley Cup — 2023, the award went to the striker of «Vegas» Marchesseau. The Canadian scored 25 points (13+12) in 22 playoff games.
Ovechkin and Malkin out of the playoffsThe past draw of the NHL playoffs was marked by the fact that the main Russian league veterans Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin did not take part in it. The Washington Capitals finished 13th in the Eastern Conference standings in the regular season and missed out on the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2014. The Pittsburgh Penguins finished ninth in the East and were out of the playoffs for the first time in 2006.
The unsuccessful results of the Ovechkin and Malkin clubs led to personnel changes in the teams. Washington parted ways with head coach Peter Laviolette and appointed Spencer Carbury to the post, while Pittsburgh fired Brian Burke, Ron Hextall, and Chris Pryor from their positions as president of hockey operations, general manager, and assistant general manager, respectively. Bourque was replaced by former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas.
As for the personal results of Ovechkin and Malkin in the 2022/23 season, both Russians performed well. The captain of “Washington” in 73 games “regular season” scored 75 points (42 goals and 33 assists) and set a number of historic achievements. Ovechkin passed the 800-goal mark in the NHL championships and climbed to a clean second place in the league sniper standings, ahead of Gordie Howe (801 goals). Ovechkin has 822 goals, the NHL record for goals belongs to Wayne Gretzky (894). Ovechkin also became the sole record holder for the number of seasons with 40 goals or more (13). Evgeni Malkin scored 83 points (27+56) in 82 league games. In the 2022/23 season, the Pittsburgh forward became the eighth Russian hockey player in history to play 1,000 or more games in the NHL. Malkin has 1063 matches, the record belongs to Ovechkin (1347).
The failure of Panarin, Kaprizov and Kucherov, the collapse of Boston Forwards Artemiy Panarin (New York Rangers), Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota Wild) and Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning) became one of the main stars of the regular season. Kucherov tied with Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak for third place in the scorers standings at the end of the championship, scoring 113 points in 82 games with the Czech. Edmonton Oilers forwards Connor McDavid (153 points) and Leon Draisaitl (128) led the rankings. Panarin scored 92 points in 82 games (29+63), while Kaprizov, who missed a month due to a leg injury, scored 75 points (40+35) in 67 games.
However, in the playoffs, the results of the three Russian forwards fell. Kucherov scored one goal and made five assists in six games, Panarin scored two assists in seven games, and Kaprizov scored one goal in six matches. The Russian teams also failed: Tampa, Minnesota and Rangers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, losing to Toronto (2-4), Dallas Stars (2-4) and New Jersey Devils» (3-4), respectively.
In the first round, the Boston Bruins also took off — the best club in the championship. In the regular season, the Bears, along with Russian defender Dmitry Orlov, set NHL historical records for the number of wins in a season (65) and points scored (135). However, the Bruins, considered the main favorites for the Stanley Cup, lost to Florida in seven games of the series (3-4).
Russian hockey players in the NHL In the course of the regular season, 16 Russian players changed their club registration. One of them — forward Vladislav Namestnikov — managed to do it twice. First, he was traded from Tampa to the San Jose Sharks, and a day later, the Sharks traded the Russian to the Winnipeg Jets. The full list of trades involving Russians and the rights to them in the 2022/23 season deadline is as follows:
- Mikhail Abramov (Toronto to St. Louis);
- Ivan Barbashev (St. Louis to Vegas);
- Vladislav Gavrikov (Columbus to Los Angeles);
- Pavel Gogolev (from Toronto to Chicago);
- Denis Guryanov (Dallas to Montreal);
- Evgeny Dadonov (from Montreal to Dallas);
- Nikita Zaitsev (Ottawa to Chicago);
- Timur Ibragimov (from San Jose to New Jersey);
- Vitaly Kravtsov (Rangers to Vancouver);
- Dmitry Kulikov (Anaheim to Pittsburgh);
- Shakir Mukhamadullin (New Jersey to San Jose);
- Vladislav Namestnikov (from Tampa to San Jose, from San Jose to Winnipeg);
- Dmitry Orlov (Washington to Boston);
- Nikita Okhotyuk (New Jersey to San Jose);
- Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis to Rangers);
- Anton Khudobin (from Dallas to Chicago).
However, not all of the listed Russians will be able to continue their careers in the clubs with which they completed the 2022/23 season. For example, striker Vitaly Kravtsov returned to the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), signing a contract with Traktor. The future of Tarasenko and Barbashev remains vague. Both would prefer to stay with their new teams, but Vladimir and Ivan are entering the unrestricted free agency market, and it's unlikely the Rangers and Golden Knights, respectively, will be able to sign strikers due to salary cap conditions. Defender Dmitry Orlov is in a similar situation. 
The Mysterious Disappearance of NichushkinRussian forward of the Colorado Avalanche Valery Nichushkin signed a new contract with the club for a period of eight years with a cap hit of $6.125 million after winning the championship in the Avalanche camp in the 2021/22 season. In the regular season 2022/23, the Russian scored 47 points (17 goals and 30 assists) in 53 games. In the playoffs, the Russian played only two matches in which he scored one goal. On the eve of the third match of the West's first-round playoff series against the Seattle Kraken, Nichushkin left the club's location «for personal reasons» and subsequently missed all other games of the confrontation, as a result of which the Avalanche lost (3-4) and were eliminated from the tournament.
Later, the North American media reported that Nichushkin's absence from the team's roster was due to an «alcohol incident». The Denver Post, citing a Seattle police report, added that a girl who was in a state of extreme intoxication was found in a Russian hotel room. A woman who introduced herself as a native of Ukraine, who lived in Russia before moving to the United States, behaved aggressively and could not leave the hotel on her own, after which she was hospitalized. Nichushkin's agent Mark Gandler said that the hockey player was not involved in this incident. In June, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said during a press conference that the league was not investigating the case against the Russian and the forward would be able to play for Colorado in the 2023/24 season.