The Stanley Cup continues its championship tour in South Florida, taking place on the Miami Heat’s basketball court this week before moving elsewhere on Thursday with several more appearances to come, meaning in some ways the party that comes with winning an NHL title is still in full swing.
Except, at the Florida Panthers’ practice facility, the champions are back to work.
Florida opens training camp on Thursday, and coach Paul Maurice has made it clear that this is the time to start preparing for another title, not to continue basking in the title win they achieved in June.
“Obviously there will be some nostalgia, and we’ll be in charge of the flag-raising and ring ceremony and all the great events that people will enjoy,” Maurice said Wednesday as the team gathered for its annual media day, “but we’re going to be very careful to make sure that day is one that’s completely focused on what we’re doing now and not living in the past.”
Clearly, the message has already been conveyed.
Most of the players have been back in South Florida for at least a few weeks now. Morris said all of the returning Panthers players are in better shape than they were at this time last season, as evidenced by pre-camp conditioning tests. The real test will be Thursday’s first practice, and Morris’ training camp sessions are notoriously tough.
“We don’t believe in the concept of a hangover,” Maurice said. “For us, it’s never been a physical thing. We’re stronger than we were at this time last year, and that’s a credit to them, because without the time to improve, they never would have been able to improve.”
Florida has its top eight scorers returning from last season in Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett, Evan Rodriguez, Gustav Forsling and Anton Randle. Verhaeghe and Reinhart scored in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final as Florida held off Edmonton 2-1 to win its first title, avoiding a major collapse after winning the first three games of that series. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky also returns for his sixth season as the Panthers’ goaltender.
Although there are a few open spots, most of the main members of the championship-winning squad are back, and despite winning the Cup marking the culmination of a lifelong quest for Maurice and his players, they are keen to win it again.
“At the end of the day, I love what I do,” Bobrovsky said. “It’s a blessing for me to be here today and I’m excited to be fighting for my dream again. But what happened in the past doesn’t really matter. All I care about is this moment.”
Things will start moving quickly. Practice begins Thursday and Florida plays its first two preseason games on Sunday, its annual doubleheader with Nashville that will see most or all of the roughly 50 players available for camp play.
The Cup flag will be raised on Oct. 8 when Florida hosts Boston to open the regular season, kicking off a grueling 82-game slate, but Maurice insists he’s not thinking about the opening game just yet and has no plans to skip a step.
“You can’t prepare for anything other than Day 1. I don’t even want to think about Day 2,” Maurice said. “I’m not going to win the Stanley Cup on Sept. 19, the first day of practice, but I can start the process of giving myself an opportunity. This is Day 1 on the ice. I have to respect how hard it’s been and put in the work and pay the price to give myself an opportunity.”
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