Panthers ‘turned the page’ after Stanley Cup Final loss. Can it help them reach new heights?
The Florida Panthers’ first day of training camp had just ended, their chase to build on an unexpected run to a Stanley Cup Final in the books, and coach Paul Maurice had sent his first message to the team. Just like training camp a year ago, Maurice made his team work. An hour of drills was followed by a half hour of board battles and laps around the ice.
Endurance is key, work ethic is paramount if the Panthers want to take another step forward in Year 2 under Maurice.
And with that comes Maurice’s second message.
“I’m gonna, at some point, cut off the ‘last year’ questions,” Maurice said. “I get it. I’ll answer them now for sure, but we’ve got to go back through it to get to where we need to get to. We’ve got to go through that adversity again.”
The Panthers’ growing pains certainly paid off.
Injuries, underperformance and learning Maurice’s system had the Panthers struggle out of the gate before sneaking into the playoffs and rallying all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, where they ultimately lost in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Panthers made a statement: At their best, they can be one of the NHL’s top teams.
“At their best” is the key phrasing.
As a new Panthers season, the franchise’s 30th, begins on the road Thursday against the Minnesota Wild, Maurice is making it a point that while last season’s accomplishments should be celebrated, the Panthers can’t be lulled into a sense of comfort.
“It was a brilliant year, and I’m talking professionally,” Maurice said. “The experience of working with these guys, for me, it was an incredibly enjoyable experience. Instead of thinking about the highs and the lows and the excitement, it’s asking the question ‘But why?’ What is it about this group of guys that made the room the way it was? It’s asking those questions about the why and then being determined to protect that fight for that culture that we have in the room. Don’t get lazy with it and think that it’s guaranteed to be in your room this year. We have to fight for the culture of heart and that togetherness they have.”
‘Turned the page’
Maurice, heading into his 26th year as an NHL head coach, certainly knows the importance of moving on and focusing on the task at hand.
That’s why he only gave himself so much time to lament about the Stanley Cup Final defeat.
“Just cried for a couple weeks,” Maurice said, perhaps half-joking, “and then turned the page.”
That’s the nature of the sport. Nothing is stagnant. Success in the past — even if the past is as recent as four months ago — doesn’t guarantee success in the present or the future.
The Panthers will undoubtedly go through more growing pains this season. Losing streaks will happen. Again, it’s natural.
How they respond to those challenges — like they did a year ago — will be key.
“The idea that ‘it shouldn’t [be hard] because you have have learned this last year, so this should be easy,’ that’s what I’m fighting,” Maurice said. “It’s human nature. ... Sometimes when you have a little bit of success, you don’t feel like walking through that gate because it’s hard.”
If his players didn’t understand that before he took over last season, they certainly do know.
Just look at how the Panthers handled last season. They were 24-22-6 at the All-Star Break, their playoff hopes looking bleak. And then Florida flipped a switch. The Panthers went 18-10-2 down the stretch, including a stretch of six wins in seven games and another six-game win streak in the final month of the season to secure their spot in the playoffs.
And then they beat the top-seeded Boston Bruins in seven games in the first round of the playoffs .. and then took down the Toronto Maple Leafs in five games in the second round ... and then swept the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference finals.
Despite being beaten up physically and exhausted mentally, the Panthers persevered but fell just short of the ultimate goal.
In a sense, there’s unfinished business.
In another, this season is a new chapter entirely.
Star winger Matthew Tkachuk, an All-Star and finalist for the Hart Memorial Trophy (the NHL’s MVP award) last season said the Panthers “obviously are not happy” with how last season ended but there’s no time to dwell on that.
“You can’t write a worse ending for us,” Tkachuk said, “but it’s how it goes. One team wins it and one team’s gonna lose it. We gained a lot of good things from the whole year last year and we’ve got to bring it into next year.”
And captain Aleksander Barkov: “Everyone pretty much knows what to do now and how to play. Obviously, systems are important, but at the same time we realize that no system is good if you don’t work hard and if you don’t play hard.”
And goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky: “You just have to make sure that you’re doing the right thing in the moment. You can’t go ahead too much or be in the past. You have to be present and pull the rope with your teammates.”
The roster
Speaking of teammates, the core of last season’s roster returns.
Up front, Maurice still has his superstar one-two punch up front in Barkov and Tkachuk, along with 40-goal scorer Carter Verhaeghe and the likes of Sam Reinhart, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Sam Bennett, although the latter is out for the time being with a foot injury.
Gustav Forsling anchors the defense at least in the early going with both Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour out until mid-December at the earliest while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.
And Bobrovsky, who at times willed the Panthers to wins during the postseason, owns the net.
Reinforcements enter the equation as well. Winger Evan Rodrigues, signed to a four-year, $12 million deal this offseason, joins Barkov and Verhaeghe on the top line while Kevin Stenlund and Steven Lorentz will fill four-line roles. Top prospect Mackie Samoskevich, Florida’s first-round pick in 2021, will get early playing time. And five new defensemen — headlined by Oliver Ekman-Larsson — join the roster as well.
“Your depth is proven, but you’re only as deep as [how] hard you can play,” Maurice said. “We can look at the names in the rosters and say, ‘Hey, they’re even deeper this year.’ That’s got nothing to do with how we’ll play. We’re going to prove it every night if we can get the same level of intensity in our game.”
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