Well, it was fun while it lasted. But as they say, "all good things must come to an end eventually."
That's right, the Florida Panthers,winners of the last two Stanley Cups, are officially trade deadline sellers, jettisoning offseason acquisition Jeff Petry for a measly seventh-round draft pick, with talk of more moves to come in the next 24 hours.
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The rumors that star goaltender and two-time Vezina Award winner, Sergei Bobrovsky, is on the chopping block make it safe to assume that the powers that be in Sunrise, Florida, are waving the white flag for the 2025-26 season.
Bob has had a rough season statistically speaking, but the 37-year-old netminder hasn't exactly been helped by injuries and inconsistent play on the back end.
The Cats aren't in hard-sell mode, since most of their highest priced talent is locked into place in South Florida for the next half decade, but it's sad to see key pieces from the Stanley Cup run like AJ Greer, Tomas Nosek, and, most importantly, Bobrovsky, being put on the market.
It's a stark reminder that dynasties in a sport like the NHL – with its hard salary cap and even harder style of play – are fleeting.
The Panthers could very well get healthy over the summer, retool and reload, and make another run at a Cup in 2026-27.
But seeing the run end without so much as a chance to defend their banner in the postseason is a tough pill to swallow for every Cats fan.
I was pounding the alarmas early as September, when a season-ending injury to captain Aleksander Barkov coupled withthe loss of star winger Matthew Tkachukfor half the year meant Florida would be without their two best players to start their quest for a three-peat.
Source: The Latest & Most Breaking News With OutKick
