By Luke Sims -
The Florida Panthers built a 3-0 series lead over the Edmonton Oilers because they are one of the most complete teams in the league and dominated the playoffs (15-6). They have stars all over the ice and have used a combination of trades, draft picks, and free agents to put together a Stanley Cup team.
The Panthers transformed their old core into a revitalized team that made a surprise run to the Stanley Cup last season and a legit run to the finals this year with some more additions.
So, what can the Minnesota Wild learn from how the Panthers assembled their roster that allowed them to make it to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals?
1. Be Bold
Bill Guerin doesn’t necessarily need more encouragement on this front. Guerin is not shy about making large franchise-altering moves like buying out Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, and he’s often aggressive during the draft or at the trade deadline.
Florida hasn’t been shy about making big moves, either. Let’s go back to summer 2021. From April 10 to July 24, the Panthers made three monumental trades.
In the first move, the Panthers sent a third-round pick to the Buffalo Sabers for Brandon Montour. The streaky offensive defenseman has become a cornerstone for Florida’s powerplay and blueline. The next move was to get Sam Bennett, the fourth-overall pick in 2014, a change of scenery. Bennett had hit a wall in Calgary, and the Panthers saw untapped potential in him.
A prospect and a second-round pick was all it took to acquire their second-line center. The last trade in this string was to move a first-rounder and a good goalie prospect for former second-overall pick Sam Reinhart from Buffalo. Reinhart’s contract was expiring, and he needed a change of scenery. The Panthers ponied up and gave him a three-year, $19.5 million deal, and Reinhart had 57 goals this year.
That summer netted the Panthers their power play specialist and second-pair defender, second-line center, and first-line winger. Not to mention, they were all key contributors in both Cup runs.
The following summer, the Panthers took another big swing. They traded a franchise cornerstone in Jonathan Huberdeau and some other fun things like players and draft picks for Matthew Tkachuk. Many people scrutinized the Tkachuck deal at the time. But I don’t think anyone doubts that it was a massive win for Florida now. If Alexander Barkov is the team's brain, Tkachuk is the heart. The Panthers are not missing Huberdeau at all.
Florida didn’t stop there, trading for perennial 30 goal-scorer Vladimir Taresenko and veteran Kyle Okposo to stabilize the bottom six. A less aggressive team may not have made these moves, but they are paying off. To chase a Cup, you must be bold and aggressive. The Panthers are proving that.
2. It’s Nice To Get Lucky Sometimes
No one can sit there and honestly tell me they thought that Carter Verhaeghe and Gustav Forsling would be as good as they have become. Forsling was a guy that the Panthers claimed off of waivers when he was 24 years old after bouncing between the AHL and NHL. Now, he’s the defensive anchor on the top pair of a Cup team. Good on Florida’s scouting department for finding him, but they got much more than they could have hoped with the Forsling claim.
Verhaeghe is another crucial cog in Florida’s top six. This is a guy who did not sniff the NHL until he was 23. After winning a Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, he moved further south and just started scoring. Verhaeghe was never a true standout scorer until his last year in juniors and again in his last year in the AHL. Again, good on the Panthers’ scouting department for identifying a guy who was being undervalued by his team. Still, I doubt anyone thought Verhaeghe would blow up into a 40-goal scorer and two-time 70-point player.
The Wild may have gotten lucky with guys like Ryan Hartman, who finally found a home in Minnesota. However, Kirill Kaprizov is due a ton of credit there. You could say that the Zach Bogosian and Jake Middleton deals have turned out better than expected, but nothing like what Florida experienced.
The Panthers found a 40-goal top-six winger and the league’s best defensive defensemen for next to nothing.
3. Having Center Depth Is Nice
The Panthers are blessed to have three capable top-six centers. Anton Lundell is a young player who is currently Florida’s third-line center. He’d be a darn good second-line center on almost any other team. Bennett is a guy who just does everything for the Panthers and has a little more experience. Either way, any team would want those two playing behind Sasha Barkov.
The Wild have a less offensively-inclined Barkov in Joel Eriksson Ek. Marco Rossi slots behind him, and he has a ton of potential. However, the Wild are looking to move on from him if the right deal comes along. The Wild still has Danila Yurov in Russia. He could play center and will be in the NHL after this season. Having a ton of good centers doesn’t hurt! Maybe Marat Khusnutdinov can turn it around offensively with more time on North American ice.
The Wild have a good pool of centers, but the Panthers have a deadly trio led by one of the best in the world. There’s a reason one team is trying to hoist the Cup, and the other team is hoisting a cup on the couch.
All stats and data via CapFriendly (R.I.P.) unless otherwise noted.
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