And while they have not suffered as a team, they have suffered individually.
"I think it's the same story for each and every guy," forward James Neal said. "It makes it that much better."
General manager George McPhee has suffered. He played parts of six seasons in the NHL and never won the Cup. He has worked in NHL front offices since 1992 without winning it. He hasn't been to the Final since 1998, at the end of his first season as GM of the Washington Capitals. Despite lots of regular-season success, the Capitals never reached the conference final after that. He was fired April 26, 2014, and wasn't sure he would get another shot.
Coach Gerard Gallant has suffered. He played 10 seasons in the NHL, scoring 30 goals four times, and never won the Cup. He has been the coach or an assistant with the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers without winning the Cup. He has been fired as coach twice, the last time by the Panthers on Nov. 27, 2016, months after he was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year.
Defenseman Deryk Engelland has suffered. He played 148 games in the ECHL and 338 games in the AHL -- from Lowell to Las Vegas to Hershey to South Carolina to Reading to Wilkes-Barre -- before establishing himself in the NHL. He has played eight full seasons in the NHL and hasn't won the Cup. Can you imagine how it felt for him, at 36, to carry off the Clarence Campbell Bowl after the Golden Knights eliminated the Winnipeg Jets in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final on Sunday?
Neal has suffered. He has played 10 seasons in the NHL, scoring between 21 and 40 goals each time, and never won the Cup. He played through a wrist injury and came within two games of it last year with the Nashville Predators, only to be eliminated on home ice at Bridgestone Arena in Game 6 of the Final by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Forward Jonathan Marchessault has suffered. Undrafted, 5 feet 9, he bounced from the New York Rangers (zero NHL games) to the Blue Jackets (two NHL games) to the Tampa Bay Lightning (47 NHL games) to the Florida Panthers (75 NHL games). Even though he scored 30 goals for the Panthers last season, he was exposed in the NHL Expansion Draft.