Florida Panthers' Rise to Hockey Dominance Explained

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00:00It's pretty impressive the way you break it down, too,

00:02because certainly not a strong bet of hockey over the past 20 to 30 years in Florida.

00:06Now it's starting to change there.

00:08We have multiple cups between Tampa and now Florida,

00:10and it's a combination of get your draft picks in there,

00:14make shrewd free agent decisions, hire a really good head coach,

00:17and there you go, three straight cup runs.

00:19But this Stanley Cup final looked like it was unbelievable to start here.

00:23The first four games, three of those in overtime,

00:25and then it just felt like the Florida Panthers starting to turn that vice grip.

00:29What did you get out of the series?

00:31And maybe what were some of the changes that Florida made to really say,

00:34you know what, we're going to hold down that high-powered offense.

00:36We are the better club here.

00:38Yeah, something that I was looking at heading into this series

00:42is how much did the Edmonton Oilers learn from last year being down 3-0, coming back?

00:47You know, there was some similarities there between McDavid and, say,

00:50history with Gretzky in his first cup, losing, getting the same team the next year, winning.

00:55Same thing with Sidney Crosby.

00:56Could McDavid get over that hump as well?

00:58But also, on the flip side, what did the Florida Panthers learn from that series being up early

01:03and then letting Edmonton back in it?

01:06Something that I really noticed is the dominance, the way that they started the hockey games,

01:10from games 3-6, 9-0 was the score for the Florida Panthers in the first period of those games.

01:17They outshot them, in terms of shot attempts, 95-53.

01:20So they got up early, they had the pedal down,

01:22and they didn't let Edmonton back into those games.

01:25And I mentioned how deep this team was offensively.

01:28The third line with Marchand, Luce Durant, and Lindell among the leaders in road points and 5-5 points.

01:33To get nearly 60 points from your third line and 40-plus on the road is spectacular.

01:39But how about the defense?

01:40I mentioned the plus 39 goal differential, and certainly Borowski was fantastic when he needed to be.

01:45But shout-out to Alexander Barkov.

01:48Gustav Forsling is one of the better defensive defensemen in the league.

01:51McDavid, one goal, two points at 5-5.

01:55Austin Matthews in the series, one goal.

01:58Nikita Kucherov, zero goals.

02:00You go back to last year's playoff against Lightning, zero goals in two series.

02:04So this team is talked about offensively, what they can bring to the table.

02:07I mentioned those six players with 20-plus points throughout the playoffs.

02:10But also defensively, just locking players down.

02:14They played just a perfect brand of hockey.

02:17They were opportunistic on the power play.

02:20They killed penalties.

02:21They're relentless on the forecheck.

02:23It's a very impressive squad.

02:26They have the cap space over the next couple years to bring back Sam Bennett.

02:29Maybe bring back Aaron Ekblad.

02:30Potentially Brad Marchand on the cheap if he wants to go for another cup, his third of his career.

02:35And would be three in a row for the Panthers.

02:38So very impressive.

02:39And what you mentioned to me as well with the trades, this is a team that made a lot of trades.

02:45Like, sure, they drafted Barkoff, but they traded for Reinhardt.

02:48They traded for Verhage.

02:50They traded for Seth Jones and Brad Marchand.

02:53They made a lot of – Matthew Kachuk turned the franchise around.

02:56That was a massive trade.

02:57And then you mentioned the hiring there of Paul Maurice.

03:00So credit to Zito and company.

03:02They made a lot of moves.

03:03That paid off because typically, you know, you're seeing teams try to spend through free agency.

03:08But they did it a different way.

03:10And, like, they're in the dynasty conversation at least.

03:13Pretty much.

03:14Pretty much.

03:15Good.

03:15Pretty much.

03:16Pretty much.

03:16I believe it a little bit, a little bit.

03:18Just.

03:18Really.

03:19Did it some gay friends to serve her?

03:20You know, that's fine.

03:21My girl.

03:22I never did it.

03:22It's fine.

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