Stephenson making most of opportunity with Golden Knights

The jersey hung down to Chandler Stephenson's knees. His teammates were older, mostly 7- to 9-year-old girls, and the puck was a ring. But Stephenson was undaunted. This was all of his dreams coming true.

The 4-year-old, who had already been inline skating for more than a year, wanted nothing more than to play on a hockey team, nothing more than to skate and score and play.
However, 5 was the minimum age for hockey in Canada. And he wasn't that, not yet.
"At 4, he was just bent on playing hockey," Chandler's father, Curt, said.
They had to find a solution.
Curt's friend, Ken Cenaiko, was a board member of the Saskatoon Ringette Association and suggested the sport, which is akin to hockey but uses a different stick, a ring instead of a puck, and is noncontact.

The idea was that it would seem close enough for Chandler, and he'd be allowed to play.
"I wish we had it on video when he scored his first goal, because it was hilarious," Curt said. "He skated around the whole rink and people were saying, 'Chandler, we've got to line up again. Chandler, get over here, we've got to line up again.' Yeah, it was just crazy. A good laugh.
"At four, you don't really know what they're thinking, but that was where he was at home. It was unbelievable."
Stephenson still is. Now, he's just doing it in front of a lot more people.
Of course, it wasn't that simple for him. After being selected by the Washington Capitals in the third round (No. 77) of the 2012 NHL Draft, Stephenson would spend two seasons with Regina of the Western Hockey League and three with Hershey of the American Hockey League before getting a true shot with the Capitals in 2017-18.
That season, Stephenson would finish with 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in 67 regular-season games and seven points (two goals, five assists) in 24 playoff games, helping Washington win its first Stanley Cup championship. In 2018-19, he had 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 64 games while averaging just 12:07 of ice time in a fourth-line role.

"At the time he came in, there just wasn't a lot of room for him to blossom into that player I think," Capitals forward T.J. Oshie said. "For an organization, that's a pretty good problem to have when you've got too many good players, too many mouths to feed.
"I'm not surprised by [his success] at all. He's a super, super smart hockey player, a phenomenal guy, and plays the whole game with his head up, and anyone that can especially skate like him and play with his head up, if they get enough ice time, is going to find ways to create things."
Which Stephenson did, finally, after being traded to the Vegas Golden Knights for a fifth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft on Dec. 3, 2019.
He felt freed, taking on a "screw it" attitude, as he put it. He needed to show what he could do. He needed to not be scared of the consequences.
"You can do everything that you have been doing your whole life and it doesn't work out, and you're kind of like, 'What the heck's going on?'" Stephenson said. "But I think that was the biggest thing was coming here, right away they just gave me the opportunity to play with [Max Pacioretty] and [Mark Stone]. At that point, it wasn't really thinking at all. It was just a clean slate."

It was on that line that Stephenson found the opportunity he needed. He started to blossom, getting 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) in 41 games with Vegas that season, 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists) in 51 games in 2020-21, and 64 points (21 goals, 43 assists) in 79 games last season.
"I think that was the biggest thing was just playing and getting that confidence back, just kind of feeling like yourself again," Stephenson said. "That's what every player wants is to just feel like how they've always felt since they were young."
Playing on the top line with Stone and Jack Eichel, Stephenson is tied for second on the Golden Knights this season with 21 points (six goals, 15 assists) entering their game against New York Rangers at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; TNT, TVAS, MSGSN, SN NOW).
"You could always tell with 'Stevie' that he had a lot of hockey in him," Capitals forward Lars Eller said. "He had a lot of ability that for whatever reason maybe it wasn't shining through in Washington."
That hasn't been the case in Vegas.
"Whether he's skating in the middle or he's skating on a wing, that kind of speed backs defenders off," said Stone, who has played against Stephenson dating to their junior hockey days. "If you look at the game sheet before the game, I think you're circling his number with big-time speed."
It's that speed, plus the skill and poise that Stephenson boasts, that has enabled him to become a dangerous player.
"You see a lot of guys that can skate, right? But not many guys can skate with the puck, and he skates the middle of the ice with the puck as good as anyone I've played with," Stone said. "Obviously, Jack's probably the same. They both skate the middle with the puck with big speed.
"There's not many guys in the League that can skate like that and handle the puck. Obviously, (Edmonton Oilers forward Connor) McDavid's the poster boy for it."
Stephenson is not sure exactly how he came by that speed, whether it was natural ability, all that time spent on rollerblades or at the outdoor rink, or whether it came from his shoelaces. Because they were a problem.

As a kid, Stephenson would be in and out of the house, which had a strict no shoes policy, every 20 minutes. He would head out to skate, then come back in for a snack, for a drink of water, to use the bathroom, every time needing an adult to retie his laces. Eventually his father had had enough.
If his son was going to rush in and out of the house, he was going to learn to tie his rollerblades himself.
"I said, 'You're either going to have to learn to tie up your skates or you're not going to get them tied up,'" Curt said.
Chandler shrugged. He just wouldn't tie them. That would take care of the problem.
"That's where he really got to his stride," Curt said.
His older brother, Colton, was the same way.
"I don't know if that has something to do with it, just the instability and getting used to that, but I think it's just something that you're just trying to always make little tweaks," Stephenson said. "I don't know if it's you're strengthening your ankles, because if you can skate without your skates tied, there has to be some stability there. You can't have weak ankles to do it. I think that that just gets you comfortable even just with your edges."
Of course, the brothers would also convince themselves that somehow not tying their skates when the weather was minus 30 degrees would keep them warmer, so it's possible the logic was dubious.
Ultimately, though, it got Stephenson comfortable in his skates, comfortable on the ice, and all that has brought him here, where he not only has a Stanley Cup ring to his name, but also a premier spot on one of the premier teams in hockey.
"It's not real," Curt said. "He dreamt about this, like little boys do growing up. But to actually have it happen?"
NHL.com independent correspondent Kevin Woodley contributed to this report