The time period “tradition” will get thrown round quite a bit in sports activities, and it is practically misplaced all which means within the means of turning into a cliché. That is not the case in Florida, the place the Panthers have breathed new life into the time period whereas making that tradition the spine of two straight Stanley Cup victories.

Nobody is aware of extra about that tradition than Panthers middle Sam Bennett, who was named the 2025 Conn Smythe Trophy winner with 15 targets in 23 video games.

“It begins with the tradition right here,” Bennett stated in his postgame press convention. “There is a method that we do issues right here, and it isn’t simple. We do not play a simple model of hockey. It calls for quite a bit out of you.”

To Bennett’s level, the Panthers ask loads of every participant on the ice. Everybody on the roster should go flat out on the forecheck and backcheck each shift, with out exception, to grind the opponent right into a high-quality powder. Within the locker room and on the ice, no single participant is larger than the workforce or the final word objective of successful.

The Cats make it look simple, but when that had been the case, each workforce would do it.

As soon as everybody buys in, nonetheless, that selfless dedication to successful and taking part in for each other is infectious and might turn into a Fountain of Youth for gamers and coaches alike. If you happen to want an instance, there is no higher place to begin than behind the bench.

On Dec. 17, 2021, Paul Maurice resigned because the coach of the Winnipeg Jets, saying the gamers wanted a “new voice.” By his personal admission, Maurice was worn down by the point his tenure in Winnipeg ended.

“The Winnipeg individuals, the possession and the followers, had been higher than I used to be on the finish,” Maurice stated after successful his second straight Stanley Cup. “I used to be simply no good. I used to be burnt.”

At the moment, Maurice had coached 1,685 video games with 775 wins and no Stanley Cups. Maurice stated he may “handle” how he perceived his profession if that was it, however it wasn’t.

The Panthers got here calling in the summertime of 2022, and Maurice answered. Three years and two Cups later, Maurice’s enthusiasm for teaching has been restored, and the tradition within the Florida locker room is the most important motive why.

“Watching these guys work together with one another, that is been the reward to this place,” Maurice stated. “That is been the perfect factor for me. Once you’re burnt out, you might be exhausted, cynical and imagine you are not efficient. These are the three parts to it, and that cynicism is actual. It was considerably life-altering this 12 months, to observe the best way they deal with one another, and I noticed I may deal with them the identical method.”

Maurice, one of many architects of the brand new tradition in Dawn, is way from the one one who has felt the consequences of what the Panthers have constructed. Simply take a look at a number of the gamers who touched the Cup instantly after captain Aleksander Barkov accepted it from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

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Nate Schmidt, a 33-year-old defenseman, gave the impression to be on his method out of the NHL when he signed a one-year contract for $800,000 final summer season. This postseason, he performed an integral function on the blue line whereas posting 12 factors in 23 video games.

By the top of his time with the Chicago Blackhawks, Seth Jones’ status as a top-pairing defenseman had taken a severe hit. In just some months with the Panthers, Jones returned to peak kind in a shutdown function.

After Sport 6, Maurice stated Jones is a “Norris Trophy candidate all day lengthy.”

Schmidt and Jones, together with Tomas Nosek, Vitek Vanecek, A.J. Greer, Jesper Boqvist and Mackie Samoskevich had been new to the Cup celebration expertise. They had been all pushed to the entrance of the road and lifted Lord Stanley earlier than Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Sergei Bobrovsky and each different Panthers famous person.

Maurice stated that celebration was only a glimpse into the Panthers’ locker room tradition.

“These are the small insights for individuals into this group,” Maurice stated. “It does not go captain to captain to captain to Sam Reinhart, who scored 4. … All of these guys who touched it first, it was their first Cup. That is what makes these males particular, to concentrate on that. They’re simply not egocentric in any respect. They do not want the digicam time. There is not any pecking order.”

It was not Brad Marchand’s first Stanley Cup, however there is no doubt no matter was within the South Florida Dairy Queen Blizzards had an impact on him. Marchand was nonetheless an excellent participant for the Bruins earlier than his commerce deadline day transfer right down to Florida, however he discovered an elite kind within the playoffs.

Marchand completed a detailed second to Bennett in Conn Smythe Trophy voting after posting 10 targets and 10 assists within the playoffs. Six of these targets got here within the Stanley Cup Last. It was a number of the most interesting hockey of the 37-year-old’s profession.

Bennett credited every new addition for purchasing into the Panthers’ tradition with out hesitation.

“They immediately purchased into this, what we do right here, and the dedication to being nice and successful,” Bennett stated. “Each single man simply purchased into that. It begins with the tradition, however the character of the blokes, that is why we’re ready to do that.”

In fact, workforce leaders like Bennett are the cultivators and caretakers of that tradition. The toughness and dedication to successful from the Panthers’ prime gamers turned evident shortly after their Sport 6 win.

• Tkachuk battled again from a torn abductor muscle that got here clear off the bone, together with “some hernia factor,” to attain the game-winning objective in Sport 6.
• Barkov suffered a hand laceration in Sport 1 of the Stanley Cup Last and nonetheless managed to close down the Oilers’ two superstars in the remainder of the playoffs.
• Reinhart scored 4 targets in a legendary Cup-clinching efficiency whereas taking part in via a Grade 2 MCL sprain.

Tradition is a tricky factor to judge as a result of it will possibly’t be quantified like targets, scoring probabilities or save proportion. It solely will get more durable to measure when you think about that the phrase has turn into pablum within the NHL and different skilled sports activities.

In Dawn, tradition is immeasurable, however for very completely different causes. The Panthers have taken an overused cliche and developed a real dedication to selflessness and successful. With out it, there is no method a workforce would be capable to make three Stanley Cup Last runs, solely getting stronger with every successive look.

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