There are are four season in hockey: The preseason, the regular season, the playoffs and, finally, the offseason when teams retool to do it all over again. Three down, one to go.
The Florida Panthers stamped themselves as an indomitable force on Tuesday night, knocking off the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 to lift their second straight Stanley Cup in their third consecutive trip to the final. If that doesn’t fit your description as a dynasty, don’t discount the Panthers’ ability to win a third next year. They’ve got something special going on in South Florida, and the rest of the league will be spending the next couple of months trying to figure out a way to knock them off their perch.
As we put the on-ice portion of the 2024-25 season to bed, here are a few lingering thoughts:
* For diehard Bruins fans, it was relatively easy to root for Brad Marchand on his quest for a second Stanley Cup. Now comes the hard part.
Marchand has still not played against his old team and the fondness for the former captain could wear off quickly once he does. The question now is which uniform he’ll be wearing when he does. The Panthers may have a little bit of an advantage to re-sign him with the no state tax benefit. GM Bill Zito could also offer him a fourth year to keep the cap hit down. But they also have to sign Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad, both higher priorities considering their age. And with approximately $19 million in cap space (per puckpedia.com), it would be tough to get all three signed.
All signs point to Marchand saying “Thanks for everything” and moving on to a big, final payday. And after playing for seven-plus years on a team-friendly deal for the Bruins, he’s earned it.
But where will he end up? A certain team north of the border whose GM has already said his club needs DNA change – the Toronto Maple Leafs – makes a lot of sense. With Mitch Marner apparently headed for free agency, the Leafs will have room to give Marchand the raise he wanted over the $6.125 million he’s been making since the 2016-17 season.
While he wouldn’t be the captain, he could walk into the room with gravitas of a two-time Stanley Cup champion, giving Leafs’ management exactly what it is looking for. He seamlessly joined the Panthers’ lineup and immediately became part of their leadership core, but they were all naturally on the same page already. The task in Toronto would be a little different. Even though the Leafs took Florida to seven games, it didn’t feel like that after the Panthers blew them out in Toronto in Games 5 and 7. They’re looking for a culture change, and if anyone can assist in that, it would be Marchand.
Marchand will have offers from which to choose. But Toronto keeps him relatively close to his folks in Nova Scotia. And landing in Toronto could also set him up for a post-playing career in television is he wants it. He’s a natural.
* Goaltending is vital. That much has made clear, yet again, in this Edmonton-Florida series. Yes, the Panthers may have a deeper roster than Edmonton, especially with the loss of Zach Hyman and the diminished capacity of Mattias Ekholm on the back end. But they have two perennial Hart Trophy candidates in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Whether they’re on different lines or loaded up on one, they’re a handful. The Oilers crushed Vegas and Dallas, both legitimate contenders and both dispatched in five. The result of the final was hardly a fait accompli.
But Florida’s decided edge was in net, with Sergei Bobrovsky towering over what was the tandem-by-default of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard. One of the defining moments of the series came in Game 6, when Edmonton still had a faint heartbeat, down just 2-0. Carter Verhaeghe soft-tossed a long-distance wrister on net and, with no screen in front of him, Skinner inexplicably blockered the puck into space. Sasha Barkov pounced, banked it off Sam Reinhart and the series was as good as over.
But beyond the high-danger shots that Bobrovsky stops, it’s the confidence that the reliable puck-stopper gives his teammates that allows them to play their relentless, attacking style of play.
As for every team, there will be changes in Edmonton, though the Oilers don’t need to be blown up. But getting a real No. 1 goalie is imperative.
* So what are they going to do about it? There will probably be speculation about a Jeremy Swayman trade until his no-move clause kicks before the 2026-27 season. One would think that Edmonton would make a call to the B’s soon, if they haven’t already. But if I’m Don Sweeney, my ask starts at No. 97 and ends at No. 29. And unless some crazy and unforeseen thing happens, Edmonton is not giving up McDavid or Draisaitl. With all due respect to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, a 32-year-old second-line center for a No. 1 goalie (which Swayman started to look like again in the World Championships) is not a great deal. Nothing else on the Edmonton roster comes close to getting the deal done, at least to these eyes. And dealing Swayman to the Oilers would put the B’s on the chase for another No. 1 goalie.
With how the season went for the B’s, nothing is off the table, especially an asset unencumbered by a no-move clause like Swayman is for another year. I just don’t see a fit for a deal with Edmonton.
* The selection of Sam Bennett as Conn Smythe Trophy winner, awarded to the top performer in the playoffs, was not exactly controversial, but the vote was pretty darn close. Bennett, who led the playoffs with 15 goals (12 on the road, an NHL record), took away 11 of 18 first place votes. Marchand grabbed the other seven first place votes and all of the remaining second place votes. Five points were given to first-place votes, three points to a second place votes and one point for a third place vote. That allowed Bennett to squeak out the 76-68 win on points.
* It may be silly to think one game in October can knock an entire season off its rails. But watching Trent Frederic trying to land a hit on Matthew Tkachuk in Game 6, it was hard not think back to the Bruins’ season opener in Sunrise when Frederic chased Tkachuk all around the rink, to no avail. The B’s, who believed they had made some necessary changes to better battle the Panthers, got walloped in that game and were never really right.
That season-opener felt like an era ago. And, in many ways, it was.
