Do the Florida Panthers have what it takes to repeat next year?

[BigEezyE22]

Don't underestimate the wear and tear of going to the finals 2 years in a row while playing full 82 game seasons.

 

[Pablo El Perro]

It's do. Using Panthers instead of just Florida, you made the subject of your question plural.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Probably not.

 

[BB79]

The biggest reason they won was Bob, and he’s still there, so I wouldn’t be shocked if they did

He's also getting pretty old and just played 2 straight seasons all the way through the Final. At some point all that mileage is going to catch up to him.

 

[Voight]

In theory they could given their core group is back and providing Bob doesn't turn into a pumpkin.

But they've now played 209 games in two years with only a few months off. Wear and tear is real.

 

[Felidae]

I'll try to be objective.

Cons
-dwindled Dcore. OEL and Montour are huge losses. Beyond their impact, it also just depletes our depth throughout our lineup quite a bit. Not to mention, Ekblad is a question mark with his constant injuries assuming he stays.

- special teams. Reinhart is definitely not repeating his goalscoring season. He almost single handedly carried the PP especially in the RS, and we saw how the PP lost its effectiveness in the POs. Losing Stenlund is also a blow to our PK, though I'm not really worried about it

-Bobrovsky is 36. The goaltending situation is a bit precarious in that you never really know when any player in their late 30s will noticeably decline.

- grueling schedule these past 2 years. Obviously they are top tier athletes but even that's gotta take its toll. There's a reason 3 consecutive SCFs is rare.


Pros

- Lundell took a huge step this postseason. 4th in scoring, outproducing Tarasenko, Bennett, Reinhart. If that carries over to next season then that boosts our overall forward offense and line combo versatility quite a bit.

- made some good, cheap depth acquisitions that are hungry to prove themselves on a Stanley Cup winner (Nate Schmidt took less money to play on the Panthers) there's a chance these guys step in and fill some of the void left by former Panthers

In the end I wouldn't bet on them making it back, but their chances aren't terrible and their division doesn't look as strong as it was the past 2 seasons

 

[JaegerDice]

They barely had what it took to win against an incredibly flawed Edmonton team.

Im gonna say no. This is not a team coming off a juggernaut performance like the 2016 Pens or 2020 Lightning.

 

[WarriorofTime]

They'll be a lot thinner next season

 

[The Nuge]

Other than in Game 1 Bob was about above average for the rest of the series. We won because we had an elite forechecking style and the players to execute it correctly. Bob is obviously a key component but in no way shape or form is the team "carried" by him

Game 1 and 7, he was definitely the reason they won. Regardless, I said the biggest reason. Not the only reason. You can’t win with one player. The Panthers deserved the Cup with how everyone on the team played. That includes Bob, who imo was the best player on the ice in most of the series.

Not really. Many teams had better goaltending in the playoffs.

Not really. He just had a couple games where the Oilers made him look human and cratered his SV%

Bob was not even the best goaltender in each series. What a cope.

He stole the Panthers 2 games in the finals. Skinner didn’t steal the Oilers a single one. That’s the difference. Such a weird thing to get defensive about. It’s not an insult to say your goalie was awesome

He's also getting pretty old and just played 2 straight seasons all the way through the Final. At some point all that mileage is going to catch up to him.

True. He did only play 108 regular season games over the last 2 years, but it’s still a lot of mileage.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

I wouldn't be surprised. Still got a real deep forward group. Their d depth got a little thinner but they still have Forsling - Ekblad and whatever deficiencies they have there can be fixed with a couple '26 or '27 draft picks for some rentals at the deadline.

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

Will need to see how the rest of the offseason plays out. We’re have little cap and no great trade assets. Not thrilled with our D core at the moment, how does Knight fill in as backup for Bob, how does Reino play after a 57 goal season and new contract, etc. A lot of questions so I’m glad we won at least once

 

[innitfam]

I don't think so. I do think they will get at least to the ECF though.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

It's important to remember that even if a team has an 79% chance to win each series (which I think we all agree would be a powerhouse), they'll get eliminated before the Stanley Cup Finals more often than not.

It's hard to get back to the Finals.

 

[koyvoo]

How far they do or don’t get, or whatever the odds are for a team getting to 3 finals in a row is irrelevant to the question posed in the OP.

My opinion is that they do have what it takes in terms of personnel, experience and such. Doesn’t negate the games having to be played out.

 

[Andre Palot]

I think while the goal is of course, always to repeat, Florida Panthers fans are just souped that their franchise is actually seen as one players want to go to and are playing winning hockey.

 

[Planetov]

 

[Suntouchable13]

Who going to stop them? Toronto? Lol. Is Boston better with Lindholm and Zad? We'll see. Is Tampa better this season? Other than that, there is nobody really in the Atlantic to stop them from at least getting to the final 4 again. They will be right there.

 

[Idiot Stick]

Ride or die with Bob
When he got hit in game 4 he turned into bad bob and the team couldnt do anything

He was absolutely the mvp of the cats.
He has an insane work ethic and seems to be good, but yeah age is getting up there and an injury there is gonna derail us.

Dcore TBD, losing montour sucks even though he had a down year his TOI will be missed, guy had nearly 20+ every night on the 2nd pair. Well see how some of our depth does with the opportunity. Interested to see if bjornfot gets more time.

4th line i think we may have gotten better or at the worse a wash.

PP it depends if we keep kompon, that was horrendous to watch outside of 2 playoff games
PK should be ok but depends if Nosek can do what Stenlund did (which i doubt, guy was incredible on the pk)

Tkachuk was still fighting his sternum injury, takes a while to heal from that and he finally looked better at the start of this year until he got crunched in carolina. Did ok points wise but wasnt the same monster he was last year. If he goes back to 22-23 chucky, were better already than last year as we have the same core pieces, and barkov has finally turned the page and has become a monster.



I dont think we make it back though, 2 shortened off seasons plus all those playoff games will take a toll + cup hangover.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

They’re a competitive squad. Depends on if/how they upgun at the deadline.

The framework of that team really allows for effective upgrades at the TDL

 

[Cats2TheCup]

Their core has so much playoff experience and they’re in their prime and have won it all. What other Eastern conference team has that going for them?

 

[Panteras]

It could be a situation where we don’t repeat but we maintain a good enough team where we will be back to contend like those Hawks or Kings teams. So maybe in 2 years etc type of thing. While part of this is wishful thinking from me, having Bill Zito on our side is a major major plus I think. He should be a good enough reason to think it’s possible.

 

[Super Cake]

Their core has so much playoff experience and they’re in their prime and have won it all. What other Eastern conference team has that going for them?

They haven't been to the finals 2 years in a row?

The odds are against them in making the finals 3 years in a row. Of course it can happen, but i wouldn't bet on it.

 

[CanadienShark]

I really doubt it. I see this as a retool year for them. Two straight SCF appearances will take a toll. They'll be more competitive again the following year.

 

[Dread Clawz]

Don't underestimate the wear and tear of going to the finals 2 years in a row while playing full 82 game seasons.

Yup, plus the style we play. Tampa basically had to take the regular season off for 3 years to go to the Final 3 years in a row. The Panthers can't really do that though. We have a certain identity that makes us successful. I think we maybe win a round, but probably lose in the 2nd round. Then gear up for another long run in 25-26.

 

[newsportsfan123]

I really doubt it. I see this as a retool year for them. Two straight SCF appearances will take a toll. They'll be more competitive again the following year.

I don’t think they have the resources to retool. Their biggest issue is easily defensive depth going into this season. People don’t realize how important depth is until they don’t have it