Extensions give Florida Panthers defined window to contend. Are they also a gamble?

Miami Herald

13 hours ago

The Florida Panthers have established a defined window to continue contending for Stanley Cups.
Florida has 10 players from its core — forwards Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell and Brad Marchand plus defensemen Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling and Seth Jones — all signed through at least the 2029-30 season. All of them have no-movement clauses, meaning they can't be dealt away from the team without their approval. That gives Florida at minimum the next five seasons to remain at the top of the league with this group as it aims to build of its consecutive Stanley Cup championships the past two seasons.
'We have one of the deepest teams in the league, and we showed that over the last couple of years,' Bennett said. 'And the fact that we're keeping this main core together for the next, what is it, five years, that's pretty remarkable to do. It just shows that all these guys want to be here, and we care about winning. That's really our main focus is winning. It's going to be a fun ride for the next however many years.'
That's the hope at least.
But there is an inherent risk that comes with these elongated contracts, age being the biggest of them. Lundell is the baby of the group, not turning 24 until October. Tkachuk is next, turning 28 in December. Marchand is already 37, meaning he'll be 43 when his six-year extension wraps up. The other seven are all either 29 or 30 already, meaning they'll be 34-35 at the end of this window.
Add in the grind that comes with extended playoff runs — Florida has played 314 games over the past three seasons and is going into its third consecutive short offseason after reaching the Cup Final every year since 2023 — and the fatigue factor certainly takes a toll.
President of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito, the architect behind retaining so much of the team's core, understands that how the Panthers manage their health over this window will be one of the chief determining factors in their success.
How, exactly, do they adapt? That's still a work in progress.
'The honest answer is we don't know, but we're trying,' Zito said. 'What we've done is spent a lot of time, even over the course of the last year thinking that even if we have a little bit of a run into the playoffs that the fatigue level long-term is going to be significant. The team is getting a little bit older. We're getting into our late 20s. How can we address it? How can we get in front of it? Are there things we can do now? Should we start thinking about making some adaptations to the way we do things?'
Zito said he and coach Paul Maurice have been working with Chris McLellan, the team's vice president of sports performance and strength and conditioning coach, to figure out a plan of attack that best looks at both short- and long-term solutions.
That could mean baking in more rest days for players during the regular season. Florida did that just before the playoffs this season, rotating key players out of the lineup for a game or two once a postseason spot was secured to make sure everyone was as fresh as possible for the run at the Stanley Cup.
That could mean altering how they travel for road games. The Panthers already don't fly out immediately after games unless there's a back-to-back, opting to stay in the city where they played an extra night and then fly the following day to their next destination.
Modifications to training camp have already been discussed as well.
'We need to be creative and proactive,' Zito said.
The players at this stage in their career are also cognizant of what they need to do to be in the best position to succeed. Bennett, for example, doesn't plan to get back on the ice until mid-August to recover as much as possible before slowly getting back into action ahead of training camp.
'I think now we know what works after going to the Final three years in a row,' Bennett said. 'You really have to give your body time to rest. Earlier in my career, we weren't playing nearly as long, but I think I would sometimes jump on the ice too early and not give my body enough time to rest. Certainly take a month off here. That's pretty much how I'll handle it.'
They'll prepare for the inevitable ebbs and flows that come through a season. They have a blueprint of sorts now with how to maneuver consecutive trying seasons — and know the reward that awaits them if everything works in their favor once again.
For at least the next five years, the window is there for the taking.