'A well-oiled machine': How the Florida Panthers' team-first mentality led to another Stanley Cup

SUNRISE, Fla. — Aleksander Barkov hoisted the Stanley Cup, skated with it for a few moments and then handed it to a grinning Nate Schmidt, in his first year with the Florida Panthers and raising hockey's hallowed trophy for the first time. Before any repeat winner touched it, every Panther who never had before got the chance.

''There's a lot of guys they play a ton of minutes that are huge contributors to this group, and they bypassed them and said: ‘We had it last year. We'll never not cherish this moment,''' Schmidt said. ''It was amazing.''

It also personified the Panthers, who did not have the best player in the final, not facing Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers again. They may not have even had the second-best with Leon Draisaitl there, too, but Florida repeating as champions showed exactly why hockey is the ultimate team sport.

''We just have so much heart, so much talent: Heart meets talent,'' said winger Matthew Tkachuk, who played through a sports hernia and torn adductor muscle. ''Our team was a team. When things were getting hard for them, they looked to one guy. But our team, we do it collectively.''

The Panthers had 19 non-goalies on the ice over six games against the Oilers; 15 registered a point and 11 scored at least once. Coach Paul Maurice said the team is ''just really deep — unusually so,'' making the point that he essentially had three first lines to roll out at any given time.

''A very talented group of guys, so when you bring somebody in, we're going to play you with a really good player,'' Maurice said.

General manager Bill Zito, who inherited Barkov, defenseman Aaron Ekblad and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, built the rest of the roster to win in the playoffs. With Maurice and his staff in charge, players who were adrift or simply mediocre elsewhere thrived in Florida.

''For the most part, every guy who's come here has had the best season of their careers,'' Zito said. ''From that perspective, it's gratifying to think that we can create an environment where the guys can do that, but it's the team. It's that room. It truly is.''

Fourth-liner A.J. Greer is one of those players after nearly giving up on his NHL dream a few years ago. He, Zito, Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett and so many others use the word ''culture'' to explain the Panthers' greatness, and it translates into results on the ice. The forecheck is never-ending, the harassment in the neutral zone relentless — and the offense burgeoning with talent.

''Everyone levels their game up here — every one of us,'' Greer said. ''There's a sentiment of greatness but of just like wanting to be as good as you were yesterday.''

Tkachuk, acquired by Zito in a trade from Calgary in the same summer of 2022 when Maurice was hired as coach, shook his head when asked about scoring the Cup-clinching goal in Game 6. He wanted to make a point that it doesn't matter who scores.

''I don't care about personal stats,'' Tkachuk said. "I don't care. Our team doesn't (care) about that. That's what makes us a team, and that's why we're lifting the Stanley Cup right now because we're a team and not a bunch of individuals.''

McDavid, who had seven points in six games in the final, had nothing but praise after a second straight loss to the Panthers on the NHL's biggest stage.

''They're a really good team," McDavid said. ''Very deserving. They were really good.''

Florida was in the final for a third consecutive year, and the only loss during this stretch came to Vegas in 2023 when injuries ravaged Tkachuk, Ekblad and others. That was the start of the winning blueprint that has made the Panthers so successful for so long.

''There's a way that we do things here, and it's not easy,'' said Bennett, who led all players in the playoffs with 15 goals. ''We don't play an easy style of hockey. It demands a lot of you. Every single guy's bought into it. When some new guys came in, they instantly bought into what we do here and the commitment to being great, to winning. Every single guy just really bought into that.''

Schmidt found that out quickly. He played for Maurice in Winnipeg, got bought out last summer and just wanted to get his game back. That happened quickly, and the Stanley Cup was the reward after going through another long grind as a team.

''It's the system. It's the group. It's just completely selfless," Schmidt said. ''Guys just play one way, and they say, ‘Hey, this is how we do things' and you've got to jump on board. Guys, once they mold themselves into the game, you just become another cog in the wheel here. That's just the way it runs. It's just a well-oiled machine.''

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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl