Panthers eager to begin bid to repeat as Stanley Cup champions

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The shortest offseason in Florida Panthers history ended Wednesday with the defending Stanley Cup champions reporting for training camp and captain Aleksander Barkov saying it’s time to get back to work.

After all, the Panthers want to party with the Cup again next summer.

“I think we knew it was going to be a short offseason for us, but that is what everyone wants,” Barkov said. “Everyone wants to play right to the end, wants to play in the [Stanley Cup] Final, wants to win the Cup. Right now, everyone is really excited. The guys who have been here for a while and the new guys are all on the same page. We’re all excited for the new opportunity, the challenge in front of us.”

As for that challenge of repeating as champions, forward Matthew Tkachuk said, “I just want to make the playoffs, give ourselves a chance. That’s all you can ask for. Come up with a good start, try to ride the momentum that we had to finish last season. We’re the only team who won their last game in June.”

The Panthers won their first Stanley Cup championship by defeating the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 of the Final on June 24. Florida spent most of what was left of its offseason celebrating the championship, even taking the Cup for a dip in the Atlantic Ocean before players traveled around the globe with it.

When the team steps onto the ice Thursday morning for the first practice of camp, there will be plenty of familiar faces and a few new ones. A day after the Panthers celebrated the championship with a parade down State Road A1A along Fort Lauderdale Beach, they began losing key players in free agency. Defensemen Brandon Montour (Seattle Kraken) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Toronto Maple Leafs), forwards Vladimir Tarasenko (Detroit Red Wings), Ryan Lomberg (Calgary Flames) and Kevin Stenlund (Utah Hockey Club), and backup goalie Anthony Stolarz (Maple Leafs) signed elsewhere.

Florida was busy throughout July adding replacements, signing forwards Tomas Nosek (New Jersey Devils), A.J. Greer (Flames), and Jesper Boqvist (Boston Bruins), among others, to try to rebuild the fourth line. Defensemen Nate Schmidt (Winnipeg Jets) and Adam Boqvist (Columbus Blue Jackets), who each had the final season of his contract bought out by his previous team, signed on with hopes of helping the Panthers win another championship.

Schmidt played for Panthers coach Paul Maurice with the Jets during the 2021-22 season and said being able to play for him again was a factor in signing with Florida.

“I am pretty blessed to be here, given how things have gone,” Schmidt said. “With Paul and myself, I felt totally energized by him when I had him there my first year in Winnipeg, just his style and how he treats players … and how he gets the most out of a group. It was a pretty quick decision on my part. When I was going through the free agency process, I had this place highlighted as somewhere I really wanted to go.”

Adam Boqvist said being bought out by the Blue Jackets just before free agency opened was a surprise. He signed with the Panthers on July 9, eight days after brother Jesper did.

“It was a hectic summer,” Adam Boqvist said. “I didn’t think I was going to get bought out and, right before free agency started, I got the call. Eventually Florida came up. You want to be on a winning team and, after speaking with (general manager) Bill Zito, everything just felt good. First and foremost, I just want to make this team. I want to live in the moment, but this team and this organization, this is a great place to play hockey.”

Maurice is known for running a tough training camp, especially during the first few days. He said Wednesday that he had a peaceful summer, mostly spent at his Canadian cottage, which is so far out in the wilderness that there is very little cellphone service.

That’s just the way Maurice likes it.

“It was wonderful,” Maurice said. “Exactly what I needed. I was walking around the first week of August, turned to my wife and said ‘All right, I’m ready to go back. I’m ready to get going.’ I got all the time I needed.”

Though Maurice acknowledged more Stanley Cup-related events are to come -- the Panthers will get their championship rings and raise their banner on Oct. 8, when they open the regular season against the Bruins -- he said it’s time to move on.

“We’ll make very sure that our day is completely focused on what we’re doing,” Maurice said of Thursday, “and not living in the past. … We all have a job to do and want to do it at a very high level. We won’t spend any time thinking about Week Three of camp, or opening night, or what that will look like. We’ll just deal with Day One at camp and make sure that we’re right.”

If there is a Stanley Cup hangover, Maurice hopes to get it out of his team starting Thursday.

The Panthers don’t think that will be a problem.

“It has come down from the original high, but that is something you work your whole life towards,” forward Sam Reinhart said. “It’s always going to be there, that accomplishment will always be in the back of your mind. But we are competitors and are eager to put ourselves in position to win it again. There are a lot of little details which started early in the summer and officially start tomorrow.”