The Undrafted Kid Who Won the Conn Smythe
Jonathan Marchessault spent five years in the minors being told he was too small. Then he became Stanley Cup MVP.
Year after year, the draft came and went without his name.
Too small. Overlooked. Passed on by every team in the league — not once, but twice. Jonathan Marchessault was the player nobody wanted. And then, in June 2023, he stood center ice in Las Vegas and hoisted the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This is what it actually took to get there.
They Measured Height, Not Fight
Marchessault was born in December 1990 in Cap-Rouge, Quebec. He came up through the Quebec Remparts under Patrick Roy, and by his final junior season he had become one of the most complete players in the QMJHL: 40 goals, 55 assists, 95 points in 68 games. He also won the Gaetan Duchesne Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward that year. A proven two-way scorer who could drive a line and play the right way.
The NHL passed on him anyway. Both in 2009 and in 2010, every team, every round: silence.
The reason was always the same — he was five-foot-nine. Scouting reports consistently flagged the size concern. Could he handle bigger defenders? Could he survive the physical grind? In the eyes of the scouts, the risk was too high. Nearly 100 points in one of the best junior leagues in the world, and the verdict was still: not worth a pick.
For most players, that’s where the story ends. For Marchessault, it was just the beginning of a much longer fight.
Five Years of Proving the Wrong People Right
While drafted prospects attended training camps on guaranteed deals, Marchessault signed an AHL contract with the Connecticut Whale in 2011 and got to work.
His rookie season: 24 goals, 64 points in 76 games. AHL All-Rookie Team. The Rangers never gave him a real look.
He moved through organizations. Columbus Blue Jackets. Tampa Bay Lightning. The numbers kept coming — 67 points, 44 points in 56 games, 67 points again, AHL Second Team All-Star honors. He scored 27 goals in just 45 games one season with the Syracuse Crunch. He was one of the best offensive players not in the NHL.
He did get brief call-ups. A couple games with Columbus. Forty-seven games total with the Lightning over two seasons, 8 goals, 11 assists. But he could never stick. The label that followed him was “Four-A player” — too good for the AHL, not quite right for the NHL. Not drafted. Not the right size. Not the right pedigree.
By the summer of 2016, he was 25 years old with five minor league seasons behind him. The crossroads that ends most undrafted careers. Go to Europe, or give it one last shot.
He signed a modest two-year, $1.5 million deal with the Florida Panthers. Low-risk for them. Everything for him.
The Breakout Nobody Expected
Marchessault arrived at Panthers camp with the same chip on his shoulder he’d carried his entire career, except now it was backed by half a decade of frustration and something to prove. He made the team. Then he took over.
Playing in Florida’s top-six alongside Aleksander Barkov and Vincent Trocheck, he scored 30 goals, added 21 assists, and put up 51 points in 75 games. A career minor leaguer had become a legitimate NHL scorer.
“The undrafted kid wasn’t just an NHL player — he was a top-line threat.”
It felt like the ending the story deserved. It wasn’t.
Florida Let Him Walk — Vegas Couldn’t Believe It
In June 2017, the expansion Vegas Golden Knights held their draft, selecting one unprotected player from each existing team. Florida’s management left Marchessault exposed despite his 30-goal season, choosing instead to protect younger, bigger forwards like Nick Bjugstad who hadn’t come close to matching his production. The bet was that his breakout was a fluke.
Get Sports & Scars’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Vegas GM George McPhee selected Marchessault without hesitation — a 30-goal scorer, essentially free. McPhee then worked a side deal to also acquire forward Reilly Smith from the Panthers in exchange for leaving certain other Florida players alone.
Marchessault landed in Las Vegas on a brand new team, filled with players discarded by other organizations. Most experts predicted the Golden Knights would be the worst team in the league. Instead, head coach Gerard Gallant, who had briefly coached Marchessault in Florida, slotted him onto the top line alongside Smith and William Karlsson, a player who had scored six goals the prior season.
What followed was one of the greatest expansion seasons in professional sports history.
The Golden Misfits
The three of them — Marchessault, Smith, and Karlsson — became known as the “Golden Misfits.” United by the shared experience of being cast off, they played with speed, skill, and a collective chip on their shoulders that made them nearly impossible to contain.
Marchessault finished the inaugural season with 27 goals and a team-leading 75 points. The Misfits line combined for 93 goals and 213 points. The Golden Knights won the Pacific Division in their first year of existence.
In the playoffs, he elevated further. Eight goals, 13 assists, 21 points in 20 games, leading the team all the way to the Stanley Cup Final. They fell to the Washington Capitals in five games, but what they built that season was unforgettable. And Marchessault, the player Florida gave away, was the MVP of that run.
Vegas recognized what they had. Midway through that first season, they signed him to a six-year, $30 million extension. He had found a home.
The Final Piece
The Golden Knights remained a contender in the years that followed, but the Cup stayed out of reach. Marchessault kept producing — 20 to 30 goals a season, the same intensity, the same fire. He was the original Misfit, the emotional heartbeat of the franchise.
Then came 2023.
Under coach Bruce Cassidy, Vegas entered the playoffs as one of the West’s top teams. Marchessault, at 32, played the best hockey of his life. He scored when it mattered most, again and again. In the Western Conference Final against Dallas, he delivered a natural hat-trick in the series-clinching Game 6.
The opponent in the Stanley Cup Final: the Florida Panthers. The team that left him exposed six years earlier.
He was dominant. Clutch goals. Relentless energy. Vegas won the series in five games, securing the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship.
When the Conn Smythe vote was announced, there was no real debate. Marchessault had led all playoff scorers on the team with 13 goals and 25 points in 22 games. He was the MVP.
The kid who went undrafted, who spent five years in the minors being told he was too small, who was given away for nothing by the team he’d finally broken out with, stood center ice in Las Vegas with the Stanley Cup in one hand and the Conn Smythe in the other.
In his acceptance speech, the chip was still there. “It shows that anything’s possible,” he said. “I was an undrafted player. It’s unbelievable.”
He made sure to mention the doubters.
What His Story Actually Proves
Marchessault’s path doesn’t fit the typical NHL narrative. No first-round buzz, no guaranteed contract, no clear path. Just relentless production in every league he played in, until someone finally gave him a real look — and he made them look like geniuses.
Talent can be overlooked. Determination is harder to miss.
He didn’t just kick the door down. He built a whole new one.
Who’s the next underdog story that needs to be told? Sound off in the comments.
Subscribe for more from Skates & Scars — and if you want to join the crew, hit that Join button below.
