Hockey and sports in general can be broken down into moments. Some moments are bigger than others and chart the course of a franchise and an entire league. These moments can define a team’s destiny for years to come. For this installment, we bring you the back-to-back Stanley Cup championship, Florida Panthers.
C’mon let’s go.
The Florida Panthers Franchise Defining Moments
Today we bring you our featured Summer Series at Last Word On Hockey. For this one, our focus is the Florida Panthers franchise defining moments. So read along, as we journey through the history of the franchise that only a year ago, hit 30 years old.
For this one, just put yourself in the shoes (or skates rather) of the players in the locker room. It’s October 1995, the old Miami Arena. Picture you are in a room, with the likes of Scott Mellanby, Ray Sheppard, or even tough guy, Paul Laus, and a rat runs through. A gnawing, seething, hideous rat. Then, without a moment of hesitation, Mellanby pictures the black animal as a round, black biscuit and fires it across the room, as if shooting a one timer set up by Rob Niedermayer. The rest, as they say, is history. Ka Put, the rat is put to rest.
It would prompt their star goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck to coin the phrase ‘Rat Trick.’ Little did anyone know at the time, but it would go onto become the defining moment for a franchise. One, that recently, has become a model, NHL franchise with a standard, or rather expectation, of dominance. Even back in 1996, they were the true definition of a model franchise. At that time, expansion teams from recent prior years, for example the Ottawa Senators and San Jose Sharks, had a much different come up. For instance, in 1992-93, Ottawa was 10-70-4, while the Sharks weren’t any better at 11-71-2. The teams won, a combined, 21 of 168 games, c’mon, you know.
The Original South Florida Misfits
The fall of the recent expansion teams that came before them, was the rise for the Anaheim Ducks and the Panthers. With the expansion rules they had in 1993, it allowed them to be very competitive, right from the get-go. The two teams had some of the best seasons ever, in terms of expansion NHL teams. Its impact in terms of more recent times, led to the Vegas Golden Knights and their Band of Misfits. A franchise that didn’t accept losing, right from the outset and won a Stanley Cup championship in just their sixth season.
Back in 1993 for the Panthers and general manager Bobby Clarke had purposefully designed a roster of players that were hard to play against. Brian Skrudland and Dave Lowry, they weren’t guys opponents looked forward to lining up across from at the opening faceoff dot.
As for 1996 Panthers team, they were simply very well constructed. The first two years of the team’s existence, they were close, missing the playoffs by a single point each time. However, the 1995-96 version was loaded, with veterans, youthful talent, and motivated to prove the league wrong, after so many teams had left their players unprotected just a few years prior. Johan Garpenlov, Robert Svehla, and Ed Jovanovski were some of the leaders offensively for the team. Can anyone say Radek Dvorak?
The Competition Couldn’t Have Been That Good, Right?
The team entered the playoffs as underdogs, to say the least. As the games rolled along, you could tell this team was different. Moreover, what made this run more impressive, was the quality of foes they were knocking off their pedestal. JovoCop made a name for himself in this run. This team shutdown the likes of Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Eric Lindros, and Adam Oates. Some of the who’s who, when it comes to offensive stars in the 90s. They shut them down!
When it came to the Stanley Cup Final, the Colorado Avalanche were the opponent. Everyone has the picture in their head of rats raining down, as legendary goaltender Patrick Roy ducks down using his net as a shield against the falling plastic rodents. In the end, for the result of the series, the Avs team was too deep, they had too many superstars. Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Patrick Roy, Adam Foote, were no match for the collection of grinders and youngsters on the Panthers. However, the Panthers had made a name for themselves in South Florida, and did their absolute best to put them on the map. And as for defining moments for the Panthers franchise, the ‘Rat Trick‘ will forever go down in hockey lore.
The Honourable Mentions That Stem from Original Panthers Defining Moment
Over the past number of years, the rat has made its return. They even traded for a rat in 2025, when they picked up the notorious pest, Brad Marchand. This has all coincided with the rise of a dynasty and a proud legacy for hockey in the state of Florida. Back to the 2020 Stanley Cup win, a Florida state team has played in the final every year, winning four of the six championships. After it was the Tampa Bay Lightning in three finals, the Panthers have just wrapped up their own streak of three consecutive finals appearances. In 2023, it was a learning experience, as they lost to the Vegas Golden Knights, in five games. In contrast, the past two finals, have seen them knock of the Edmonton Oilers, led by superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
The 2013 and 2014 Drafts
This current Panthers team is literally in a dynasty. It is difficult to pinpoint one specific defining moment for the organization that led to their current roster getting to the place it is today. Moreover, one place to consider is the NHL Entry Draft. In 2013, the Florida Panthers selected superstar, two-way centre, Aleksander Barkov with the second-overall selection. As a note, that was the year that the Nashville Predators landed Seth Jones with the fourth-overall pick. The following year’s draft, becomes even more interesting based on the current roster. From the 2014 draft, the top-four picks played in the past two Cup Finals.
- FLA – Aaron Ekblad
- BUF – Sam Reinhart
- EDM – Leon Draisaitl
- CGY – Sam Bennett
The fact that Florida, as an organization, has been able to identify and land such high-end talent, has been truly remarkable. Going back to 2010, when Dale Tallon was hired, they have had two general managers primarily, to thank for their success. Their current GM, Bill Zito, began with the Panthers in September of 2020.
Zito’s Trade Resume Speaks for Itself
It seems if we study Zito’s work in particular, and his incredible record with trades, he deserves some of the respect. Starting with the Sam Bennett trade in April of 2021, take a look at the names that has been acquired via trade. It is only over a short period of time as well. Sam Reinhart was acquired for Devon Levi and a 2022 first rounder in July of 2021. In addition, Claude Giroux was added at the 2022 trade deadline. Vladimir Tarasenko and a former NHL captain, Kyle Okposo, came on as trade deadline rentals for the 2024 cup title.
The Panthers, under Mr. Zito, continued the incredible run throughout the 2024-25 campaign. Landing Seth Jones and Brad Marchand, was another shockwave through the annals of trade history. Moreover, the lack of return throughout all these acquisitions, has been nothing short of legendary. The success carried on through the summer. With the ability to retain Bennett, Jones, Marchand, and Ekblad, adding four stars, over a matter of a couple of months, and being able to afford them, again, is a Zito homerun. Furthermore, it is made even the more so impressive, that they already had a cup contending lineup.
The Biggest Panther Trade
So, for those following along, we did skip, perhaps the biggest, single trade of Zito’s era. Now, unlike many of the swaps, they did give up a fair bit to acquire the superstar. However, they still managed to come out on top of the trade, it seems anyway looking back at it today. The Matthew Tkachuk trade. Going the other way was Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, and Cole Schwindt, and a couple conditional picks were exchanged as well. Even though they did give up a lot, Tkachuk has been terrific. It also doesn’t hurt the fact Huberdeau sustained the major drop-off in points in his first season in Calgary.
Another major of the defining moments for the Panthers was again a trade. Back in the summer of 2000, Roberto Luongo was acquired by Florida from the New York Islanders. As well Olli Jokinen came with Luongo in the deal. Going the other way was Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha. It wasn’t big in the sense of the success of the team. That season actually started ten-straight, non-playoff seasons for the Panthers. However, it did bring one of the best goalies of his generation to South Florida. It was more of a statement, about bringing top talent. Also, Luongo made sure Florida was always in game, even if the team in front of him wasn’t quite up to snuff each year.
Well there you have, another edition of our Summer Series. Even though it was littered with reference to trades and a couple drafts, that led to Stanley Cup championships, they weren’t our final choice of the Panthers defining moments. That honoured went to a rat. How fitting.
Main Photo Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
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