The Golden Knights celebrated their first Stanley Cup victory in true Vegas fashion, parading down the strip on a Saturday night amongst a huge crowd of fans.

The NHL's title celebrations typically take place during the day, but the evening start and iconic backdrop made this one truly unique and memorable.

Here are the most indelible moments from a Cup parade like no other:

Nic Hague was absolutely loving life while holding the hallowed trophy early in the festivities.

Adin Hill channeled his inner Ricky Bobby by questioning his hand placement.

Keegan Kolesar got up close and personal with the fans and made sure they were hydrated.

Team captain Mark Stone brought the Cup back down to street level before handing it off to the three original members of the "Misfit" line - Reilly Smith, Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Marchessault, and William Karlsson.

Not everyone in attendance was in a celebratory mood, but the rest of the nearby fans responded just like they would inside the arena when the opposing team takes a penalty.

Karlsson had a slight mishap once the team made its way to the stage.

Less than 20 minutes later, the Swedish forward gave this "speech."

Warning: Video contains coarse language

The players may have a hard time remembering the celebration when they wake up Sunday, but it was an event befitting of America's biggest party town.

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Timo Meier and the New Jersey Devils appear to be on the same page in their contract negotiations.

Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald revealed Friday that the pending restricted free agent's camp is seeking a long-term pact, just like the team is.

"Timo knows since I spoke to him (on June 15)," Fitzgerald said, according to NHL.com's Mike G. Morreale. "He knows how much we want to continue this relationship, long term, and he's reiterated that to me ... this is where he wants to be.

"He sees himself as a Devil and has asked his agent to negotiate an eight-year deal with us," Fitzgerald continued. "It's music to my ears, and we'll continue to kind of chip away at it, but the goal is to have Timo Meier in a Devils uniform for the next eight years."

On June 7, Fitzgerald said contract talks with the winger would start that week and that "we would love nothing better (than) to tie him up long term."

On Thursday, the Devils reportedly filed for arbitration with Meier, who's one season away from unrestricted free agency. The two sides can still come to an agreement before the yet-to-be-scheduled hearing, which would take place this summer.

He's also eligible to sign an offer sheet any time before July 5 at 5 p.m. ET.

The Devils landed Meier in a swap with the San Jose Sharks five days before this past season's trade deadline. The highly coveted forward fit in well with his new club down the stretch of the regular season, notching nine goals and five assists in 21 games. But he was less effective in the playoffs, collecting two goals and two assists in 11 contests.

The 26-year-old Swiss skater turns 27 on Oct. 8, around the time next season begins. Meier racked up a career-high 40 goals to go along with 26 assists combined with the Devils and Sharks in 2022-23, coming off a 35-goal, 76-point campaign with San Jose the previous season.

On Thursday, New Jersey also signed forward Jesper Bratt to an eight-year contract at an average annual value of $7.875 million. The Devils have approximately $26 million in cap space but have 11 non-injured pending free agents (RFAs and UFAs) to sign.

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The Vancouver Canucks are paying Oliver Ekman-Larsson a hefty sum to join another team.

Vancouver plans to buy out the highly paid defenseman, his agent Kevin Epp told CHEK's Rick Dhaliwal. Ekman-Larsson will become an unrestricted free agent as a result.

The veteran blue-liner has four years remaining on the eight-year pact he signed with the Arizona Coyotes on July 1, 2018. It carried an $8.25-million cap hit before the buyout. The Canucks will now pay him nearly $20 million over the next eight years.

The Canucks acquired Ekman-Larsson and forward Conor Garland in a July 2021 trade with the Coyotes. Vancouver sent Arizona three draft picks, including a first-rounder that become Dylan Guenther, plus forwards Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, and Antoine Roussel.

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The Erik Karlsson trade talks appear primed to rev up once again.

The San Jose Sharks and their star defenseman are on the same page about working out a swap after his representatives met with management last week, TSN's Pierre LeBrun reported Thursday on "Insider Trading."

Karlsson wants to play for a contender, while the Sharks are looking to rebuild, added LeBrun.

There's no guarantee a trade materializes given the Swedish veteran's hefty contract and full no-movement clause, but a few teams have reportedly inquired about his availability in recent days.

Karlsson is the favorite to win what will be his third Norris Trophy for his sublime efforts on the lackluster Sharks this season. After enduring several injury-plagued campaigns, the 33-year-old racked up 25 goals and 76 assists for San Jose while suiting up for all 82 games in 2022-23.

He became the oldest blue-liner ever to notch at least 100 points in a season, only the sixth rearguard to ever accomplish the feat, and the first since Brian Leetch in 1991-92.

San Jose explored dealing Karlsson before the trade deadline, reportedly engaging in talks with the Edmonton Oilers at multiple junctures.

The former Ottawa Senators captain is under contract for another four seasons with an $11.5-million cap hit, according to CapFriendly. The no-move clause extends for its duration.

Karlsson inked his eight-year pact with the Sharks almost four years ago to the day on June 17, 2019.

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Vegas is shutting down the strip for the Stanley Cup.

The Golden Knights' championship parade will take place Saturday night on Las Vegas Boulevard, the team announced Wednesday.

The parade route will start at Flamingo Road at 7 p.m. PT and extend to Tropicana Boulevard, with both sides of Las Vegas Boulevard closed for the festivities. The event will conclude with a rally at Toshiba Plaza in front of T-Mobile Arena approximately two hours later.

Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's champagne and cognac company, Sire Spirits, will be a co-sponsor of the parade. The Golden Knights entered into a multi-year partnership with the brand earlier Wednesday.

The Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup for the first time in their sixth season when they vanquished the Florida Panthers with a 9-3 rout in Game 5 on Tuesday night.

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The Montreal Canadiens don't appear satisfied with their position in the first round of the upcoming draft.

The Canadiens are doing whatever they can to move up from fifth overall, reports The Athletic's Arpon Basu. Montreal is reportedly trying to trade places with the San Jose Sharks at No. 4 and has reached out to the Anaheim Ducks about the cost of moving up to No. 2.

The likelihood of a swap isn't high, but Montreal is definitely making an effort, Basu adds.

While the Chicago Blackhawks are virtual locks to select Connor Bedard with the No. 1 overall pick, the Ducks are almost as likely to take Adam Fantilli second. The reigning Hobey Baker Award winner is the consensus second-best player in this draft, and he'd be the projected first pick in most other years.

The Canadiens could end up with a promising player at No. 5, like Winnipeg Ice standout Zach Benson or KHL phenom Matvei Michkov. But moving up would give them a chance at an even more tantalizing prospect, like USNTDP star Will Smith or even the likes of Fantilli or Swedish center Leo Carlsson.

Montreal - led by general manager Kent Hughes and executive vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton - chose Slovak forward Juraj Slafkovsky first overall last year.

The 2023 draft is scheduled for June 28 and 29 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

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The Calgary Flames are making an internal hire, promoting assistant coach Ryan Huska to the top job, reports ESPN's Kevin Weekes.

Huska spent the previous five seasons as an assistant on the Flames' coaching staff. This is his first NHL head coaching opportunity, but he guided Calgary's AHL affiliate for four seasons before joining the big club. He also led the WHL's Kelowna Rockets to a Memorial Cup berth in 2009.

The 47-year-old most recently oversaw the Flames' penalty kill, which ranked sixth in the league this past season.

Calgary fired Darryl Sutter on May 1. The Flames missed the playoffs in two of Sutter's three campaigns behind the bench in his second tenure with the team. Calgary won the Pacific Division but bowed out in the second round of the postseason in 2021-22.

Former New York Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant was reportedly a "prime candidate" for the Flames' job before Huska emerged as the front-runner.

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Even after coaching his team to a Memorial Cup championship, Patrick Roy knows NHL teams might have some reservations about bringing him back into the league.

"It's hard for me to get a job because of the way I left Colorado," Roy told NHL.com's Dave Stubbs on Thursday.

"I know I made some bad choices," Roy said. "I know the way I left, everything I did, could have an effect on today's perspective on myself. I have to live with that. I know that I've learned from my mistakes. The past is the past but sometimes, you have to live with your past. I understand the situation."

Roy abruptly resigned from his dual role as Avalanche head coach and vice president of hockey operations in the summer of 2016.

"I understand now, better than ever, that you can't be in management and coach a team at the same time," the legendary former goaltender said Thursday. "If you're the coach, you coach. If you're GM, that's what you do."

Roy coached the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts for eight seasons before rejoining the Avalanche in a non-player capacity. Joe Sakic, who was the club's general manager and executive vice president of hockey operations, named Roy - his former teammate - head coach and VP of hockey ops in May 2013.

After Roy left the Avalanche, he took some time off before resurfacing as Remparts head coach in 2018-19. They blanked the Seattle Thunderbirds 5-0 in the Memorial Cup final last Sunday to claim the ultimate CHL prize.

Roy's unexpected departure from Colorado was the second time he abruptly created a rift with an NHL team following his unceremonious exit from the Montreal Canadiens in 1995.

He infamously told then-Habs president Ronald Corey he'd played his final game for the team while coming off the ice after head coach Mario Tremblay removed him from a game in which he allowed nine goals. Four days later, Montreal traded him to Colorado.

The 57-year-old said Sunday's championship victory was his final act with the Remparts.

"There's no better ending than that, that's for sure," he said Thursday.

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Carter Verhaeghe buried the winner in overtime as the Florida Panthers prevailed 3-2 over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Thursday night.

The Panthers cut the Golden Knights' series lead to 2-1 and won their first-ever Cup Final game. Matthew Tkachuk scored with just over two minutes left in regulation to tie it.

More to come.

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The Chicago Blackhawks are bringing back Andreas Athanasiou on a two-year pact carrying a $4.25-million cap hit, reports the Chicago Sun-Times' Ben Pope.

Athanasiou was a pending unrestricted free agent. The Blackhawks inked him to a one-year, $3-million contract last July.

The forward, who'll turn 29 on August 6, collected 20 goals and 20 assists while playing all but one game for the Blackhawks this season.

Athanasiou has played for four teams in his eight-year career. He spent his first four-plus campaigns with the Detroit Red Wings, who traded him to the Edmonton Oilers in February 2020. He then signed with the Los Angeles Kings about 10 months later before joining Chicago as a free agent last summer.

The Blackhawks have rarely retained veteran players since Kyle Davidson took over as general manager in March of last year. The GM slowly stripped the club of most of its talent, and the strategy paid off in May when Chicago won the draft lottery and right to select Connor Bedard after finishing with the league's third-worst record.

The Red Wings drafted Athanasiou 110th overall in 2012.

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