RALEIGH, N.C. — On the eve of the Stanley Cup Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes, one of the general managers involved laid out his thinking when making roster moves.“We want to be aggressive off the ice,” the GM said. “When you have a chance to add really high-end players, we never want to miss out on it.”While the Golden Knights under Kelly McCrimmon have deservedly earned their reputation for going after every high-end player available, that sentiment came from Carolina’s Eric Tulsky, whose team has generally been considered far more selective. The Hurricanes have taken bigger leaps since Tulsky took over two years ago, but his challenge has been finding particular players who fit coach Rod Brind’Amour’s demanding style. The Golden Knights have added one big star after another, in the name of trying to win it all for a second time in less than a decade of existence. One approach will end with hoisting the Cup.“It probably should be more fun than we appreciate in the moment,” McCrimmon said. “We have made a lot of big decisions over our time in the league — very bold. I always say that to be big or bold is one thing. You’ve got to make good decisions, and I think that we’ve collectively through our hockey ops have done a good job of that. It’s exhilarating to win.”Six Carolina players were drafted and developed, including No. 1 defenseman Jaccob Slavin, top-line forwards Seth Jarvis, Sebastien Aho and Andrei Svechnikov, and young building-block winger Jackson Blake. Starting goaltender Frederik Andersen was a free-agent signing, and second-liners Taylor Hall and Logan Stankoven were acquired in trades. Tulsky, a Harvard graduate with a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley, worked under previous GM Don Waddell and pieced the rest of the puzzle together himself.McCrimmon pointed to Waddell as a positive influence and complimented his c …
