‘They are the fabric’: How the Panthers built a core group that has taken team to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals

FORT LAUDERDALE — The Panthers went 15-27-6 in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season and received the second pick in that year’s draft via the lottery. The results were better than they could have hoped.

With that pick, Florida selected a Finnish center, Aleksander Barkov. With that pick, the Panthers started building the foundation with a core group of players that has taken the franchise to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals and turned Sunrise into a hockey town.

“They are the fabric, they are the core, they are the identity,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “Their personalities are the room. The distance this franchise has covered over three or four years is based on the distance their games have covered, the leadership that they have shown and then grown into. They are the reason that we’re here.”

The group of Florida players at the heart of the two Stanley Cup Final appearances have played more than 200 games together over the last two seasons. They have spent months together — from the start of training camp each September through the end of the postseason in June.

The core of Panthers players came together gradually. In 2014, Florida had the No. 1 pick in the draft and selected defenseman Aaron Ekblad. The Buffalo Sabres were up next, and they picked forward Sam Reinhart. Two picks later, the Calgary Flames selected forward Sam Bennett.

Although Reinhart and Bennett started their careers up north, both found their way to South Florida via trade in 2021. Coincidentally, the No. 3 pick in that year’s draft belonged to Edmonton, and the Oilers picked star forward and current Panthers nemesis Leon Draisaitl.

Other key players such as Sergei Bobrovsky, Carter Verhaeghe, Matthew Tkachuk, Gustav Forsling and Brandon Montour were later additions via trades, free agency or in Forsling’s case, waivers. Florida general manager Bill Zito, who joined the team in 2020, brought in Maurice as the team’s coach before the 2022-23 season, putting the finishing touch on that year’s eventual Stanley Cup runner-up.

“We’re a really close group, and we’ve been through a lot together,” Bennett said.

The core group of Panthers have already installed themselves in the franchise’s record books. Barkov and Ekblad are Nos. 1 and 2 in most games played in franchise history. Barkov has the most goals and assists in team history. Reinhart is eighth in goals; Verhaeghe is ninth and Ekblad is 10th. Forsling is the franchise leader in plus-minus, and Bobrovsky is second in wins.

Naturally, after two of the franchise’s three deepest playoff runs, the current group of stars is all over the team’s postseason record books.  Verhaeghe has the most goals, while Barkov has the most assists and points. The top eight point-scorers in franchise playoff history are part of this core of players.

Monday night’s Game 7 marks the end of this year’s journey, and the group that has gotten the Panthers here may be about to split up. Reinhart and 10 other Panthers are unrestricted free agents and could be suiting up for new teams come next fall.

“Every year, there’s so much turnover,” Reinhart said. “Our situation’s not any different. I think no matter what position you are (in), you want to maximize the opportunities you have with this group because it’s never going to be the same. This group’s no different.”