The first two weeks of the season have not been kind to a few of the top Stanley Cup contenders.

Four of the past five Stanley Cup champions are based in a place with no state income tax, and the flood of talent to those locales continued in NHL free agency.

The Nashville Predators made a big splash on the opening day of NHL free agency by signing Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei.

The outlook for NHL free agency.

Noah Hanifin broke a tie with an unassisted goal late in the second period and the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights beat the top-seeded Dallas Stars 3-1 on Wednesday night to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.

Jonathan Marchessault scored, Adin Hill made 23 saves and the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights beat the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Tuesday night after a banner-raising ceremony.

There are hard questions the Vegas Golden Knights management will have to begin answering when free agency opens July 1.

Bruce Cassidy has been the Golden Knights’ coach for only a year, but he knows full well the history of the Misfits.

Jonathan Marchessault has won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP for leading the Vegas Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup.

The Golden Knights delivered their city a true Vegas-style party from dazzling passes to a Mark Stone hat trick to all-out goal celebrations.

Golden Knights owner Bill Foley was aggressive from the beginning.

Jonathan Marchessault scored twice and started an early blitz that chased the NHL’s hottest postseason goalie, and the Vegas Golden Knights seized control of the Stanley Cup Final with a 7-2 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 2.

Zach Whitecloud scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to give the Vegas Golden Knights a 5-2 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.

William Karlsson scored two goals and had an assist as the Vegas Golden Knights advanced to their second Stanley Cup Final with a 6-0 rout over Dallas.

Ty Dellandrea scored twice in a 1:27 span midway through the third period and the Dallas Stars beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Saturday night to stay alive in the Western Conference Final.

Joe Pavelski scored on a power play at 3:18 of overtime and the Dallas Stars avoided a sweep in the Western Conference final with a 3-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night.

Jonathan Marchessault and the Vegas Golden Knights are one more win from reaching another Stanley Cup Final.

Jack Eichel had a goal and two assists, and the Vegas Golden Knights moved one win from the Western Conference Final after beating the Edmonton Oilers 4-3.

Philadelphia captain Claude Giroux scored three goals and the Metropolitan Division beat the Central Division 5-3 in the final 3-on-3 match of the NHL All-Star Game.

Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman won the Hardest Shot competition and St. Louis’ Jordan Kyrou was the Fastest Skater during an NHL All-Star skills competition with a distinct Vegas flavor.

Max Pacioretty scored twice and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Seattle Kraken 4-3 in a battle of the two newest teams in the NHL.

Carey Price made 26 saves to lead the Montreal Canadiens to 4-1 road victory over the Vegas Golden Knight, putting the Canadiens one win away from the Stanley Cup Final.

Carey Price made 29 saves and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 on Wednesday night to tie the Stanley Cup semifinal series at a game apiece.

Jonathan Marchessault, Max Pacioretty and William Karlsson came through with timely goals for the Vegas Golden Knights in their 4-2 series win over Colorado.

Mark Stone scored on a breakaway 50 seconds into overtime as the Vegas Golden Knights overcame a two-goal deficit to beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 and take a 3-2 lead in their second-round playoff series.

Jonathan Marchessault had his fourth career hat trick to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche to tie their second-round series at two games apiece.

Jonathan Marchessault and Max Pacioretty scored 45 seconds apart in the third period to lift the Vegas Golden Knights to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of their second-round playoff series.

JJonathan Marchessault scored twice and the Vegas Golden Knights became the first NHL team to clinch a playoff berth, beating the San Jose Sharks 5-2 for their eighth straight victory.

Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mark Stone (61) reacts after scoring a goal against the San Jose Sharks during the second period of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. San Jose was given the unbalanced schedule because of local restrictions that banned contact sports and practices, forcing the Sharks to hold training camp in Arizona. DEBOER’S RETURNThe game is the first back in San Jose for Vegas coach Peter DeBoer, who was fired by the Sharks in December 2019. He was hired last January by Vegas but hadn’t faced San Jose until Saturday. AdSIMEK SIDELINEDSharks D Radim Simek left in the second period after taking two hard hits from Marchessault.