The Florida Panthers Are Stanley Cup Champions Again

It’s been 32 years since a Canadian team hoisted the Stanley Cup over its shoulders, and that will remain so. The Florida Panthers are back-to-back champions, besting the Edmonton Oilers in six games. The Oilers had scrappy wins in games one and four, taking the Cats into overtime, but Florida’s depth and relentless forecheck ground them down. They won game six handily, 5-1. Sam Reinhart scored four goals, the first player to have a playoff hat trick (and a four-goal playoff game) in Panthers history.

SAM REINHART WITH A BEAUTY! PANTHERS STRIKE FIRST IN GAME 6!#TimeToHunt | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/ovrNCjJtdM
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) June 18, 2025

MATTHEW TKACHUK! Panthers double their lead to 2 in the final minute of the first period!#TimeToHunt | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/TvFgdFa1wo
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) June 18, 2025

REINHART AGAIN! Sam Reinhart's second goal of the game extends Florida's lead to 3 late in the 2nd!#TimeToHunt | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/vPnQAsWHKz
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) June 18, 2025

SAM REINHART PUTS THE PUCK INTO THE EMPTY NET TO FINISH OFF A HAT TRICK!

🎩🎩🎩#TimeToHunt | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/nwDFe7tYIC
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) June 18, 2025

FOUR GOALS FOR SAM REINHART 🤯#TimeToHunt | #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/ekqKnJSXoC
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) June 18, 2025

That’s what Florida does: they wear you down to a nub and then obliterate you. It’s a marvel to watch. There are bruisers and dogs on every line in Florida’s lineup, which makes skating against them in these brutal playoffs a task too great for most clubs. This year was a rematch in the Stanley Cup finals between the two teams. Edmonton lost to Florida in seven games in 2024. This year, they got rolled in six, with the last two games not being all that competitive. Game three was probably the most chippy, with 140 penalty minutes being allocated in a match where the Oilers truly lost their heads (via WaPo):

In a Stanley Cup finals rematch, the Florida Panthers won their second straight NHL championship, beating the Edmonton Oilers in six games.
The dynamic, dominant Panthers topped the Oilers on Tuesday night, 5-1. Florida became the eighth team to hoist the Cup on home ice in consecutive seasons — a feat that hadn’t been accomplished since Edmonton’s 1987 and 1988 triumphs. The Oilers are the first team to lose back-to-back Stanley Cup finals since 1977 and 1978, when the Boston Bruins were successively denied by the Montreal Canadiens.

#FlaPanthers are the true definition of a team - love that Aleksander Barkov immediately passed Lord Stanley to the first-time winners.

Nate Schmidt
Seth Jones
Tomas Nosek
Vitek Vanecek
AJ Greer
Jesper Boqvist

They went through everyone before getting to the vets.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 18, 2025

Florida Panthers 🐆 Back to Back Stanley Cup Champions!!

Let’s Go!!! pic.twitter.com/PVpYFROZU7
— Sean Hannity 🇺🇸 (@seanhannity) June 18, 2025

Stanley Cups for:
DeSantis: 4
Whoever runs Canada: 0 pic.twitter.com/ygzv2sH41Z
— PhotographicFloridian (@JackLinFLL) June 18, 2025

We have avenged you again, @WhiteHouse https://t.co/r479lmI7dX pic.twitter.com/IACJhMEA82
— Prison Mitch (@MidnightMitch) June 18, 2025

Sam Bennett, come kiss me with that mustache
— The Stanley Cup (@StanleyCup) June 18, 2025

Matthew Tkachuk just revealed he's been dealing with a torn adductor muscle OFF THE BONE!

A true warrior.
pic.twitter.com/4GdLXhZUnX
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) June 18, 2025

Florida is now the gold standard of the NHL, a blueprint from which teams will likely model in the hopes of constructing their own championship rosters. It will still be tough as the Panthers will likely be able to retain core pieces of this team for the foreseeable future. They will enter the 2025 season with $19 million in cap space; that's lots of breathing room. In 2026, it will balloon to $41 million and $59 million in 2027.

Florida Panthers upcoming cap space

25-26 $20M
26-27 $41M
27-28 $59M

This can be a very, very long running dynasty. #TimeToHunt #NHL
— Paul (@BleedBluePaul) May 29, 2025

Alexander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Brad Marchand, Gustav Forsling, Aaron Ekblad, Eetu Luostarinen, and Anton Lundell…this team is stacked. Some depth pieces will be lost like last year, but they'll find a way to have another line-up of bruisers.

Time leading in Stanley Cup Final

Panthers 255:49*
Oilers 33:51

*Set all-time record for a championship series
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) June 18, 2025

Well done, Florida. We expect to see you at the White House again soon. What an epic trip that was this year.

"Congratulations once again to the Florida Panthers on just an unbelievable season. You gave the fans one of the most riveting comebacks in NHL history." –President Trump 🇺🇸 @FlaPanthers pic.twitter.com/rZOcAGabFJ
— President Donald J. Trump (@POTUS) February 4, 2025

The last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup was the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.