The 2024-25 National Hockey League season is underway, but we thought it would be proper to bid a fond farewell to last season by celebrating the Florida Panthers' first Stanley Cup championship.
As most NHL fans know, the players, coaches, staff and anyone officially connected to the team that wins the Stanley Cup get to take custody of the famous trophy for short period of time during the off-season.
The Stanley Cup has taken a wild trip around the world since the Panthers skated off the ice with it in June. Since its departure from the Panthers’ wet and wild parade in the rain in Fort Lauderdale, it has been everywhere from a fishing boat off the Florida Keys, a helicopter patrolling the skies of Sweden and just about every possible iconic spot in St. Louis alongside Matthew Tkachuk.
The NHL champs have a very diverse roster of players, meaning a very diverse list of destinations. In total three Americans, three Swedes, four Finns, two Russians and 12 Canadians got their names etched on the Cup for the Panthers.
Here are some of the highlights of the Panthers’ summer with Stanley:
Aleksander Barkov has a party for 15,000 Finns in hometown
When Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov brought the Stanley Cup home to Tampere, Finland, the entire city showed up to celebrate with him.
Back at Nokia Arena, where he played for Tappara Tampere before getting drafted by Florida in 2013, roughly 15,000 fans flocked into the stands wearing shirts that said “Barkov City” to see their hometown hero lift the Stanley Cup.
He also brought the Cup to a local amusement park and brought in Finnish professional skateboarder Marius Syvänen to take a now-iconic photo of him jumping over the Stanley Cup. He is, on record, the first person to do so.
As the first Finnish captain to ever win the Stanley Cup, Barkov was lauded by the city at his hometown rink to close out the day. He shared the stage with fellow Finns Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola as the entire stadium went into a frenzy.
Barkov and the Panthers will return to Tampere on Nov. 1-2 to play a two-game set against the Dallas Stars as part of the NHL’s Global Series. And surely there will be a few fans wearing those "Barkov City" shirts in the stands.
“It was a special and amazing moment for me and I am forever thankful and grateful for the city of Tampere to be that kind and letting me celebrate a big moment of my life with pretty much the whole city,” Barkov said. “Having the chance to take the Stanley Cup from place to place with all of my teammates from Finland. I don’t have enough words to say how special of a moment that was for me and obviously it means a lot more to go there in two months and play two games there.”
Gustav Forsling takes Cup on helicopter ride over Sweden
After helping shut down Calgary superstar Connor McDavid in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, cornerstone defenseman Gustav Forsling took the Stanley Cup for a helicopter ride above his hometown of Linkoping, Sweden.
Forsling also snacked on Swedish cinnamon rolls out of the Cup with his mother, took the Cup on a nice boat ride on a lake and brought it back to his old junior club, Linkoping HC’s, arena where thousands of fans came to greet him.
Forsling, 28, entering the first year of a new eight-year contract with the Panthers and is looking to build off of a season that saw him finish ranked as the sixth-best defenseman in the league by NHL Network.
“It’s been good, actually,” Forsling said of his summer. “You get enough time to forget about hockey a little bit and just reload. I like to get back in the gym as quick as possible and put in some work and just try to get a little stronger in the offseason. I think I’ve done a good job of it.”
GM Bill Zito takes Stanley Cup to Milwaukee
The architect of the Panthers’ Stanley Cup winning team took the Cup for a full blown tour of his hometown of Milwaukee.
From the Milwaukee Brewers clubhouse, the Milwaukee Bucks arena, the Miller brewery and his alma mater, the University School of Milwaukee, it was nearly impossible to be in town that day in mid-August and not see the Stanley Cup.
Zito’s first job was as a 16-year-old bat boy and clubhouse attendant for the Brewers, so his trip to American Family Park held a special place in his heart.
He learned a lot of lessons that helped him assemble the Stanley Cup champion Panthers. The biggest?
“Family,” Zito told MLB.com. “That team was made up of all different characters, but they were a team. Harvey Kuenn was the manager and he said, ‘You be you. Be the best you can be. If you’ve got flaws and you’ve got shortcomings, OK, I do too.’ ”
Sam Bennett eats Captain Crunch out of the Stanley Cup
When Sam Bennett was a youngster, he dreamed of eating Captain Crunch out of the Stanley Cup. That was the cereal he and his dad always started off their days eating for breakfast while growing up in the Toronto area.
The phsycial power forward brought the Cup home to East Gwillimbury, Ontario and made good on his promise — eating the cereal alongside his dad back where it all started.
Bennett also brought the Cup back to the East Gwillimbury Sports Complex, where he played youth hockey. There, he addressed fans and received a rousing ovation.
“It’s really incredible to be back here at the rink where I learned to play, where I fell in love with hockey. I learned to skate here, scored my first goal here,” Bennett said to fans in attendance, according to the East Gwillimbury Express. “It’s really cool to come back here at the peak of my career and bring the Stanley Cup to where it all started.”
Matthew Tkachuk’s wild ride through St. Louis
Tkachuk was arguably the life of the party during the Panthers’ summer with the Stanley Cup — and after leading the team in points in both of their consecutive runs to the Cup Final, rightfully so.
The Panthers’ star power forward started the day off by bringing the Cup to St. Louis’ first responders, making an appearance at both the Brentwood, Missouri fire station and police station. He also brought the Cup to his old elementary school, Villa Duchene, in St. Louis and the St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Later on, he brought the Cup to a family barbecue and took it for a tour around St. Louis. Along the way, the Stanley Cup took a trip to the Anheuser-Busch brewery, where a horse took a drink out of it, and took a picture alongside the Heisman Trophy.
“It’s really special for my family,” Tkachuk told NHL.com “Years and years and years of hockey in our blood and for grandparents and extended family that come to my house and see that Tkachuk name on the Cup there, it’s truly such a special thing.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida Panthers celebrated around the world with Stanley Cup trophy