The Panthers come into camp in great shape and are ready to try to repeat the rare Stanley Cup victory
The Florida Panthers were all back under one roof for the first time in a couple of months on Wednesday.
It was kind of like the first day of school at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale, where Panthers players took their fitness tests and participated in media day.
In addition to speaking with members of the local press, the players also dressed in full gear for photo shoots and promotional videos that took place on both ice surfaces at the facility.
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The real work begins Thursday when the Cats take the ice for their first official practice of training camp.
“Today is the beginning, but tomorrow is In fact “The beginning,” Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk said.
On Wednesday, Florida's coaching staff had a chance to check in with each player as they prepare for a new season.
The results will be analyzed alongside previous testing numbers, and so far, it appears Panthers head coach Paul Maurice is pleased with what he's seen.
“The first indicator to look at is not the test results, but how they are performed,” Maurice explained. “The goal. Our returning veteran players this year are at the same physical level or above where they were last year. There is no… well, we started with that word right now, the concept of hangover… we don't believe in that. It's certainly not a physical issue with us, we are stronger than we were last year at this time with our returning players. That's a credit to them, because they couldn't have improved without putting in the necessary time.”
It's a strong indication of how dedicated the Panthers are to their craft and how hungry they remain to keep winning.
Sure, they won the Stanley Cup last season, but you know what's better than winning the Cup?
Winning it twice.
“We knew it was going to be a short season for us, but I think that's what everyone wants,” Panthers captain Sasha Barkov said. “Everyone wants to play until the end, they want to play in the final and they want to win the Cup.”
Florida comes to camp with a handful of new free agents after losing several key players to free agency over the summer.
As we've seen in the past with Panthers general manager Bill Zito, he and his staff have a knack for recognizing which players they think will best fit into Maurice's systems.
“Right now, I think everyone is very excited,” Barkov said. “Whether we've been here for a while or we're new here, we're all on the same page and excited about the new opportunity and the new challenge ahead of us.”
Two important elements that have characterized the Panthers in recent years are hard work and camaraderie.
Whether in practice or games, this group understands the amount of focus and effort that must be put into everything they do.
It certainly helps that the team has achieved excellent results by putting in the effort it has put in over the past few years.
That allows players to enter this season's camp knowing that if they continue to do their best, there's a good chance they'll get positive results.
“There's a lot to look forward to this year,” Tkachuk said. “We've got the flag raising, the trip to Finland, there's a lot of cool things we have going on this year, but you only get to have your first practice once. So why not go out and have so much fun? I think that's what makes our team so great. As challenging as everything is during the year, we just find what's within us and whatever we're doing, we have a great time doing it.”
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