As the Florida Panthers spend the summer celebrating their Stanley Cup win, it begs the question: Can they repeat as Cup Champions? I think they can, as their roster is still extremely strong despite losing some pieces to free agency. The core forwards that were up for contract Zito locked up long-term, ensuring little change throughout the top nine forwards. The biggest questions will come on the defensive side, with OEL and Montour departing for Toronto and Seattle, respectively. I wouldn’t expect much drop-off from the Panthers, especially if the new players are willing to buy into the system Florida runs completely. That’s been the biggest key to their success: the team’s buy-in. Yes, having talent is important, but talent can only get a team so far; the extra edge comes from team chemistry and willingness to put in the work to do all the hard little things day in and day out and grind out the season to ensure postseason success.
Keeping The Team Together:
It looked like Florida lost plenty of players during free agency as they mostly priced themselves out of being able to stay with the Panthers, and the obvious priority was signing Reinhart. However, upon closer inspection, they didn’t lose as many key pieces as one might assume. With Reinhart signing his new deal, he’s locked up for eight more years with the Panthers, having expressed his desire to stay in South Florida during the year and playoffs with the front office saying the same. The other big piece the Cats kept was Anton Lundell, currently a bottom-six player, but don’t let that fool you. If you watched Florida play at all during the playoffs, then you saw how exceptional Lundell is at center on that third line. A young 22-year-old who’s earned the nickname Baby Barkov on social media, he’s going to be a top-six player in the future. HC Paul Maurice has shied away from encouraging that nickname, stating how Lundell’s game does differ from Barkov’s and that he doesn’t need to be a Barkov replicant but that Barkov’s been a great mentor for the young player. Lundell doesn’t put up a ton of points right now, he had 35 during the regular season with 13 goals and 22 assists and that’s ok. As he gets older, he’s only going to get better. With all that said, the only loss out of the top nine forwards was Vladimir Tarasenko, who they acquired at the trade deadline. I’d be remiss if I said I thought losing him wasn’t a big deal, but in the same breath, he was only with the team a short time, and it opens the door for a player like Mackie Samoskevich to potentially move up from the AHL to fill that spot. Or Florida may look to fill that spot with someone else at the trade deadline again. The rest of the losses to the forward group came from fourth-liners; Lomberg went to Calgary, and Stenlund to Utah. While Stenlund is a big loss in terms of center depth and penalty kill, Zito went out and signed players who can fill that spot adequately. Kulikov also signed a nice extension that gives more stability to the blue line and only two open spots there. Balinskis and Bjornfot filled in well when they were called upon during the season, so there’s the option to bring them up full-time. Overall, the major core pieces, Barkov, Tkachuk, Forsling, Reinhart, and Lundell, are signed long term to at least 2030, with Verhaeghe and Bennett due for new contracts after this year, putting the team in a great spot going forward.
Team Buy In:
One of the biggest things that Florida has done is get the whole locker room to buy into what HC Paul Maurice is telling them. With leadership leading by example, it trickles down to the rest of the team, which leads to no one slacking off. Every player talked at some point last season about how the individual awards are nice, but everything is about the team and team accomplishments. They don’t care who scores how many goals; they only care that someone is scoring and that they’re winning games. That type of mentality is exactly what made the Panthers so hard to stop, with depth scoring coming from anywhere and everywhere. Teams weren’t able to look at a single like or a couple of players and go, ‘We shut them down, and the scoring goes way down’. Evan Rodrigues had a relatively quiet playoff run up until he put up seven points in the Stanley Cup Final and scored three goals in two games. If Reinhart wasn’t scoring, then Verhaeghe was, or it was Tkachuk or Barkov or anyone ready to step up and make a play for the team. One of my favorite team mantras comes from the Nebraska women’s volleyball team. In 2017, the team decided on the mantra of With Each Other For Each Other, and Florida right now embodies that type of thinking. Players are playing for the guys on their line and the guys on the bench, not for individual glory. Players are opting to perhaps take less money to stay and play for a team they like being on rather than going out and getting the biggest paycheck they can. Barkov, Tkachuk, and Ekblad’s leadership has shaped the Panthers into what they are right now, a Stanley Cup Championship team that appreciates every single member of the organization. Fans saw that when Tkachuk gave the Game 3 puck to the VP of Player Engagement Mike Huff, who sorted out the team’s travel issues, or when Mikkola gave Jonah Gadjovich, the new dad, the Game puck following Game 5 of the Rangers series.
Zito Makes Smart Moves:
Bill Zito has more than proved that he knows what he’s doing when it comes to signing players. Obviously, the Tkachuk trade is the biggest one that comes to mind, but Zito has a great mindset when it comes to developing players for the future. In his press conference following the opening of free agency, he said, “All these guys are still a part of things forever. One of our goals apart from the family culture with the team in trying to get players to come, in trying to get players to fit so we can have as many good players and good people as possible, is the chance in the future to really maximize your career. And so, hopefully, we can keep trying to have guys come to have that coaching staff pull the best out of them, have them be successful as teammates, as part of a team, and as individuals, so they can move on. So I can go to the next person and say, ‘We might not have as much money as whatever other city, but we have the opportunity. And if you take advantage of the opportunity, it’s worked well for a lot of people.’” That type of mindset brought in a player like Nate Schmidt, who took a contract for just over the league minimum, but he said in his interview on Territory Talk that he had seen other players be able to jump-start their careers and seeing what it’s done for players and how they’re treated and the extra added bite and jump to your step with the team coming off the Cup win was what made Florida his landing spot. With Zito at the head of the organization and his ability to bring in players that can fit with the existing locker room coupled with a coaching staff who can bring out the best in the players, the Panthers are primed to go back-to-back as Stanley Cup Champions.
