Right after the Florida Panthers captured the Stanley Cup for a second straight year, Matthew Tkachuk said on Sportsnet “this is such a special group. We’ve got to be a dynasty now.’’
Dynasty.
It is a word in hockey that is not to be taken lightly.
The last true dynasty came four decades ago.
There were the Edmonton Oilers, who won the Stanley Cup five times in seven years with two back-to-back championship seasons.
The Oilers’ first championship came in 1984 when Wayne Gretzky’s bunch ended the four-year title run of the New York Islanders who won it all from 1980-83.
The Islanders are the last NHL team to win the Stanley Cup three straight years — something the Panthers are trying to do this coming season.
Those Islanders featured Denis Potvin, Mike Bossy, Bill Smith — and had the best late season acquisition before Brad Marchand in Butch Goring.
New York won 16 consecutive playoff series en route to the four Stanley Cup championships and three more series the following season before bowing out to Edmonton.
No professional sports team in America has won four consecutive championships since.
In the seasons immediately before the Islanders’ run, a Scotty Bowman coached Montreal team, with Guy Lafleur and Larry Robinson, won the Stanley Cup four straight times.
Going back to the Original Six era, Toronto won the Cup three consecutive years in the 60s, Montreal won it five straight in the late 50s, and Gordie Howe’s Detroit Red Wings won four in six years before that.
Those teams had a few advantages over today’s teams.
In 1979-80, there were only 21 teams, no salary cap and free agency was severely restricted.
Unrestricted free agency and the salary cap did not begin until after the 2004-05 lockout.
Prior to that season, wealthy teams could stockpile expensive talent, and they were less likely to lose top performers after winning the Stanley Cup.
Since the start of the salary cap and unrestricted free agency, only Detroit, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, and now the Panthers, have won the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons.
Yet no team could get the elusive third Cup, much less a fourth one to equal the Islanders’ dynasty years.
Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup twice during the Covid-shortened 2019-20 and 2021 seasons.
A flat salary cap due to Covid hit the Lightning hard.
Key players were lost due to rising salaries but no place to put them.
The Lightning lost Barclay Goodrow, Blake Coleman, and Tyler Johnson.
Florida was a beneficiary of Tampa Bay’s cap issues, getting Carter Verhaeghe on the cheap in 2020 when the Lightning could not afford to make him a qualifying offer allowing him to become a free agent.
In 2022, the Lightning went to the Final for a third straight year — it lost to the Avalanche — and eventually lost Steven Stamkos, Ryan McDonagh, and Corey Perry to further weaken its team and inhibit a chance to be a dynasty.
The fact that the Panthers were able to retain most of their key personnel after back-to-back Cups is unprecedented in the salary cap era.
Nate Schmidt was the only Cup regular lost, and Bill Zito was quick to replace him with another veteran, Jeff Petry.
Being able to re-sign Aaron Ekblad, Sam Bennett, and Marchand to long-term deals was a stroke of salary cap magic — but a stroke the Tampa Bay Lightning did not have.
The salary cap is on the rise, and it comes at a great time for the Panthers as well as many other teams around the league to keep their players from leaving.
Florida is, per PuckPedia, almost $4 million over this year’s cap ceiling of $95.5 million.
Next year, the cap goes to $104 million.
With Tkachuk almost certain to miss the start of the season after surgery next month, the Panthers will be covered at least temporarily.
When Tkachuk returns, however, the Panthers will have to make some moves unless one of their other heavy hitters is hurt. A trade or two may be coming during the season.
We’ll see.
Both Evan Rodrigues and Eetu Luostarinen earn $3 million and have contracts which expire in two years. Zito may have to reluctantly part with one.
The good news is that except for Sergei Bobrovsky, who is in the last year of his seven-year deal, the remaining core players are all locked up long term.
The Florida Panthers have the best chance at a dynasty of any team in the 21st century.
The core defense of Ekblad, Gus Forsling, and Seth Jones are under contract to 2030 and beyond. Niko Mikkola probably gets a new contract soon, and Dmitry Kulikov also has years left.
When it comes to Florida’s forwards, they are locked down as well.
Sasha Barkov, Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Bennett, Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell, and Marchand are all under contract for at least the next five seasons.
When the Panthers take the ice for the opening night festivities on October 7, the only players missing from the team which clinched the Cup on June 17 will be Schmidt and backup goalie Vitek Vanecek.
And probably Tkachuk.
But that’s it.
Zito made the right moves.
Will the Florida Panthers become an NHL dynasty?
Time will tell, but things certainly look good.
Very, very good.
More FHN Coverage of the Stanley Cup Champion Panthers:
2024 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS 2025
FLORIDA PANTHERS
UP NEXT
