#scribing

With the injuries we’ve had… the opportunity that’s gonna provide for… some spots to open up. What are you hoping to see from some of these guys who now maybe have some chances that they may not have thought they may have had coming into camp?

One of the blessings that you guys have seen with our group is, coach can deploy players up and down the lineup with, kind of, what other players he wants in whatever situations. You’ve seen any number of players have success playing with Sasha. And then you might have a guy who’s gone from playing with Sasha to the fourth line. And so now, not only do we have opportunities for example, for Luke Kunin or Tyler Motte in camp, but they — we have a chance to play them to their strengths as well. It’s not just one hole, “Oh, we have to fit someone here on fourth line right wing,” for example. That man might be better suited to play third line left wing. Alright, we’ll just move it around. And I think those interchangeable parts are a big part of winning and also of getting opportunity for those guys, as you said.

What kind of excitement level have you noticed from these guys … over the course of the past couple weeks, to get back to work, to get back to the challenge of the ol’ threepeat?

The excitement levels, it’s interesting because some of the guys have been here, and spent summers here, and some of the scuttlebutt around the room is, “I’m in better shape now than I was before.” Because of the time frame, you didn’t really dip and then have to recover, so you could dip a little bit and then keep improving and getting better. It was more than just casual conversation, I think there was some excitement surrounding that. I just saw Sam Reinhart, and I’ve seen him a couple times, but I haven’t really talked to him. I said, “I haven’t even really visited. How was your summer? Did you get enough time off?” He’s like, “Oh yeah. Ready to go.” And I think you guys probably feel it, too. It’s exciting to be back. Season’s starting. This is training camp! It’s a wonderful feeling, and I think everybody’s pretty excited to be playing hockey.

One thing that coach mentioned last year was, he really didn’t have to get after the guys, because they came in self-motivated, wanting to be better, even coming off of winning a Cup. How would you describe the ownership that these players always take and how much that drives the success of what they’ve been able to do over the past couple of seasons?

It’s humbling to watch, it’s really fun to be a part of, and it makes you want to be better individually. If I go back and I think of Patric Hörnqvist when he first arrived, and his physical preparation, his mental preparation, his emotional preparation — and then his social, about pulling people in and being part of it. And then as we evolved, we have so many people who are focused on being as good as they can be. And I think that’s the best part, is that they all want to see. And in tandem with that, I don’t think they want to let each other down.

Bob is obviously as peak Bob as I guess he could be at his age and this point in his career. He has some, I guess we could call them understudies, that he can basically mold into — how interested are you in seeing the dynamic of those guys working with Bob and learning from somebody like him?

I think it’s wonderful, I think it’s great for Tarasov to be able to come in, and this is obviously someone he goes way back with. I think, to be honest, it’s not just the goalies that Bob inspires and helps and tutors, if you will. It’s how he goes about his business, how he is as a human, how he treats others, his work ethic, obviously. His effect, while obviously could be special on a young goalie, it transcends that and it helps everybody. He’s a wonderful, wonderful player to have in the room, because it’s just somebody else to help you get better.

You might not like this one, I’m gonna askyou to talk about yourself for a second. The bold move, first, to come here in 2020. You make a bold move trading for Matthew Tkachuk, Jonathan Huberdeau was a fan favorite here, then there’s been kind of a series of bold moves along the way that have helped you build this. Where does that come from? Where does that nature to take risks, and really have no fear with that?

… Lack of intelligence. [Laughter.] … Sometimes, in the process of making decisions, particularly in professional sports, we’re all privy to processes and information that others are not. So — what’s a famous steakhouse, someone? Ruth’s Chris. Show up and they say, “We don’t have any steaks, we’re serving fish.” Like, that’s pretty bold. “No, we literally don’t have steaks, so we’re serving fish to try to make money to pay our employees.” And then everybody loves you. It works. Great! There’s no more steaks at Ruth’s Chris, they make more money on fish. Well, you didn’t know that they didn’t have any steak.

I’m making this all up, this is a bad example. But sometimes that which you think might be bold, isn’t. But I can assure what it is is part of a process, our decisionmaking process. We don’t wing it. When we entertain pretty much any of the major decisions, certainly all of the player acquisition, it’s almost a mental and emotional checklist. It does not exist on a piece of paper, but a process through evaluation, debate, reconsideration, comparing and contrasting sort of the “art” of scouting versus the analytics. Doing background checks on people, who they are, as best we can. Not real background checks, but, “Hey, you played with so-and-so in Chicago, what kind of guy are they?” Usually, you’re one person removed from almost anybody in the NHL. So that process yields generally positive results, and it’s hard. I’ve talked a lot of time about our pro scouting meetings that are probably inappropriate and very contentious. I believe conflict is good, and it is. It’s really healthy conflict where, like our hockey team, scouts want to get it right. So they say what they really feel, independent of being, you wanna, “I’m the guy who found Tkachuk.” No, you’re not. It’s us, it’s we. I think, from that process, from that viewpoint, if I have to look at those processes, the bold might be in sticking to those processes and making sure that when we do it, we give ourselves the best chance to make the best decisions.

Speaking of process, when you hoist the Stanley Cup again, did you believe that there was a good chance that Ekblad, Marchand, and Bennett would all be here at this training camp?

Yes.

… Could you elaborate?

[Laughter.] Yes, I believed they would all, like — you guys are around it. You see the community, you see the facility, you see how we go about our business, how we try to be better. You see what Addy [Communications VP Adelyn Biedenbach] and her group do for you guys that’s distinctly different from some other places around the league. Trying to be better, trying to give everyone a chance to be as good as they can be. Enjoying each other. Enjoying the process and the team. When all those factors come together, I believe that they believed. And it’s them. I said this before, it’s them. It’s not me. They call could have gotten more money somewhere else, but they decided they wanted to be Florida Panthers. Makes me feel good. It should make all you guys feel good, too, because it’s because of everybody.

That sort of folds into what I was going to ask. It’s rare for a team to win two in a row and have a chance to go for three, but it’s even more rare for the whole team to come back, basically. … How proud are you that the architecture of this you’ve been able to keep together?

Oh, we haven’t played yet. [Laughter.] No, I see it as thankful and appreciative. That at least, when we come to work every day and we do our best, and we’ll fail, and then try to be better, and we’ve covered that we have a community of players who understand that not only for us but between and among each other and our coaches. And they want to be part of something. That, to me, is really special, and it’s a blessing to come to work — even on the bad days! Even we have a couple losses, come to work and we’re happy. Come to work, and we’re, I think, appreciative. Sincerely, I have all these clichés and catchphrases that we use too much, but it’s real, and I think it resonates through every player in that room.

How has the change been from being a franchise that’s trying to create sustained success, to now being a model franchise within the NHL? How have you seen other colleagues or, you know, pro sports are a copycat league, try to model what you guys are doing here in South Florida, if they’re able to? I don’t know, I wasn’t here. No — I don’t look at it that way. When I interviewed, I said, “It needs to be a destination franchise. How is this not?” Right? So what do people like? Well, they like — something for everybody, there’s a lifestyle for single guys, for families, there’s schools, there’s of course the weather, South Florida rabid sports fans. The facilities, the support of the Violas, and that can’t be understated. When you have a boss who says, “There’s no consequence for failure,” that’s pretty empowering. And who then follows that up with guidance through the process, “Did you consider this,” or acts as a sounding board, and then provides us the resources to go out and do the things that we need to do, like this facility. So … we’re charged with winning, and that obviously is paramount. But I think in order to win, we have to do all those other things that you might be alluding to that sort of create the ability to say we hope to have a destination franchise. And we still have so much to improve on and so much to get better, all of us. And I think as soon as we lose sight of that, we’re sunk, but we won’t, because everybody wants to keep going, everybody wants to be better, and everybody’s appreciative.

Like you said, you’ve built a palace of a facility here, and there is the lifestyle and the schools and the weather, and all those things. … Paul’s gonna kill these guys for the next week. You don’t play an easy brand of hockey. It is an incredibly demanding style of hockey. And guys still — it’s hard, to be a Panther, I guess, and people might lose sight of that given the palace that’s here and all those things. Why do they wanna play this hard brand? I know hockey players are different by nature, but the guys who are here and have to go through this, and blocking shots and just the physicality and all those things, they don’t leave. What does that say about the overall culture, that you could go somewhere and play a much easier style and make kind of the same money or more in a lot of cases?

Winning. They want to give themselves a chance to win. It’s intoxicating, it’s something that if you work in this sport, it’s in your blood, for the most part, and you … you don’t want to win, you have to win. And in tandem with that is, that hate to lose. Everybody likes to win, it’s really fun! But are you willing to pay the price ‘cause, “I can’t stand losing, I can’t stand not doing as good a job as I think I could. I can’t stand not improving.” It’s just, it’s how they’re wired.

The track record here of finding players that not only excel here but just fit is well established. Could you talk a little bit about, go back to ’21 at the trade deadline when you get Sam Bennett, ’22 at the draft when you get Reinhart? What did you see in Bennett and Reinhart that you thought, “Gotta have these guys, these guys are gonna flourish,” or was it a little bit of a gamble?

Both of them, remember how high they were picked in the draft. So if you work in management in the NHL, it doesn’t even matter, we didn’t have any picks, but still had the book on the top ten guys for sure. It’s actually more than that, but… so their abilities were well-known. Their upside, anyway. And when you scouted them, and you looked, and you saw they both had character, they played hard, they were smart. Sam was up and down — oh, sorry, they’re both Sams. Benny was up-and-down throughout the lineup, Sam Reinhart was more of a consistent top-6 presence. But all of those attributes in tandem with their upside, and then the character checks out. So for our process, that’s how we go about finding those players. It’s no different than Carter or Tyler Motte in camp. It was the same process that we used for everybody.

Did you just think they would be able to unlock something, though? I mean, obviously Benny was playing fourth-line wing, and you moved him to second-line center, Reinhart, you gave him more of a consistent role.

I don’t think that we judge or evaluate players based on a single experience in a single franchise and how that player would currently be utilized in a season. To suggest we “unlock” something, I don’t know. We traded for a player we thought was good who could help us, and we put him in where we thought he would help us somewhere. We thought he might flourish. I think that’s — if I have to say that I’m proud of something, it’s that most of the players who have come here have had the best years of their career. Because Paul has the meeting with them, and you guys have heard about this, and says, “I need you to make mistakes. I need you to really screw up. A doozy. Yep. And then recover from it because, okay, you made a bad pass, we lost. We’ll be okay. We’ll be alright.” But what it does is it allows them to be the best players they can be, and then he utilizes them in a position to succeed. If you put me in the NBA and say, “Okay, you’re our starting center,” I have no chance. Maybe you put me on the outside and I can shoot a three, who knew. Paul’s ability, and actually the room’s ability, to support it — and I mentioned that it kind of started with Vinny [Viola]. There’s no consequence for failure, so, yeah, you’re gonna screw up. But let’s put you in a position to succeed based on your skillset to the extent we can, and move forward. And that’s what we do.

Have you looked at teams that have had your type of success and what they go through the next year, and whether you have or not, what do you think would be the biggest challenge, or some of the challenges for you, beyond the competition?

I read a lot of books. I read up on the different, sort of, whether it was Pat Riley’s books or… how do I forget this guy’s name… Bill Walsh has a book on how to run a sports franchise. It’s a lot of fun to read. He has it down, like, what time your meals are, curfew times and how to deal with someone who’s late for curfew. It’s a pretty complete book, and I don’t even think you can buy it, someone gifted it to me. It’s pretty neat. But we didn’t really look around. We just knew that if we put our processes in, and we believe and we trust in each other, it will be okay. We’re blessed that we have players who, I don’t even think buy-in is the right word. They just, they live it. And you have people of the character and consideration to others like Sasha — all of them! All of the guys. Like, I remember, was it three seasons ago, the Staal brothers at their exit meetings said to Paul and I, “We’ve never been on a team where nobody complained. About anything.” Pizza after the game wasn’t there, the bus is late, the plane went to the wrong city — I don’t know what it is, I’m making it up. Not a complaint. And then Paul, “I’ve never coached a team where nobody came to my office and asked about ice time.” Can’t be. But with those guys, it is.

Aleksander Barkov

It’s seven-year anniversary of you being named captain of the Panthers. Congrats. Looking back, obviously so much has happened in that time, the wins, the Cups, everything, and the room that’s been built in there with you and your alternate captains as well. What has, over this time, being captain of the Panthers meant to you?

A lot. Actually, I get to talk about it a little bit before, and obviously first year I was kind of like, thinking, what should I do now, should I be more vocal, should I be doing this and that. I decided I just want to be myself and just try and be example. I’m never gonna be the most vocal guy in the room or anywhere else, and so that’s kind of how I was and how I’ve been. Obviously, I learned more and more every single year. But having a team like that supporting me and helping me with everything, and adding more pieces every single year, like Chucky came in, he was a big leader right away, vocal, setting really good example on the ice. Like Reino, Marchy, all these guys. Ekky’s been with me for a long time, so we have great team, and it’s been a lot of fun being part of this.

If you win one Cup, that’s historic, obviously. When you win two… you have the chance to do something very, very rare. How much is that on your minds, knowing that you have not just the opportunity to win this year, which is the goal, but to do something that very few franchises have done?

That’s our goal every single year. Every team that comes after the summer, their goal is to win the Stanley Cup, and same with us. We know we won last year, two years ago. We know that, but every year is different, and I think it just doesn’t change for us, that we come in and we want to win. We want to win the Stanley Cup again, and it’s not about defending the Cup, it’s just winning. Of course, we don’t want to win the Stanley Cup today, and we’re not going to win it today. We have to work for it every single day from now on for, whatever, 300 more days, until there’s a chance to win it. So that’s our mindset. We just come in, and every single day, we put in the work toward that goal.

We haven’t had a chance to talk to you since everything happened on July 1. When Bennett re-signs, when Ekblad re-signs, when Marchand re-signs, when you see that Zito was able to keep all three, what was your reaction? How does it feel to see that you guys have all except for, I think, two guys who were on the ice for that Cup clincher back for this year?

Honestly, I think it was never a doubt that they will sign. In my mind, I just thought, it’s just gonna take some time, but they’ll be back, and that’s probably what everyone thought. Really happy. Really happy that they’re back. They’re crucial pieces of this organization moving forward, and to have them for a long time here is amazing. Those were great times and great moments, and to get to read about that, that they’re gonna stay, it was great.

Zito talked about how training camp’s gonna be a little different for you guys, the veterans, are going to be getting an extra week before the group sessions. … How much do you embrace the extra time before everything really starts picking up for you?

Yeah, I mean, it’s good. We all know we need to work hard. It’s not a week off, it’s not an extra week off. We still come in, we still have to do that stupid bike test. But it’s great, we get to work on the things that we maybe don’t get to work during the season, and that’s just one extra week of doing that, and that’s about it. We’ve been skating, everyone is back already, and we’ve been skaking together for a while already, and it just feels like we just going to keep continuing doing that.

Is that what you’re looking forward to least, going to that bike test

Every year. No, I was just kidding, obviously it’s also been big part of the coming in, in this team, you have to go all-out on that bike test, and it kind of sets the tone for the training camp. Of course it was a joke, so don’t take it too seriously.

You mention all the additions that Zito has brought in over the years … as a captain, how much easier is it for you to walk in on day one, and you know almost the entire team? They’re all coming back together, specifically this team from last year… how easy is that transition period going into the next season?

It just feels like it’s just continuing from last season, because almost everyone is back. That’s a great part of it. I don’t think it’s ever been like that during my time here. There’s always been some kind of change, some kind of five to six players always leaving. Here, it wasn’t that much, so it’s great. You walk into the room, like you said, everyone’s same faces. Couple new guys, which is also easier for them to come in and feels like they’ve been part of it already, for a long time.

Barky, obviously Chucky’s out for a bit here, but you look in that room, and yourself, Reinhart, Verhaeghe, all the names you’ve already listed, just how equipped is this team to weather the storm ‘til he’s back, just given all the talent you have in there?

Well, Chucky, you can’t replace that type of hockey player and person in the team. I think it’s just, everyone in the room just need to step up little bit more and play better and be better, but obviously you can’t replace that type of guy in any way. We’ll be happy when he’s gonna come back, hopefully very soon.

Sasha, in the twelve years you’ve been here, do you remember a moment where things started to maybe flip, where you started to feel like this could be a destination, a championship franchise, destination, and then how proud are you to have helped guide this franchise along the way like that?

To me, I feel like maybe it’s just me, but every year it’s been kind of progress, little progress, towards that. Obviously, a lot of players, management, have changed throughout those years. But I feel like every year we’ve been taking steps towards the right direction, and it was just matter of time when we become a team or organization who have a really good chance to win and to be a very successful team. It’s been like that for a long time now, like winning organization, and like you guys say, destination. Right now, I don’t really think about it, just have a lot of fun and enjoy every single day.

Mackie Samoskevich might have an expanded role, at least in the first half of this season. What did you see from him last year, in his first full year in the NHL, and are you excited to see a number 11 back on the ice?

With Mackie, it’s been a lot of fun, watching him develop since his day one in the organization. Even right now, in those skates, I don’t know how, but he got faster, he got stronger. He has the skill, he has the shot, he has the playmaking ability, and that kind of stuff, but physically he looks outstanding out there. I’m really excited to watch him, and must be the number.

Aaron Ekblad

How great is it not only to be back, but being back in a place that you’re familiar with, and not having to purchase a moving truck to go somewhere else?

Yeah, you said it. It’s as good as it gets. I’m extremely happy, very excited, could potentially be a Florida Panther for nineteen years, if all goes smoothly. I’m honored, I’m very proud of the time I’ve spent here and what we’ve been able to accomplish, and we’ll be able to do a lot more in the next eight years, hopefully.

That said, coming into last year, I’m sure that was a weight on your shoulder that maybe you didn’t want to admit throughout the year, the contract stuff. How great is it to just have that off your shoulders and just play hockey?

There’s something to be said about that weight, too, and placing that on yourself. I honestly want to continue with that pressure of not letting my foot off the gas pedal, so to say. I liked it, I enjoyed it. It wasn’t a bad thing. I think it was a good thing for me and my career, and I’ll be continuing to put that pressure on myself daily.

Most players go through what you’re going through this year one time. You were able to experience all this last year. How much does that help, having already negotiated a short offseason, a season after winning the Cup, a season of celebration — how much does that help now with the process starting from now, mentally and physically?

Yeah, experience counts. On the ice, off the ice, in these situations, in playoff runs. I think it helps tremendously. This one has felt extremely short. I’m not sure if it’s the five or six weddings I had to go to this summer, but it might have been a little bit of that. A lot of traveling and whatnot. I’m happy to have been here now for at least a couple, two, three, four weeks, but to be able to go through it before, the experience definitely counts in this situation.

Do you diversify the gifts when you go to a half dozen weddings, or is there a standard one that you just kind of go to?

Oh, yeah, just a thousand a head cash, get it done, be done with it. Yeah, no. You know what, I think I got Benny some bottles of wine, so that was about all that was different from most.

What sense of security does that give you, knowing you can be without some key guys and still find ways?

Most of the time it’s me!

I wasn’t going there, but okay —

[Laughter.] Yeah, so I’ll have to take some tips from the guys on how to deal with that, not having guys in the lineup. We’ve done it plenty of times before. We have an extremely deep team, which is really nice. We feel like we’ll be able to compete with or without them, but obviously excited to get them back, as soon as they can.

You mentioned how much time you could potentially be here, 19 years. You’ve seen some really, really good times, and some rocky times. What has it been like to experience the transformation, especially, did you ever envision the chance of winning back-to-back Stanley Cups here?

There’s always the hope, but you never know if it’ll become reality, and looking back on it now, it’s hard to believe that you didn’t know it was going to happen. We’re extremely proud of what we’ve built here. It’s been an incredible journey, and to be a part of it from the very beginning is special, and I’ll hold onto that forever.

Last year, when you guys came into camp, the talk was, “Hey, let’s do it again. Why not? Why not us?” kind of thing. What’s the attitude this year? Is there talk about, I mean, everybody’s going to be talking threepeat. Are you guys talking about it internally, or is it just off to the side?

I mean, we’re always going to talk about it. And I felt like we talked about it, whether it was in the media or in the room, quite often when we were talking about last year and trying to do it again. I don’t think there’s any reason to shy away from it. That’s our goal, and we’re gonna fight for that goal every day. I think it’s better to talk about it than be anxious and hiding it. It’s what we want to do, so we’re going to go get it.

Piggybacking off that, the last six teams to go back-to-back have failed in their quest for a threepeat. The last to do it was the Islanders in the 80s. The idea of lore, and being in the history books and NHL, and forty years from now, you being the last team potentially to win three in a row. Are you aware or cognizant of where this team, this group, would be in NHL history should you accomplish the next one?

Absolutely. That’s something we’ve definitely thought about. You could go down in all-time history as one of the great teams. That’s a driving factor. At the end of the day, there are things you can control, and we’re pretty damn good at controlling them, but there’s things you can’t, like health and luck and whatnot. We’re gonna do the best we can as a team to do as much damage as we can.

Since we’re on the subject, what are the challenges you guys are going to have to threepeat beyond health, beyond a good team rising up on the other side. I mean internally, have you thought about this, and what do you think will be the challenges?

Yeah, I think mentally, for sure. We’ve played in a Stanley Cup final game 7, we’ve played in back-to-back finals — sorry, in three finals in a row. There’s a lot of mental fatigue that comes with that, and you don’t feel that fatigue in the playoffs, in my opinion. You might feel it in the middle of the season, in the dog days. It’s important I think, those mental hurdles are going to be the most difficult, but nothing we haven’t experienced before, so I feel good about the way our team can navigate it.

This year, there will be dog days, obviously, but last year there was Four Nations, this year for a lot of guys on this team, hopefully you, too, there’s going to be an Olympics. How much can that carrot in the middle of a season alleviate those dog days?

Certainly, a heavy motivator is trying to play for that Olympic team, and that’s gonna be an extreme focus for me. It’s something that I take with me, I heard Marchand say it the other day, it’s something he takes with him into the gym every day. I have the same mindset, and would love to make that team, and that’s definitely going to be a motivating factor on a Wednesday night back-to-back, there’s no doubt about it. And I think it’s okay to use that. I feel good about using that. You can draw on anything for a motivating factor in the tough times during a season.

Sam Bennett

Sam, what did you learn last year about what it takes to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, and what do you hope that you guys can take from that as you go in for an attempt to threepeat?

I learned it wasn’t easier than the first time. If anything, it was harder. Just knowing that and preparing for that, of how hard it’s going to be to win again, I think just that experience is going to be great for our group. And obviously having so many guys from last year and the previous year as well, all that experience is going to do nothing but help us.

Does the start of this season feel similar to the start of [last] season, or does each year seem like it has its own unique identity when you kick things off?

I think it’s got a similar feel right now, to last year, but every season’s different. There’s going to be different challenges, different injuries, and whatever else is going to come our way. I’m sure we’re going to have a lot of different challenges, but I think we know that we’re not going to have any easy games. Teams are going to be ready for us this year, and every game, we’re going get the team’s best game. I think that’s going to help us, that’s going to help us make sure we’re not getting complacent at all, and being prepared for every night. It’s going to be a challenge this year, but this team is certainly ready for it.

Considering that you, Aaron, and Brad, were all in the last year of your contracts, how much did you guys discuss it together, the prospect of, “Okay, we’re all not bleeping leaving,” basically?

We talked about it, we obviously — all of our goals was to stay with Florida and be here for as long as we could, but we didn’t know how it was gonna get done. We never talked numbers or anything like that, but we talked about, “Hey, how incredible would it be if all three of us got to stay?” We didn’t know it was possible. I’m still just in awe that it got done, but it’s pretty amazing that we all got to come back here, and I think we all realized how special this group is, and we know we have the chance to do something special here for quite awhile. Everyone wants to be a part of that, and you can just tell by the willingness for everyone to try and stay here.

Last year, you guys had a couple months without Chucky on the ice. He’s going to be out a couple months to start this year. What didyou learn about what this team can still do without him healthy, and what does he do to keep himself involved in the day-to-day action when he’s not on the ice every night?

Not having Chucky for a couple months is never a great thing. He’s a huge part of this team, not only as an incredible player but as a leader. But he’s one of the best at staying upbeat, staying positive, staying around the guys. He’s always in the locker room chirping the guys and doing some pranks and whatever. He’s a really important part of this group, so we’re going to have to step up, and guys are going to have to step up for the first couple of months while he’s out, but there’s a lot of good players on this team, so we certainly have a lot of depth to try and fill that hole as much as we can.

On that note, Sam, you had some real good chemistry … with Mackie Samoskevich last year. If it winds up being he’s on one of your wings, how excited are you for him, and what do you think his ceiling is?

Yeah, I’m really excited. I’m really hopeful that I’m playing with him to start the year. Even in the skates we’ve had the last couple of practices, I think everyone’s been in, like, “Mackie looks really good right now.” He looks great, he’s flying out there, and his ceiling is — I don’t even know where it is. He’s an incredible player, and I think once he really realizes how good he can be, it’s going to make him that much better of a player. I’m excited to hopefully get to play with him and watch his game grow this year, because I think it’s going to be a really good year for him.

Sergei Bobrovsky

This offseason, the Panthers added [Daniil] Tarasov. How excited are you to be in that with him this season, you have a little history going back to Russia with his family.

Yeah, it’s knd of like a unique situation. I follow his dad, his dad was my idol, and now I play with his son when I’m older guy. It’s a unique situation and I’m excited, so excited to be with him, to help him, and just help him develop his game. Both of us gonna trying to help team to win the games.

For you, how was your offseason, what did you do, did you change anything up routine-wise, or how did you handle — especially now that you’ve had a third consecutive short offseason, how do you approach those to make sure you’re ready when everything starts up tomorrow?

I had a good summer. I was focused on the mental side of it. My goal was to clean everything up, to clear everything up and get ready for the season, and especially mentally, to be excited, to be fresh, and not thinking much about hockey. I thought I did a good job with it. I felt like the summer was so long for me, and I’m so excited to be back. I’m so excited to see everybody, the guys, coaches. I’m so excited to be here in this facility, locker room, everything. I’m hungry and happy and appreciated for the situation that in front of us.

Have you thought about your future and how much longer you want to play and how much longer you want to keep doing this?

I feel good. Physically, mentally, I feel I’m in my prime, and I’m happy and excited about that, too. As far as, about the future, I don’t think much, to be honest. Again, I’m happy to be here, and it doesn’t really matter for this moment what happens after this season. I’m excited, I’m in a great team, with the great people surround me, and I just wanted to take the whole advantage of this moment and don’t think much about future or past.

You guys are in the exact same situation as a year ago. How much does that help, having already done this once, being the defending champions and now doing that again?

The experience definitely helps, but we start from zero again. It’s going to be a process. We have to, there will be lost of challenges, we have to overcome them together. We have to bring — we have to get together again and build the chemistry, and all that stuff. And again, it’s exciting part, there is a good team still, that we’re gonna play against, and good players. Lots of things has to come together, and we know that, we’re excited about that, and right now, it’s about the, get back and start training, and start building that chemistry and building that belief that we can do it again.

To get to the level you’re at, is there anything you had to learn? Anything in particular you can really put to words, over the years, what you had to learn to reach this level?

It’s a process, so I been in hockey long time. You learn, you live, you learn. Sometimes, maybe the worst part of your, when it’s feels like your worst or lowest, maybe it’s best for you. And one thing that you have to do, you have to belief. I’m religion person, I’m Orthodox, I believe in God, and I do believe that everything happens for good. There is sometimes, it looks like it’s over, but you have to believe and make the next step and just be humble, work, and be honest. You have some control, but not all of the control, so that’s why you have to believe in the process you are in. And sometimes it’s, you don’t know. That’s why it’s so important to be in the moment, to be in this day, and fully appreciate what you have in your hands, and don’t think much about everything else.

You talk about the excitement of getting back after spending the summer trying to mentally get away from hockey. When you think about getting back, and when you’re back here, what makes you most excited?

I would say everything. Everything about the — I not trying to think about the highlights, you know. I like the routine. I like the simple things, to do them over and over and find the fun part in it. Just the little details, trying to polish them. And as you said, it’s putting the gear on, being around with the guys, little jokes, get my before practice routine warm up and all stuff, cooldown. Everything, I would say, it’s just the professional hockey player that’s makes me excited.

You’ve always had a good relationship with your backups or co-goalies. With Tarasov, how much have you guys worked out together, and what are you thinking that — he kind of, some bumps in the road in his NHL career with Columbus. How do you think that he’s gonna fit in here with Florida, and how well do you think you guys are going to work together?

Yeah, he’s a good goalie. He got the good size, he got the good reflexes, he reads the game well. I think he gonna have a good time here. Team is good in front of him, and again, I’ll also looking forward to build our relationship. Because one is the story of with dad and him, and then other thing is to build the really working relationship. And that’s so important, especially I feel like it’s a big thing for the team to see that both goalies are have a good relationships, we are there for the team and the guys.

Do you have a target number of games that you would like to play this year to be in the best possible condition for the playoffs?

I always wanted to play all of them. I been this way whole my life, but I learn to listen the people, too, like Tally [Rob Tallas] did a great job with it. I give him big credit for how he manage me, with the rest and the workload. I wish I can play them all, but he’s a very good specialist to know how to do it, what’s better, how to plan it proper way. I focus only one moment at a time, one day at a time, but he look at the big picture and he help with it a lot.

Brad Marchand

Looking at the time here so far, what stands out about the organization and excites you about the future?

What really stood out to me about the organization was just their dedication to wanting to be the best. I was really impressed coming in with their attention to detail in everything that they do. You never question any decision, you can see that it’s always in the best interest of the team or the players to try and help them win, to try to put them in the best position to succeed. You can just tell that they’re going above and beyond to make sure that the team has every asset available to them, every position, everyone in every position just seems like they’re the best at what they do. There’s a complete buy-in through the whole organization to want to have success and to succeed. It’s impressive coming in and seeing that.

When we asked Bill Zito about bringing you back, bringing Bennett and Ekblad back, he didn’t take any credit. He said it was all you guys that made that happen. How would you describe your mentality, the approach to that process, and why it was so important to remain a Florida Panther?

It completely comes at the hands of Bill and the ownership. It’s nice of him to say that, but it’s not true. He’s the one that made that happen, the ownership’s the one that made it all happen. The way that they were able to make it all work, with everyone coming back, was pretty impressive. I honestly didn’t think there was a chance of it happening, I did not expect to be a Panther this year, if I’m being completely honest. I just didn’t think that it could work with everybody. So the fact that they were able to make it work, when Bill called and told me that he wanted to make it work, I was ecstatic. I wanted to be part of this group, and I loved every second of being here after I got traded. But I’m a realistic person, and when I look at it and I look at the cap position and everything, I just didn’t think it was possible. But I’m extremely happy that not only I was able to be here, but… Benny and Ekky were two of the guys that I got closest with on the team, so I was thrilled that they were coming back. I think one of the things that you look at the group, we’re gonna be together for a long time. It feels incredible as a player to know that you’re gonna be a part of a group that’s gonna be competing every year to win a Stanley Cup.

Were you equally surprised that — there was speculation you were gonna take one year, two year, whatever — the fact that you got a six-year commitment from here that would take you, I think, to forty-two? Three? Something like that.

Well, I mean, there was speculation, but I was never gonna take a one- or two-year deal, even a three-year deal. That just wasn’t in the cards. I had a goal of what I wanted to be. I wanted to play as long as I could, and that was the goal that I had in the summer. It’s part of why it didn’t work out in Boston — it’s the main reason it didn’t work out in Boston. So all that speculation around it, you call a spade a spade, if we were not in a non-tax state, it wouldn’t have worked out probably for two guys. Two guys probably would have been leaving in that situation. So that’s a benefit this team has, we were able to utilize and make work. But I’m thrilled to be here for the next six years, and like I said — I’ve said this before, it’s a gift to play in this league. It’s a privilege, it’s not a given, and when it’s done, it’s done, you never get to do it again. One of my coaches early on told me, and I’ll forever live by that, I wanna play ‘til I get kicked out of the league. It’s hard to walk away from this, it’s all I’ve ever known and all I’ve ever wanted to do, and I’ve always felt like it’d be an injustice to my younger self, the one that always hoped and dreamed to be in the NHL, to walk away from it before I couldn’t play anymore. That was the goal, to make sure I could play as long as I could, and very honored and proud and thankful that the Violas and Billy gave me that opportunity.

On the no-tax thing, was that prevalent in your negotiations, and do you think that that is as big of a deal as some people like to make it seem?

Yeah, it is. It’s absolutely a benefit to, okay, I mean, for instance if you go to a Canadian team, it needs to be 15% more on a contract to be the same as what it is here. Does it matter for every player? No. But if you’re now dealing — now, with the contracts you’re looking at, it’s absolutely going to take place, or it’s gonna be something that you look at. It wasn’t, probably, as big of a factor back when some teams weren’t as competitive or weren’t run as well, ‘cause that is the main thing. You care about the hockey, you care about the organization. You’re not gonna walk into a non-tax state if the team’s not run well, or if they’re a bad team, but that’s just not the case anymore. These non-tax state teams are some of the best-run teams in the league, so they’re the teams you want to play for, just because of the ownership and the management, and how they approach the day-to-day game. You want to be a part of that, and they’re all contending teams now. So when you look at the teams that you want to play for, they’re great organizations now, they’re great contending teams, and they’re the best places to live, and then you add the non-tax on top of it, it’s an opportunity for teams to look at, okay, you can pay some of the best players in the game couple million dollars left, and they still net more money than the highest-tax state teams, and they’re able to spread that around and bring more players in. You can’t say it’s not a benefit, it absolutely is, but it’s not on every contract, it’s not for every player. But now with the way that they’re all contending teams, guys are just willing to take less to come here and be part of it and have a great lifestyle.

You talked about the privilege of playing in the NHL, savoring it. I remembered in the playoffs last year you said, as things were going on, you kind of regret not doing more of that throughout your career. Now as you kick off year one of six with the Panthers, how are things going to be different for you in that aspect?

Yeah, I just try not to take things as serious. There’s a time and place where you gotta enjoy and not think that it’s the end of the world when games don’t go your way or you’re maybe not performing at your best. Obviously, there’s a way to work through that and there’s a time and place to focus on it, but a lot of times I’ll let it consume my whole life at home, and you take that burden home with you or into other areas of your life, and it just weighs on you. Trying to have fun. I think guys could see throughout the run last year, and even here now, I think I just got to have fun with things a lot more and enjoy every moment, ‘cause you don’t know when you’re gonna have moments like we had last year and how long this stuff can last. Yeah, just trying to embrace it, have fun with it. For me, it’s a lot of joking around and kind of having fun with things like that, but obviously there’s a time and place to work and compete, and I think that’s one of the greatest things about this group. They’re an incredibly hardworking team, which allows you to have a lot more fun in all areas of the game and in the room and stuff, just because you know you’re working and you’re competing at the highest level, and with that, you can bring more fun into it.

You’ve been on a team that won the Stanley Cup and then had to try to defend it. What did you learn from that experience that you’re gonna try to take into this year?

I think one of the bigger things is that you have a massive target on your back, and not just because of last year, but the last few years. Every team now knows that we’re a legit contending team again, and we’re very deep, so you’re gonna get every team’s best every single night. So you can’t take nights off thinking it’s gonna be easy. This is a very unique situation after a team has been to the finals three years in a row. There’s only been a few teams in the last 25, 30 years that have done that. There’s gonna be a lot of management, load management, stuff like that. More, I think, the mental grind’s gonna come into play. I’m just a young buck, so probably not for me, but for everybody else. Yeah, I think it’s honestly just about making sure we just reset and understand that we gotta start from ground zero, build a foundation again. We are in a great spot because we don’t have many new faces and there’s a comfortability throughout the group in the system and everything, but there’s gonna be different hurdles that we’re gonna face this year as a group that we didn’t even face last year, and things that are gonna come up. Adversity is always great for a group, and I love the people that we have in our room. I believe that we have the ability to move through that and face it together, and that’ll help build our game stronger. There’s gonna be a lot of challenges this year, but I think we’re gonna embrace that and be excited about it and try to build something and do something that teams haven’t been able to do in many, many years.

What’s it gonna be like starting a training camp with a new team for the first time in your career, and what did you learn about South Florida, the Panthers, the whole experience, since the trade deadline six months ago?

Learned you get a great tan down here. [Laughter.] No, I have been very impressed with this fanbase. I’ve been blown away with the support that the team gets. I did not expect that, coming from a huge hockey market. I thought we’d come down here and no one would really know about the team… but there’s a massive market down here for the team. Fans love it, and it’s incredible to see. I was blown away with the support. It’ll be really nice to start from day one here. Building the foundation of your team from training camp is a huge part of the season, it’s a huge part of team success. Having relationships with the guys already, just feeling very comfortable — it took me a while to get comfortable, coming in last year. It really wasn’t until playoffs, I said that before, but [now] I feel great from day one. I’m really looking forward to getting underway and seeing what training camp and the testing and all that stuff is like here. We have such a great group from ownership down to trainers, players, coaches, everybody involved, and like I said, when you have the group that we have and that we’re gonna have for a long time, there’s a lot of excitement in the room and a lot of excitement about the potential to do it again. I don’t think there’s anybody that’s complacent. There’s a lot of drive in the room right now, and that’s special. You don’t see that often.

There’s a lot of ways to approach a threepeat, or — some teams would maybe back away from it, saying it’s a long way away, a long season, but you guys seem to embracing the idea of, and I’m just curious, is that inside the team? Is it an open conversation, or how are you guys dealing with that?