6 Lessons Every NHL Team Can Learn from the Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup Run

6 Lessons Every NHL Team Can Learn from the Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup Run0 of 6

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Someone call an exterminator because it’s raining rubber rats at Amerant Bank Arena. The Florida Panthers have managed to win their first Stanley Cup in their 30th year as a franchise.

Sure, they have a 3-0 series and very nearly blew it. But it doesn’t matter how you win in hockey, it’s if you win. The Panthers put their fans through the wringer, but in the end, got the job done.

Florida is a modern success story, combining smart decisions made by the front office, excellent coaching by a head coach with some actual personality and players with a hard-as-nails attitude.

Put that all together and you have your Stanley Cup champs.

So, how’d they do it? Let’s break down the six reasons they lifted the Cup on Monday night.

Don’t Be Afraid of Making Bold Moves1 of 6

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There is a danger in thinking that making a drastic move solves all your problems.

For every bold move that works out, there’s one that doesn’t. But it’s hard to say the Panthers’ trade for Matthew Tkachuk has been anything but a huge success

Granted, you can take the flip side of the deal in question—the 2022 blockbuster that gave the Panthers Tkachuk and sent Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar to the Flames—as a prime example. There’s also a job-security element to risk aversion in the NHL. Years ago, a scout told me that in most front offices, you’re better off whiffing on a mid-floor, mid-ceiling player than taking a swing on a high ceiling with a lower floor. I think about this often when it comes to contenders wheeling and dealing.

We’re quick to point out obvious trade-deadline whiffs, but are we too quick to forgive teams that do (relatively) nothing and wind up in the same, Cupless situation? Of course, it depends on the situation, but the Tkachuk to Florida experience is a perfect example of how teams should go for it.

The thing is, Tkachuk wanted out of Calgary as it was, so the Flames didn’t have a ton of leverage. You also knew Tkachuk intended on signing a long-term contract at his next stop, so if you believed in the player approaching prime (and who didn’t?), it was a perfect opportunity to unload a “change of scenery” type star who wasn’t panning out on a team a few pieces away from contention.

The Panthers weren’t afraid to strategically let go of a core player who scored 100-plus points for them. First, that season was an outlier. Second, look at the playoff results with Huberdeau and where the team wanted to go instead.

Florida has been quick, aggressive and decisive instead of passive with the team’s direction, and it’s not just with Tkachuk. The Panthers fired coach Andrew Brunette, who was a Jack Adams finalist that season and replaced him with a coach who had a long career and who’d just quit on a middling team. The Panthers knew moves like these would be scrutinized and perhaps unpopular for months, and they were until they weren’t.

“Going for it” boldly and fearlessly is going to mean different things at different times for different teams. But you can’t tell me at least half the NHL wouldn’t have benefited from a “change of scenery” swap for their own personal Huberdeaus to get Tkachuk.

A lot of NHL teams are “contenders” in the age of parity, but the most aggressive among them—the Golden Knights and the Panthers—own the last two Cups.

The Right Retread Coach Can Work2 of 6

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Panthers coach Paul Maurice has been an NHL head coach on and off since 1996, and yes, he’s greatly benefited from the NHL’s notorious penchant for recycling coaches. He’s been the head coach of four NHL franchises (Whalers/Canes, Maple Leafs, Jets and Panthers), with multiple separate stints behind Carolina’s bench. He’s experienced major bouts of mediocrity in these 30 years, and he was yet to win a Stanley Cup despite three appearances in the Finals.

Many understandably groaned when Maurice was named head coach of the Panthers. Was this just another iteration of the NHL coaching carousel? How about giving someone new a chance?

The complaints about the boys club aren’t unfounded, and not so fast, NHL GMs patting themselves on the back now: Maurice winning a Cup doesn’t absolve your tired coaching selections.

Maurice is different; his time in Florida has been particularly different; and it all started with how he was the one who chose to end his time with Winnipeg.

“If you’ll allow me some arrogance, I feel I’m better positioned than anyone to know that they need a new voice,” Maurice said at the time. “They haven’t quit on me. But they need somebody that can get them to that next place.”

This is the refreshing, astute observation of a person who had been at it for three decades and had actually learned something. And this is the public statement of a person who isn’t afraid to apply and admit what he’s learned, even at his own personal detriment.

The lesson, here? The right coaching retreads can work. But there’s only one Paul Maurice, and it took him 30 years to get here.

You Can’t Put a Price on Good Goaltending3 of 6

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The Panthers were more sure about Sergei Bobrovsky than most when they inked him to a seven-year, $70 million deal back in 2019. Granted, he’d only dipped below .900 once in his regular-season career (.899 in 2012), and he’d had a consistent decade as a starting goalie on the Flyers and the Blue Jackets.

But “playoff Bob” used to have a negative connotation. His reputation had been influenced by certain postseason blunders, like that one game with the Flyers in which he allowed five goals and ended the series with a .722 save percentage.

He’d steadily improved his postseason performance with the Blue Jackets, but at a $10 million AAV and over half-decade of term, the Panthers had to have been fairly confident he’d be able to rise above and elevate even more as he approached his 30s.

Look, we didn’t escape this postseason without a “playoff Bob” (derogatory) moment. Game 4 was a flashback of that one memorable Flyers game—Bobrovsky allowed five goals for a .688 save percentage in an 8-1 loss as his team had the opportunity to clinch the Cup. And he wasn’t much better in Games 5 and 6.

But in Game 7, with everything on the line and his team facing the worst choke in NHL history, Bob stood tall in the face of the best offensive player of his generation. Third-period save after third-period save completed a 23-save effort in the series clincher and essentially paid back Florida for its investment.

Having an Elite Defensive Forward Like Barkov Makes Things a Lot Easier4 of 6

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We’re going to single out the Panthers’ captain for some special praise here.

It must be a nice luxury for Paul Maurice to have the reigning Selke Award winner, as the NHL’s best defensive forward completely shut down the other team’s best offensive players.

Taken second overall in the 2013 draft, Aleksander Barkov put on a clinic on how to be an elite defensive forward. And while you’re never going to stop a generational talent like Connor McDavid completely, Barkov did his best work when it mattered most in Game 7.

The numbers back it up during the series.

JFresh @JFreshHockeyIf FLA lose tonight, no one will remember anything positive about their SCF performance.

But if they win, it should be a legacy-defining performance from Aleksander Barkov, whose work against the best player in the world in this series has been something special. #TimetoHunt pic.twitter.com/NsTUczf3t5

By the way, he wasn’t just good defensively. He posted nearly a point per game during the postseason with 22 points in 24 games.

Barkov became the first Finnish captain in NHL history and the third European to lift the Stanley Cup.

Have a Front Office That Knows What It Needs to Do5 of 6

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Bill Zito has been a finalist for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award in three of his four seasons with the Panthers for a reason: His “big swing” to “depth acquisition” ratio is perhaps the most balanced among all NHL GMs, and he rarely misses. You’ll often see front offices target one thing at a time, or a GM who is known for a certain type of trading and signing.

Zito and Co. have an eye for all of it.

The Panthers traded Florida’s homegrown leading scorer for Tkachuk. They got Vladimir Tarasenko, who has had several clutch goals throughout the playoffs, at 50 percent retained ($2.5 million), for two non-first-round draft picks. They claimed defenseman Gustav Forsling, who had four goals, 13 points, and a plus-nine rating through 24 playoff games, off waivers for less than $6 million.

They saw something special in Carter Verhaeghe in his NHL rookie season with Tampa Bay. The Lightning let the arbitration-eligible forward go for cap reasons, he became a UFA, signed a two-year, $1 million contract with the Panthers, and exploded. Now he’s blossomed into a 40-goal scorer with a $4.16 million AAV. Only Joe Sakic (eight) and Maurice Richard (six) have more playoff OT winners in their careers than Verhaeghe, who is tied with Glenn Anderson, Patrick Kane and Corey Perry at five in their career.

He scored the opening goal in Game 7.

We haven’t even arrived at Sam Reinhart or Sam Bennett. We haven’t even scratched the surface of the true depth, including Kevin Stenlund, who had improved the team’s penalty kill in a way that has proved crucial in the most special teams-heavy Finals in NHL history.

Zito’s big swings have panned out, his medium swings have exceeded expectations and his small swings have allowed the cap space to do so. He has no problem trading, signing or picking guys up off waivers. It’s a copycat league, and count me in for a holistic GM era.

Luck Plays a Big Part6 of 6

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Had this win happened a week earlier, we’d probably be talking about just how dominant the Panthers’ run to the Cup was. They held down some of the very best offensive players in the league, from Nikita Kucherov to David Pastrňák to Artemi Panarin.

Well, you saw what happened in Games 4-6.

They barely held on in Game 7, somehow finding a way to keep Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl at bay in the third period.

But hockey is funny that way. Sometimes even the most dominant teams need a little bit of luck along the way to end up lifting the Stanley Cup.

What if Zach Hyman was able to tuck this opportunity away?

Jameson Olive @JamesonCoopmy heart can’t take this pic.twitter.com/zfX4QKJCWE

Or what if McDavid was able to bury this golden one-on-one opportunity with Bobvrosky?

Drew Livingstone @ProducerDrew_McDavid, puck on his stick. Game 7. Empty net. Couldn’t bury. INSANITY pic.twitter.com/Xyu7h0osvM

Yeah, you have to be good. But you also have to be lucky, too.

Combine that with the vibes and you have your 2024 Stanley Cup champions.