5 takeaways on the Florida Panthers Stanley Cup win

The Florida Panthers 2-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night not only won the franchise its first ever Stanley Cup, it also helped them avoid being known for what would have been the single greatest meltdown in modern professional sports history.

After letting a 3-0 series lead slip away, taking the series to a seventh game, they were able to get one more win to become champions.

Let’s talk about it with five lessons and takeaways from their championship season.

1. You don’t entirely need the draft, but you still need at least one top guy

The most staggering stat on the Panthers for me is that their 2024 playoff roster (at least in terms of players they actually used) had just three of their own draft picks on it.

Aleksander Barkov
Aaron Ekblad
Anton Lundell

That is it.

Every other player on the roster was either acquired via trade, free agency, or in the case of standout defenseman Gustav Forsling (who made one of the game-saving plays in Game 7) on waivers.

But for as good of a job as they did in piecing together a championship roster through shrewd roster moves and smart signings, they still had the common denominator almost every recent Stanley Cup champion has had — one or two cornerstone players that were picked at the top of the draft.

You may not need to build entirely through the draft, but you still need to find a couple of badass dudes at the top.

Almost every Stanley Cup champion in the salary cap era has at least one top-two pick on their roster, and almost all of them were actually selected by the team.

The run down:

2024 Florida Panthers: Aleksander Barkov (No. 2 overall), Aaron Ekblad (No. 1 overall)
2023 Vegas Golden Knights: Jack Eichel (No. 2 overall — drafted by Buffalo, acquired via trade)
2022 Colorado Avalanche: Nathan MacKinnon (No. 1 overall), Gabriel Landeskog (No. 2 overall)
2021 Tampa Bay Lightning: Steven Stamkos (No. 1 overall), Victor Hedman (No. 2 overall)
2020 Tampa Bay Lightning: Steven Stamkos (No. 1 overall), Victor Hedman (No. 2 overall)
2019 St. Louis Blues: None (Alex Pietrangelo was highest at No. 4 overall; Jay Bouwmeester was also No. 3 overall by Florida)
2018 Washington Capitals: Alex Ovechkin
2017 Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby (No. 1 overall), Evgeni Malkin (No. 2 overall), Marc-Andre Fleury (No. 1 overall)
2016 Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby (No. 1 overall), Evgeni Malkin (No. 2 overall), Marc-Andre Fleury (No. 1 overall)
2015 Chicago Blackhawks: Patrick Kane (No. 1 overall), Jonathan Toews (No. 2 overall)
2014 Los Angeles Kings: Drew Doughty (No. 2 overall)
2013 Chicago Blackhawks: Patrick Kane (No. 1 overall), Jonathan Toews (No. 2 overall)
2012 Los Angeles Kings: Drew Doughty (No. 2 overall)
2011 Boston Bruins: Tyler Seguin (No. 2 overall)
2010 Chicago Blackhawks: Patrick Kane (No. 1 overall), Jonathan Toews (No. 2 overall)
2009 Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby (No. 1 overall), Evgeni Malkin (No. 2 overall), Marc-Andre Fleury (No. 1 overall), Jordan Staal (No. 2 overall)
2008 Detroit Red Wings: None
2007 Anaheim Ducks: None (Chris Pronger was a No. 2 overall pick by Hartford, Scott Niedermayer was a No. 3 overall pick)
2006 Carolina Hurricanes: Eric Staal (No. 2 overall)

The only exceptions here were the 2023 Golden Knights (who still acquired a former No. 2 overall pick), 2019 St. Louis Blues (whose defense was built around a No. 4 overall pick), the 2008 Detroit Red Wings and the 2007 Anaheim Ducks (whose defense was built around two former top-three picks).

Every other champion here not only had at least one — and in many cases two — top-two pick on their roster making a major contribution.

You need stars to win. You need them to be your foundation. You typically need to get them at the top of the draft.

As long as you get them, you can piece together a roster around them in a lot of different ways.

2. Sometimes it is okay to shake up your core

As long as you get the right player back.

The Panthers got the right player back.