Andersson enters Cup Final with heavy heart

LAS VEGAS — They were once teammates, since reunited with a singular goal in mind — to get their names on the Stanley Cup.

First it was Noah Hanifin who left Calgary in 2024 to join the Golden Knights. Two years later, his partner with the Flames, Rasmus Andersson, came to Vegas. Now, paired again as the team’s second defensive unit, Andersson and Hanifin are a step away from fulfilling their hockey dream.

To realize that dream, they’ll have to get past the Carolina Hurricanes, who won the Eastern Conference Final Friday in convincing fashion, 6-1 over the Montreal Canadiens. Game 1 will be Tuesday night in Raleigh.

“It’s awesome that we get to try to do this together,” Hanifin said Friday after the team returned to the ice following two days off in the wake of their sweep of Colorado in the Western Conference Final. “We’ve been together so long. We know each other so well. It’s a comfortable feeling playing together with Ras.”

For Andersson, it has been a bit of a wild and at times sobering ride. He was traded from the Flames in late January, played a couple of games for Vegas before heading to Italy to represent Sweden in the Olympics, then rejoined the Knights, trying to find his game with his new team.

Then he had a new coach to play for just when it appeared he had finally found his comfort level. Exit Bruce Cassidy. Enter John Tortorella. But instead of regressing, Andersson’s game and confidence have flourished.

“It’s been great,” Andersson said. “(Tortorella) is really smart. Really funny.”

But on the eve of what will be his greatest hockey accomplishment, Andersson finds himself mourning the death of his agent, former NHL player Claude Lemieux, who took his own life two days ago.

“Obviously it’s a very tough deal. We would talk two, three times a day,” Andersson said. “I’ve known him my entire career and he’s someone who meant a lot to me, especially this year with everything that happened. It’s one of those things you can’t believed has happened. I’m still in shock.”

Hanifin said right now, the important thing is to be a good friend and teammate as Andersson tries to juggle grief and the excitement of playing for the sport’s ultimate prize.

“We’re all there for Ras,” Hanifin said. “It’s very hard what he’s dealing with. But we’ll support him any way we can.”

For Andersson, what’s even more troubling about the loss of Lemieux was the two of them had charted a plan to deal with the next phase of Andersson’s career. The 29-year-old is an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and while he wouldn’t divulge what the plan is, he said it is in place and will be followed as he decides whether to remain a Golden Knight or test the open market come July 1. Andersson is at the end of a six-year deal which had an average annual value of $4,550,000.

“We’ve talked about what we wanted to do when the season ends and we’ll go with that,” he said.

For Hanfin, he, along with teammate Jack Eichel have an opportunity to do something special few in hockey get to achieve — an Olympic gold medal and a Stanley Cup in the same year. Ken Morrow was the first to do it in 1980 with the New York islanders after being a member of the Miracle On Ice team at Lake Placid. The last to do it were Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty, who won gold with Canada and the Cup with the Los Angeles Kings in 2014.

“That would be amazing,” Hanifin said. “But right now, the focus is getting ready to play (for the Cup). We haven’t won anything yet.”

That last line seems to weave its way through the Vegas locker room. In fact, someone should put it on a T-shirt if they haven’t already.

Tortorella said he has complete confidence in his D-pairing of Andersson and Hanifin.

“They know each other from their time together in Calgary and they have that awareness of having been together,” Tortorella said of Hanifin and Anderson, who have averaged just under 24 minutes each during the playoffs. “They’re playing a lot of big minutes for us.”

And while neither has a goal in the playoffs (Hanifin has six assists, Andersson five helpers), they are both on the right side in plus/minus (Andersson is +4, Hanifin +3 ). They’ve combined for 56 blocked shots, which obviously pleases Tortorella.

So while both players have added incentive to win the Cup, Andersson will have additional motivation.

“You just take it day by day,” Andersson said. “It’s been a hell of a year, except for the last 48 hours, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’ve touched on it many times, I had 12 bad games. But I’m about to play 100 games and if you told me I’d have 12 bad ones out of 100, I’d take it. The last month has been awesome and when it’s your first time (playing for the Cup), you’re super excited. I can’t wait to get going.”