Extended playoff runs have been a boon for Florida Panthers both on and off the ice
As the Florida Panthers gathered around the Prince of Wales trophy after winning the Eastern Conference final on Saturday to return to the Stanley Cup Final for a second consecutive year, a sold-out crowd at Amerant Bank Arena rose to its feet.
“We want the Cup! We want the Cup!” they bellowed.
The chant surely brought a smile to Matt Caldwell’s face. Caldwell had hoped moments like these would come when he joined the organization in 2014 as chief operating officer before being promoted to president and CEO two years later.
Those hopes have finally come to fruition. The Panthers have been to the Stanley Cup playoffs each of the past five seasons and are now heading back to the Stanley Cup Final and will play the Edmonton Oilers, with Game 1 scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday at Amerant Bank Arena.
“I’m an optimistic guy,” Caldwell told the Miami Herald, “but if someone would have told me that, I would have thought it was a dream. We were staring down the barrel of some empty arenas and some tough times on the ice.”
And the Panthers are reaping the benefits off the ice as well as on the ice. Attendance and season-ticket holder numbers are at an all-time high. There’s a noticeable buzz both inside and outside the arena. Fan support is palpable.
Caldwell remains steadfast that this moment would come. Seeing it actually happen, he says, is a sign to the total commitment from the organization, from ownership to the front office to the players and coaches.
“We always knew if we built it, they would come,” Caldwell said. “And it’s got to be consistent performance. It can’t just be one or two good years here and there. These last four years in particular and the deep runs the last two years, you just feel it all building.”
Impact felt inside and outside arena
How can one quantify how the Panthers’ on ice success has translated to success off the ice and with business operations?
You can look at attendance. The Panthers averaged a single-season high 18,632 fans in the regular season and had 17 sellouts. They followed that up by selling out all nine of their playoff games to this point, which brings the total attendance this season entering the Stanley Cup Final to 940,988 with anywhere from two to four more home games left to be played.
You can look at ticket revenue, which is up 20.6 percent increase from the 2022-2023 season and 50 percent from the 2021-2022 season, according to data shared with the Miami Herald. The Panthers’ allotment of season-tickets for the lower bowl were sold out before the season began and they already an all-time high of season-ticket renewals for next season.
“They’re the lifeblood of our franchise,” Caldwell said.
You can look at the sponsors that have joined the franchise over the past few years. JetBlue has been a mainstay. Amerant Bank bought the arena naming rights. Publix joined this year. LaCroix and AutoNation have jersey patches for home and away games, respectively.
Or you can look at how the Panthers’ success is being seen beyond the arena.
Youth hockey participation is on the rise. The Panthers now have three locations with ice in Broward County — Amerant Bank Arena, the IceDen in Coral Springs and the newly opened Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale.
“The night of games, you can feel the energy,” Caldwell said, “but there’s many other days outside those events. To see the IceDen in Coral Springs packed, to see the new IcePlex packed for youth hockey, for figure skating, watch parties, it’s great to bring the brand outside the building.”
And it’s not just Caldwell recognizing the growth.
Panthers general manager Bill Zito, who is finishing his fourth season with the organization, said there were times early on in his tenure with the team that he would be able to walk his dog and no one would say a word to him.
“Now,” Zito said, “the neighbors know you who are.
“As someone who grew up loving the game and never really ever playing — never having played in the NHL — to see it around and to see the fans and to hear from your friends ‘Oh, I went and I couldn’t get in because it was packed’ ... it’s wonderful. It’s really exciting for the game.”
‘A model franchise’
But for Florida to get to the point, they needed to put a viable, consistently productive product on the ice.
Since Zito arrived, the Panthers have done just that. He overhauled Florida’s roster bit by bit, player by player, to make the roster one of the deepest in the NHL and one that plays a gritty, structured, defensive-oriented style of hockey that can win in the big moments.
“If you win and you build a good program, you create an expanded fan base that isn’t necessarily then going to fluctuate with wins and losses all the time,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “You have to, over time, play an exciting game of hockey. But I’d like to feel that we’re part of something with deep enough roots that we would be considered a model franchise.”
Two Panthers players in particular, like Caldwell have seen that full evolution first-hand over the past decade.
Captain Aleksander Barkov has been with the Panthers since 2013. Defenseman Aaron Ekblad joined one year later in 2014.
They endured a lot of low points, including missing out on the playoffs in six of seven seasons (and being eliminated in the first round the one year they did qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2016), before this run of consistency the past five seasons.
“It was a long time coming,” Ekblad said. “It wasn’t easy those first few years and there was a lot of learning and growing and experiences — new GMs and new coaches. That revolving door was tough, right? You’re trying to learn as a young player in this league and I had a lot of great mentors along the way. The fact that we’re at this point now where the expectation is to make the playoffs and the expectation is to challenge for championships is a really cool thing. It’s a cool feeling.”
Barkov added: “My first few years as an individual, I was just trying to make sure I made the team. I’m fortunate that I was a Panther since Day 1. Now, ever since that, I felt like it would be nice to have a good team and to play really well and make the playoffs and make some runs. The last few years have been that. It’s the best time of my life right now. I’m enjoying every single day and making these playoff runs. We have the ultimate goal here in front of us and we’re working really hard every single day to achieve that.”
Now they, just like Caldwell, are able to smile as they reflect back on the journey it took to get here.
“We always had faith,” Caldwell said, :but to see it all come together now, it’s been 10 years in the making and a lot of blood, sweat and tears.”
This story was originally published June 3, 2024 at 2:05 PM.
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