HC Paul Maurice says Panthers want to win for the 'new guys' in Florida squad

Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice said the team wants to win the Stanley Cup for the new players, speaking after the team’s first practice before the 2025 Final on Saturday, in Fort Lauderdale.

Maurice said about 90 percent of the team has already experienced winning the Cup, but a few players have not. He said the group is pushing hard to help those players win it for the first time.

Maurice mentioned that forward Matthew Tkachuk gave a better answer about the new guys.

[13:53] "I heard this secondhand," Maurice said. "It was told to me—Matthew Tkachuk’s answer about the new guys. It was a better answer than I can give, because they’re in the room and I’m not. But we’re not here without those guys. That part is very, very true."

Maurice added that some of the new players are key to the team’s playing style. He said they helped turn things around during the Toronto series and brought the group back to their identity.

"Those new guys that came in did bring the energy," Maurice said. "What’s interesting is toward the end, they became our identity. They were closer to our identity game than the guys that had been here for a couple of years. They got us back in that Toronto series."

Maurice explained that joining the team now feels different from before. In the past, players came in to push the team forward. This year, new players came in not wanting to ruin what the team already had.

"They want it bad for those guys, because those guys got us here," Maurice said. "There’s been an equitable exchange of effort here. We pushed so hard. You’ve earned the right because of what you’ve helped the group do. Then we want it for you."

Panthers will play Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Final, starting Wednesday, June 4, at 8 p.m. on TNT.

Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov wants to win the Stanley Cup "every single year"

This series is a rematch of last year’s Final, which the Panthers won in seven games. Florida reached the Final by beating Tampa Bay in five games, Toronto in seven and Carolina in five.

Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said making the Final three straight years is a great achievement. But he said the goal is to win the Cup again.

"We want to win Stanley Cups. We want to compete for Stanley Cups every single year," Barkov said, via NHL.com. "Obviously, there’s 31 other teams in the League, and it’s hard every single year; they want to do that too, so it’s not easy."

Barkov leads the Panthers with 17 points in the playoffs. Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk each have 16 points. Carter Verhaeghe and Brad Marchand each have 14. Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has played every minute. He has a 12-5 record with a 2.11 goals-against average and three shutouts.