Hurricanes forward William Carrier knows well what it takes to win a Stanley Cup
What does it take to win the Stanley Cup?
William Carrier of the Carolina Hurricanes knows that as well as anyone. In 2023, he was a member of the Vegas Golden Knights and earned a championship ring.
Carrier’s goal now: keep Vegas from winning another one. He wants a second Cup ring, and he wants it with the Hurricanes, who signed him as a free agent in 2024 to a six-year, $12 million contract.
The Canes and Golden Knights meet Tuesday in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at Lenovo Center, matching two teams similar in personnel and playing styles, toughness and tenacity. It could make for a long, intense series.
Soon after coming to the Canes, Carrier said Carolina was “right there” — on the cusp of winning a Cup.
“They’re not missing much,” he said in 2024. “They’re exactly what I expected. These guys are fast, they’re skilled, they work their (butts) off. You’ve just got to keep grinding.”
Carrier was asked what went into the making of a Stanley Cup victory, from his experience.
“A little luck,” Carrier said. “There is a bit of puck luck involved, right? You get there and get to that Final and you need those bounces. You work hard to get those bounces, too, but you kind of need that.
“So a little luck, and then when you get to the Final, you’ve had a good stretch of playing well. You’re healthy and no one is injured. You’re just on a good run, and it’s fun when every play means something, when every play is big.”
It has been a good run for the Hurricanes, who are 12-1 in the playoffs, the only loss to the Montreal Canadiens. It also has been fun for Carrier, a LaSalle, Quebec native who was seen after one game in Montreal walking away from the Bell Centre with his family, one of his kids up on his shoulders, a happy man.
And now it’s Vegas in the way.
“It’s going to be special, a special moment,” Carrier said Monday. “If it was last year it would be a little bit different. But it has been two years (with Carolina). It’s kind of a different team there. But it’s always special.”
Carrier was with the Buffalo Sabres when he was taken in the 2017 expansion draft by the Golden Knights. A year later, they were in the Stanley Cup Final, losing to the Washington Capitals.
The 2023 champions had the likes of Mark Stone, Jack Eichel and William Karlsson — still Vegas headliners. Gone from that team, along with Carrier, are Jonathan Marchessault, Chandler Stephenson, Michael Amadio and Alec Martinez.
“They want to win every year,” Carrier said of the Golden Knights. “The same here. They’re always near the top, always playing hockey in June.”
Carrier has brought some real thump to the Canes lineup. Built like a linebacker at 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, he’s a rough-and-tumble type who may not score a lot of goals but can make opposing players unsure and uneasy when he’s on the ice; he has 66 hits in the playoffs, including 12 in the second game of the Ottawa series that set a franchise playoff record.
“I think the D-men on the ice, they know every time they go back there, they’re going to get hit,” Canes forward Jordan Martinook said Monday. “He makes it hard on a lot of guys.
“He’s strong as an ox. I don’t know that there’s many guys stronger than him. He’s very powerful, he’s an unbelievable forechecker that fits in well with what we do.”
When the Canes were being bullied a bit by the Florida Panthers in past playoffs, one belief was that Carolina needed a few more players “built” for playoff hockey. More like Carrier.
“Every game, and not just this time of year, he plays the same.” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Monday. “He plays his game and he does it every night. This time of year his games gets a little more noticed because that’s the kind of hockey that gets played now. He’s the perfect fit.”
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Carrier has joined center Mark Jankowski and winger Eric Robinson in making the Canes’ fourth line formidable, a line Brind’Amour trusts. Robinson had three goals in the Montreal series, the third on a perfect flip pass from Carrier deep in the defensive zone as Robinson zipped down the ice.
“That line he’s a part of, they’ve been incredible all playoffs,” Martinook said. “They were all over it.”
Carrier remembers both what it took to win a Cup and the aftermath in 2023.
“It’s a great feeling and I enjoyed the grind of getting there almost as much as winning,” he said. “Every playoff game seems like three games, physically. Once you win it, it’s like, ‘All right.’ You’re almost glad it’s over because you’ve been working your (butt) off for like 20 years to get there.”
