Adedokun Waliyu 
Phil Kessel, Toronto’s leading scorer for six straight seasons, is now getting his name on the Stanley Cup a third time since leaving the Leafs — something he didn’t mind sharing post-game Tuesday night in Vegas.
Kessel, who played in just four of the Knights’ playoff games and was not in the Game 5 lineup, suited up for the on-ice celebration.
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“Takes me back to my Toronto days,” he told The Hockey News. “You guys said I couldn’t win and now I’m a three-time champ. Remember that.”
He won his first two titles in Pittsburgh, where the Leafs traded him to in 2015 after they made the playoffs once in his tenure.
“I’m fortunate to play on good teams,” said the 35-year-old winger, who set the NHL ironman record for consecutive games earlier in the ’22-23 season.
The Knights are the latest expansion team to make Leafs fans even grumpier about their league-high 56-year Cup drought.
In just their sixth year of operation, the Knights became the 15th club to start from scratch and win since Toronto’s most recent title in 1967. And while the Florida Panthers lost, they are one of six post-‘67 expansion clubs in the past 25 years to at least reach the final.
Four of the past five teams who defeated the Leafs in the first or second round lost in the championship but, that said, coach Paul Maurice revealed a stunning number of injuries that the Cats endured through four rounds.
Much of the damage was in their opening round against Boston before they dispatched the Leafs in five games.
Defenceman Aaron Ekblad had a broken foot versus the Bruins as well as popping his shoulder out twice, passing concussion protocol and tore his oblique muscle. Maurice added Matthew Tkachuk was eventually pulled for Game 5 of the final with a fractured sternum and that there were a few other broken bones in the course of the playoffs. Defenceman Radko Gudas kept playing despite a high ankle sprain.
Lots of gloating memes were flying around social media Wednesday morning, recalling Gudas yelling in the face of Leafs goalie Joseph Woll as the Panthers eliminated Toronto. But the 33-year-old, who can still hit and intimidate, is now an unrestricted free agent coming off a $2.5-million US contract. Gudas would be an interesting option if the Leafs don’t reach a deal with UFA Luke Schenn and if Justin Holl and Erik Gustafsson are not retained.
There has been no clarification of Sheldon Keefe’s future by new Toronto general manager Brad Treliving, though it’s expected to be one of the topics when Treliving gets around to a planned meeting with star centre Auston Matthews about his future in coming days.
While no announcement can be viewed as good news for Keefe’s return, the end of the Cup playoffs also opens the door for Joel Quenneville to discuss with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman possible reinstatement.
Quenneville, the former Leafs defenceman and farm coach, resigned in Florida last year for his inaction during the Kyle Beach controversy while with the Chicago Blackhawks. With the second highest win total of any coach other than Scotty Bowman, Quenneville would get consideration around the league for an opening if allowed to return.
Vegas Golden Knights’ Mark Stone skates with the Stanley Cup after the Knights defeated the Florida Panthers 9-3 in Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals Tuesday. , June 13, 2023, in Las Vegas. The Knights won the series 4-1.
While the ‘Original Six’ Knights received plenty of credit in the course of winning their first Cup, the player Vegas selected from the Leafs in the 2018 expansion draft is no longer in the NHL.
Forward Brendan Leipsic played 44 games the first year, was traded a couple of times and cut by the Washington Capitals in 2020 after his derogatory comments about women on a private group chat were leaked.
He has spent the past three seasons with Russian teams in the KHL.
