Winning Stanley Cup, Olympic gold in same year possible for Eichel, Hanifin, Slavin

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Noah Hanifin started this year by winning gold with Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February.

Adding silver in the form of the Stanley Cup would be an incredible topper.

“It’d be amazing of course,” the Vegas Golden Knights defenseman said at Stanley Cup Final Media Day on Monday. “Going through that experience, the Olympics, was special. Possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Now just to be back here in the Stanley Cup, playing for the ultimate goal, you never know when this opportunity is going to come around again, so just trying to take advantage of it, embrace it and enjoy each day.”

Hanifin, Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel and Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin all have the same goal in mind: winning an Olympic gold medal and the Stanley Cup in the same season. 

They are each four wins away with the Cup Final between the Golden Knights and Hurricanes starting with Game 1 at Lenovo Center on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS, CBC). 

The three helped the United States win Olympic gold in men’s hockey for the first time since 1980. In the six games Team USA played, Eichel had six points (two goals, four assists), Hanifin had three points (one goal, two assists) and Slavin had an assist. Eichel said the months since winning gold have been “a whirlwind.”

“Just trying to take it a day at a time. That’s kind of my mentality throughout the season and now here. That was an incredible experience in Milan and having the opportunity to win gold and everything we were able to accomplish,” Eichel said. “But you try and shift as quickly as you can coming off that and get back into the season mode and you’re committed to your team and what you’re doing in terms of trying to help the team find its stride down the stretch of the season.”

Coming out of the Olympics, the Golden Knights struggled mightily, going 5-10-2 from the start of the Olympic break until March 29 when John Tortorella was hired as coach to replace Bruce Cassidy. They finished the regular season going 7-0-1 and are 12-4 in the postseason. 

“For us, there were some bumps in the road but here we are,” Eichel said. “Tons of credit to the guys in the room and our group for sticking together and believing in ourselves, believing in what we were doing and finding ways to win hockey games and kind of playing our best at the right times.”

Eichel won the Cup with the Golden Knights in 2023. Hanifin, who was traded to the Golden Knights from the Calgary Flames as part of a three-team trade with the Philadelphia Flyers on March 6, 2024, is looking to win the first Cup of his career as is Slavin, who’s spent his whole 11-season NHL career with the Hurricanes after being selected by them in the fourth round (No. 120) in the 2012 NHL Draft. 

“I was very thankful for the Olympics and being able to glorify God on a world stage, so that was awesome. The biggest hockey stage is probably with the Olympics. Then you pair that with a Stanley Cup Final, another big stage to glorify God,” Slavin said. “It’s awesome to be here and have that opportunity. At the same time to win it would be incredible.”

Slavin or Eichel and Hanifin will become the first U.S. players to win an Olympic gold medal and the Stanley Cup in the same season since 1980.

Defenseman Ken Morrow was a member of the “Miracle On Ice” team at the Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, and then just a few months later won the first of four straight Stanley Cup titles with the New York Islanders.

Selected by the Islanders in the fourth round (No. 68) of the 1976 NHL Draft, Morrow was still playing at Bowling Green University when he made the Olympic team, which at the time, was made up of amateurs.

The NHL didn’t send its players to the Olympics until 1998. 

“Different circumstances for me. I wasn’t playing in the NHL at that time (of the Olympics),” Morrow told NHL.com on Monday. “Within a week, I got to experience so many great things from playing in the Russian game on Friday (Feb. 22, 1980), winning the gold medal on a Sunday, then going to the White House on Monday and having my first practice with the Islanders, either Wednesday or Thursday of that week, then playing my first NHL game on Saturday (March 1). 

“Within seven days, I had all those things happen to me. Incredible, right? With these guys already being established NHL players, I’m sure the thrill for them will be the same as it was for me.”

The Olympics was certainly a pressure-packed situation, especially with the U.S. now being one of the biggest hockey powers on the world stage. Dealing with that pressure should translate to the Final.

“Being in the Olympics, having that experience, playing in the playoffs in general, it’s always a high-pressure situation and you just try to stay focused,” Hanifin said. “You can’t look ahead. When you look ahead, that’s when the anxiety and stress come in. When you stay in the moment, take it one shift at a time, control what you can control, things will work out.”

It’s been a wild few months for the three U.S. players now at this stage. Together they won gold. Now, two will compete against one for the Cup.

“I haven’t chatted with them yet but I’m sure we’ll give a couple of smiles on the ice. At the same time, I know they’re just as motivated to win with their team as I am with my team,” Slavin said. “Once the puck drops, it’s a game, you have a job to do. Obviously, I’m extremely happy for them that they have the opportunity as well.”