FORT LAUDERDALE — Less than 24 hours after celebrating their Stanley Cup win with a parade in Fort Lauderdale, Panthers GM Bill Zito was back to work as the 2024 NHL free agency period officially opened.

 

Zito was able to secure extensions with forward Sam Reinhart on an eight-year max contract, carrying an AAV of $8.625M and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov on a four-year contract with a $1.15M AAV.

 

Reinhart’s extension was completed prior to the June 30, midnight deadline — allowing the Panthers to extend him on a max term deal.

 

While there was happiness with retaining Reinhart and Kulikov, the Panthers had to say goodbye to a handful of players from their Stanley Cup winning team; with Brandon Montour, Ryan Lomberg, Kevin Stenlund, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Anthony Stolarz all leaving after the free agency market opened at noon ET on Monday, 

 

Montour got the biggest deal, signing a seven-year, $7.14M per season contract with the Seattle Kraken. Fourth-line center and PK specialist Kevin Stenlund is joining the new Utah HC on a two-year deal and fan favorite Ryan Lomberg also signed for two years as he returns to the Calgary Flames. Ekman-Larsson and Stolarz will both remain in the division — joining the Toronto Maple Leafs.

 

“That’s the difficult part of the job,” Zito said when asked how difficult it was to not bring back Lomberg. “It’s a bigger thing than me in many ways. It’s part of the family, all the guys and everybody has a role, so it’s hard.”

 

Trying to fill the holes of their Cup winning departures, the Panthers signed forwards Tomas Nosek and Jesper Boqvist to one-year, $775K deals and A.J. Greer to a two-year, $850K per season contract.

 

“Tomas is an experienced veteran forward who plays a strong two-way game,” said Zito. “We are looking forward to him joining our club for the upcoming campaign.”

 

“A.J. is an effective forward who utilizes his size and strength at both ends of the ice,” said Zito. “We are excited to welcome him to South Florida.”

 

Florida also brought back goaltender Chris Driedger as a third goalie option on a one-year deal. Drieder spent two seasons with the Panthers ( 2019-20 to 2020-2021), posting a 21-8-4 record, .931 save percentage and 2.07 goals against average before being claimed by the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 expansion draft. 

 

“Chris is a talented, experienced and hard-working goaltender,” Zito said of Driedger.  “We are excited for his return to the Florida Panthers organization.”

 

As for RFA’s, forward Anton Lundell unsurprisingly received a qualifying offer from the Panthers, but the two sides have not come to an agreement on a contract yet.

 

“I won’t talk about discussions (with the Lundell camp) but Anton’s a guy that obviously we like a lot and we want to keep him here,” Zito said when asked about negotiations with Lundell.

 

The club did not send a qualifying offer to defenseman Josh Mahura, who played 30 games last season and all 82 regular season games plus 21 playoff games in 2022-23 with the Panthers. 

 

IN:

 

Sam Reinhart — 8x, $8.625M (EXTENSION)

 

Dmitry Kulikov — 4x, $1.15M (EXTENSION)

 

Tomas Nosek — 1x, $775K

 

A.J. Greer — 2x, $850K

 

Jesper Boqvist — 1x $775K 

 

Chris Driedger

 

OUT:

 

Brandon Montour — Seattle — 7x, $7.14M

 

Kevin Stenlund — Utah — 2x, $2M

 

Ryan Lomberg — Calgary — 2x, $2M

 

Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Toronto —  4x, $3.5M 

 

Anthony Stolarz — Toronto — 2x, $2.5M

 

Unsigned UFAs:

Vladimir Tarasenko

 

Steven Lorentz

Nick Cousins

 

Kyle Okposo 

SUNRISE — For the first time in their 30 year franchise history, the Florida Panthers have won the Stanley Cup.

 

In the winner takes all Game 7, the Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 on Monday night at Amerant Bank Arena, becoming the 2024 Stanley Cup Champions.

Florida didn’t make it easy on themselves, losing three straight games after going up 3-0 in the series — making way for the first Stanley Cup Final Game 7 since 2019. 

 

On Monday night, the Panthers opened the scoring 4:27 into the game  after Carter Verhaeghe beat Stuart Skinner for his 11th goal of the postseason.

 

The Panthers had conceded the opening goal for the past three games.

 

Verhaeghe’s goal got the home crowd buzzing, but Edmonton’s Mattias Janmark silenced the Florida faithful just 2:17 later — beating Sergei Bobrovsky above the blocker on a breakaway.

 

The game remained tied at 1-1 until the final five minutes of the second period, then Florida’s top scorer got them the lead. 

 

Off the rush, Sam Reinhart buried his tenth goal of the postseason shot short side to give Florida a 2-1 lead with 4:49 left in the period. This would end up being the goal to win the Stanley Cup.

 

With the win, the Panthers saved themselves from becoming just the second team in NHL history from blowing a 3-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final (Detroit, 1942 loss to the Leafs).

 

This is also the first Stanley Cup for Panthers head coach Paul Maurice.

EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers lived to fight another day and they did so comfortably on Saturday night at Rogers Place.

 

Trailing 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Final, the Oilers put together their best game of the series, thrashing the Panthers 8-1. 

 

Adam Henrique scored the game winner while Oilers captain Connor McDavid had four three points as broke tWayne Gretzky’s record  for most assists in a single postseason with 32. 

 

McDavid leads all skaters this postseason with 38 points. 

 

Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner played his best game of the series, stopping 32 of the 33 shots he faced.

 

Mattias Janmark, Dylan Holloway, Darnell Nurse, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Ryan McLeod and McDavid also scored for Edmonton.

 

After Darnell Nurse found the back of the net for Edmonton’s fifth goal 4:59 into the second, the Oilers chased Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky from the game — Anthony Stolarz would replace him. 

 

Bobrovsky, who entered Game 4 with a .953 save percentage, had played every minute this postseason for the Panthers up to that point.

 

Stolarz made his NHL playoff debut when he took over the crease. 

 

Vladimir Tarasenko scored the lone goal for the Panthers 11:26 into the first — at that point it was only 2-1 in favor of Edmonton. 

 

The Oilers scored four unanswered goals after Tarasenko had cut their lead to just one.

 

The Panthers will try to win the Cup again on Tuesday at home as the series shifts back down to Sunrise for Game 5 — they hold a 3-1 lead. 

 

Florida is undefeated this playoff after losing an elimination game (2-0).

EDMONTON — After overcoming weather gate, the Florida Panthers were on the ice in Edmonton on Thursday for morning skate at Rogers Place.

 

Holding a 2-0 series lead after winning the first two games of the series in Sunrise, the Panthers look to take build off their strong start as the series switches over to to Western Canada. 

 

The Panthers will have their captain Aleksander Barkov in the lineup on Thursday night.

Barkov left Game 2 with 9:28 left in the game — and did not return after he was hit up high by Oilers forward Leon Draisatl.

Draisaitl received a two minute minor penalty for the elbow to Barkov’s face, but he received no other supplemental discipline.

 

“I think we all know that I’m not a player that plays with intent to injure anybody by any means. I have no track record of that,” Draisaitl said on Thursday when asked about the hit. “I am not a player that enjoys that part of the game — injuring other players or anything like that. I caught him in an unfortunate spot.”

 

Florida will be happy to have their captain back on the ice for Game 3. This year’s Sellke winner is a point-per-game (19 points in 19 games) this postseason and more importantly — he has shut down the opposition’s best skaters. 

 

“He’s the leader of our group,” Sam Reinhart said of Barkov’s return. “It’s never easy when someone like that goes down, especially in a huge part of the game with nine-ten minutes left… I think it shows to the character of him and how bad he wants it as well to get back.” 

The Oilers have a few guys who have bumps and bruises; Evander Kane and Darnell Nurse being two of those. Head coach Kris Knoblauch did not give any update on what he plans to do with his lineup for Game 3. 

 

Vladimir Tarasenko will also be in the lineup for the Panthers after missing practice on Wednesday with a “minor thing.”

 

Other than some line shuffling, the Panthers will roll the same players that they’ve had since the Cup Final started. 

 

Evan Rodrigues will be on the top line with Barkov and Reinhart, while Carter Verhaeghe will slide down and play with Bennett and Tkachuk.

“I think we have a certain style that we like to play and I think when they switch the lines a little bit we switch them for a reason,” Carter Verhaeghe said. “I’m kind of the same player (no matter the line). I just try to play my game.”

 

As for the Oilers, head coach Kris Knoblauch did not say if they would make any lineup changes for Game 3. They have a few guys who have been playing through injuries, like Darnell Nurse and Evander Kane.

 

Puck drop is at 6 p.m. MT, 8 p.m. ET from Rogers Place in Edmonton. 

 

Projected Panthers lines 

 

Rodrigues- Barkov- Reinhart 

Verhaeghe-Bennett-Tkachuk 

Luostarinen- Lundell-Tarasenko

Lorentz-Stenlund-Okposo

 

Forsling-Ekblad

Mikkola-Montour

Ekman-Larsson – Kulikov

 

Bobrovsky

Stolarz

SUNRISE — The Florida Panthers took a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final after their 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night in Sunrise. 

 

The series will shift to Edmonton for games 3 and 4 — with the Panthers just two wins away from the Stanley Cup. 

 

After conceding on the first shot of the game, Sergei Bobrovsky stopped the next 18 shots he faced, leading his team to their 14th win of the postseason. 

 

Looking to bounce back after their Game 1 loss, the Oilers put themselves in a not so ideal situation early in the game. 

 

9:21 into the first, Oilers forward Warren Foegle was ejected from the game 9:21 into the first period after he was given a major penalty for kneeing Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen.

 

Luostarinen took some time to get up following the hit, but he returned to the ice later in the period. 

 

Florida’s extended power play only lasted 1:37 after Oliver Ekman-Larsson was called for a tripping penalty.

 

On the subsequent 4-on-4, Mattias Ekholm scored the Oilers first goal of the series — on their first shot of the game — 11:17 into the first. 

 

Down 1-0 in the second, Niko Mikkola tied the game 9:34 into period with his second goal of the playoffs.

 

“I think we were pretty god at the start [of the game] — even if we were down one goal,” Mikkola said. “Everybody was calm and trusting the process. We were trusting that we were going to get the chances and I was real lucky, got the one through.”

 

The 1-1 score held into the second intermission.

 

Evan Rodrigues has had himself one heck of a start to his first trip in the Stanley Cup Final. He scored his first career SCF goal in Game 1. He’d one up that on Monday night.

 

Rodrigues gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead 3:11 into the third, scoring his fifth goal of the postseason — this would be the eventual game winner.

 

“It doesn’t matter who it is. We’re looking for wins here,” Rodrigues said. “We’re happy with the results in our first two.”

 

Just about halfway through the third, the Panthers suffered a brutal blow when their captain Aleksander Barkov left the game after taking an elbow to the face/jaw area from Leon Draisatl. 

 

Barkov immediately fell down to the ice and didn’t get up until the trainers came to assist him. He would not return to the game, while Draisaitl was given a two-minute minor penalty on the play. 

 

As for what the Panthers thought of the hit, a few players wouldn’t give a comment post game, while head coach Paul Maurice didn’t vocalize his opinion either. 

 

“This isn’t the Oprah Winfrey show. My feelings don’t matter,” Maurice said.

 

There was no update postgame regarding Barkov’s health.

 

The Panthers quickly rallied despite the loss of their captain — cashing in on the power play from Rodrigues’ second goal of the game. Florida led 3-1 with 7:34 left in the game. 

 

Through the first two games of the series, Rodrigues has more goals (three) than the entire Oilers team has (one). He has 11 points thus far in the playoffs. 

 

Aaron Ekblad iced the game with an empty net goal, his first of the playoffs, as the Panthers walked away with a 4-1 win. 

 

There will be two full days off before Game 3, which will be Thursday, June 13 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.