"Pressure Is A Privilege"

Last week, the Golden Knights gave their thoughts on the 2021-22 season before turning the page to a new chapter. Kelly McCrimmon, Pete DeBoer and key players shared common themes of adversity, motivation, leadership, and identity throughout the day.
Kelly McCrimmon on changes made since the 2017-18 season:
"Decisions aren't made in a vacuum; they're made collaboratively, and we get to a real good place on those decisions. The plan, and part of the reason I was so intrigued to come to Vegas, was the chance to build an expansion team from scratch. Obviously, the hiring process which gave us the opportunity to bring in the best human talent, but then the hockey challenge which we all anticipated would be based on draft, develop, trade away your expiring contracts at the trade deadline, try to build that way. That quickly changed. I speak to you not as much to you as media members, but also to our fans who have been with us since day one of the journey. Things changed in season one, it was a special team, we had a spectacular regular season. I still remember William Karlsson's between the legs goal that won the division championship for us, and the playoff victories we had along the way, it was a special, special team. I think that what that did for us was it changed the approach we needed to take. As a good manager, you manage the team that you have, you don't commit to what may be, what you expect it to be, or where you want it to go. You manage the team you have, and you manage the players you have."

Mark Stone on potential changes ahead:
"Every team makes changes. You can win the Stanley Cup and teams will still make changes. I think we've built a team that can contend and win. Now, it's about the guys in the locker room and the coaching staff putting their heads together and gelling as a group. Having the motivation every night to outwork opponents, play for one another and learn how to win in this league. We've obviously fallen short of our goal here, for me four years, and for the team five. Watching playoff games kills you to watch. You know that you should be in there and feel like we should be in there. Next year, we have to come back and remember the feeling during our last game in St. Louis when the game really meant absolutely nothing."
Max Pacioretty on the team's identity:
"Down the stretch, we played with 11 forwards. Previously, we've always been a team that relied on four lines. Our identity on that fourth line, you saw them start games for us year after year. Especially at T-Mobile Arena, we had a bunch of big bodies running around, getting the crowd into it, banging guys into the glass. That is our identity right there, playing fast and playing for each other. When guys have to play more minutes, you can't play the way we want to play, it's just impossible. You look around the NHL, guys are playing 20+ minutes a night. The way we want to play playoff hockey from day one, you just can't play the right way for that amount of time, nobody can."
Zach Whitecloud on the team's leadership:
"There is no guideline to being a leader, everyone leads in their own way. For me, I've been at various levels of hockey, school and what not. You take on different leadership roles in different scenarios. Obviously, we lost a lot of key guys this year and I dislike talking about it because it's not an excuse. When you lose Mark Stone, obviously that voice in your room, you miss that quite a bit. He is a guy that I've been looking up to ever since I was a kid when he was playing in Brandon. When he speaks, everyone listens. He leads by example and plays with passion. When you're missing a player like that, it's tough on a team. Alec Martinez, Max Pacioretty, we have a lot of guys that were out that were leaders on previous teams. As for myself, I'm 25 years old now, but have had a chance to learn from all these guys that have done that job for quite some time in this league who are exceptional at it."
Jack Eichel on the pressure as a leader of the team:
"Pressure is a privilege and its part of the gig. If you want to be the guy, you have to come through. I hadn't played a lot of hockey in the last little bit, but you still want to be the guy that your team can lean on. Unfortunately, I didn't get the job done, but I'll keep working and be better for it next season."
William Karlsson on personal confidence:
"Honestly, it might be a good idea just to vent to someone and have someone help with the way you think next time. Humans are built as their own biggest critic, always weighing yourself down. You still have to remind yourself of the good stuff that you do. I think that is a lesson for everyone not just in sports, but in everyday life."
Alec Martinez on overcoming adversity:
"This can be a learning experience. I said it a week ago, in a different context, that in this game you face adversity. There is no doubt, it sucks. You don't want to be watching hockey this time of year. With that adversity comes opportunity and challenge. Like I said, I never doubted this group for a second in that regard. I think that the guys will utilize this in the right way."
Jonathan Marchessaulton missing the postseason:
"Disappointing, there isn't much else to say, it is what it is. We can find ourselves excuses as much as we want, but there shouldn't be any excuse really. We had the chance to get in the playoffs and other teams kept giving us chances too. We didn't take advantage and didn't earn the right to be there, that is why we're not there."
Brayden McNabb on using adversity as a motivator:
"It honestly doesn't even feel real. Once you start watching the playoffs, and the longer it goes, the more fuel and motivation you get because that is where you want to be. It's not a great feeling, especially with the team we had, it's not a great feeling watching the games. You say you don't want to watch, but playoff hockey is the best to watch, so you always find yourself watching. As the playoffs go on, that is motivation for sure."
Shea Theodore on handling pressure:
"We're always under pressure. We've been under pressure since the first game we've been in this league. People hated us, and everyone has wanted us to lose. It fuels us for sure. It's all about the guys that we have in the locker room, the ones that we battle with."