Panthers have transformed ‘culture’ from cliché into catalyst behind back-to-back Stanley Cup runs

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The term “culture” gets thrown around a lot in sports, and it’s nearly lost all meaning in the process of becoming a cliché. That’s not the case in Florida, where the Panthers have breathed new life into the term while making that culture the backbone of two straight Stanley Cup victories.

No one knows more about that culture than Panthers center Sam Bennett, who was named the 2025 Conn Smythe Trophy winner with 15 goals in 23 games.

“It starts with the culture here,” Bennett said in his postgame press conference. “There’s a way that we do things here, and it’s not easy. We don’t play an easy style of hockey. It demands a lot out of you.”

To Bennett’s point, the Panthers ask a lot of each and every player on the ice. Everyone on the roster must go flat out on the forecheck and backcheck every shift, without exception, to grind the opponent into a fine powder. In the locker room and on the ice, no single player is bigger than the team or the ultimate goal of winning.

The Cats make it look easy, but if that were the case, every team would do it.

Once everyone buys in, however, that selfless commitment to winning and playing for one another is infectious and can become a Fountain of Youth for players and coaches alike. If you need an example, there’s no better place to start than behind the bench.

On Dec. 17, 2021, Paul Maurice resigned as the coach of the Winnipeg Jets, saying the players needed a “new voice.” By his own admission, Maurice was worn down by the time his tenure in Winnipeg ended.

“The Winnipeg people, the ownership and the fans, were better than I was at the end,” Maurice said after winning his second straight Stanley Cup. “I was just no good. I was burnt.”

At that time, Maurice had coached 1,685 games with 775 wins and no Stanley Cups. Maurice said he could “manage” how he perceived his career if that was it, but it wasn’t.

The Panthers came calling in the summer of 2022, and Maurice answered. Three years and two Cups later, Maurice’s enthusiasm for coaching has been restored, and the culture in the Florida locker room is the biggest reason why.

“Watching these guys interact with each other, that’s been the gift to this place,” Maurice said. “That’s been the best thing for me. When you’re burnt out, you are exhausted, cynical and believe you aren’t effective. Those are the three components to it, and that cynicism is real. It was somewhat life-altering this year, to watch the way they treat each other, and I realized I could treat them the same way.”

Maurice, one of the architects of the new culture in Sunrise, is far from the only person who has felt the effects of what the Panthers have built. Just look at some of the players who touched the Cup immediately after captain Aleksander Barkov accepted it from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

Panthers celebrate second straight Stanley Cup championship with epic outing at Fort Lauderdale bar

Chris Bengel

Nate Schmidt, a 33-year-old defenseman, appeared to be on his way out of the NHL when he signed a one-year contract for $800,000 last summer. This postseason, he played an integral role on the blue line while posting 12 points in 23 games.

By the end of his time with the Chicago Blackhawks, Seth Jones‘ reputation as a top-pairing defenseman had taken a serious hit. In just a few months with the Panthers, Jones returned to peak form in a shutdown role.

After Game 6, Maurice said Jones is a “Norris Trophy candidate all day long.”

Schmidt and Jones, along with Tomas Nosek, Vitek Vanecek, A.J. Greer, Jesper Boqvist and Mackie Samoskevich were new to the Cup celebration experience. They were all pushed to the front of the line and lifted Lord Stanley before Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Sergei Bobrovsky and every other Panthers superstar.

Maurice said that celebration was just a glimpse into the Panthers’ locker room culture.

“Those are the small insights for people into this group,” Maurice said. “It doesn’t go captain to captain to captain to Sam Reinhart, who scored four. … All of those guys who touched it first, it was their first Cup. That’s what makes these men special, to be aware of that. They’re just not selfish at all. They don’t need the camera time. There’s no pecking order.”

It was not Brad Marchand‘s first Stanley Cup, but there’s no doubt whatever was in the South Florida Dairy Queen Blizzards had an effect on him. Marchand was still a very good player for the Bruins before his trade deadline day move down to Florida, but he found an elite form in the playoffs.

Marchand finished a close second to Bennett in Conn Smythe Trophy voting after posting 10 goals and 10 assists in the playoffs. Six of those goals came in the Stanley Cup Final. It was some of the finest hockey of the 37-year-old’s career.

Bennett credited each new addition for buying into the Panthers’ culture without hesitation.

“They instantly bought into this, what we do here, and the commitment to being great and winning,” Bennett said. “Every single guy just bought into that. It starts with the culture, but the character of the guys, that’s why we’re able to do this.”

Of course, team leaders like Bennett are the cultivators and caretakers of that culture. The toughness and commitment to winning from the Panthers’ top players became evident shortly after their Game 6 win.

• Tkachuk battled back from a torn abductor muscle that came clean off the bone, along with “some hernia thing,” to score the game-winning goal in Game 6.
• Barkov suffered a hand laceration in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final and still managed to shut down the Oilers‘ two superstars in the rest of the playoffs.
• Reinhart scored four goals in a legendary Cup-clinching performance while playing through a Grade 2 MCL sprain.

Culture is a tough thing to evaluate because it can’t be quantified like goals, scoring chances or save percentage. It only gets harder to measure when you consider that the word has become pablum in the NHL and other professional sports.

In Sunrise, culture is immeasurable, but for very different reasons. The Panthers have taken an overused cliche and developed a true commitment to selflessness and winning. Without it, there’s no way a team would be able to make three Stanley Cup Final runs, only getting stronger with each successive appearance.

It’s also what will give the Panthers a shot at cementing their dynasty in 2026.

This news was originally published on this post .

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