The Florida Panthers are once again the Stanley Cup champions. After winning it all in 2024, they somehow got better, or at least it looked that way in the playoffs as they dominated the competition, culminating in a six-game Cup Final victory against the Edmonton Oilers.
Related: Panthers Close Out Oilers in Game 6 to Win Second-Straight Stanley Cup
It’s easy to look at the Oilers, fresh off their loss, and say they must make significant changes to close the gap. That’s not the case. The same applies to the other three teams the Panthers defeated in the playoffs. The Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Toronto Maple Leafs are close to knocking them off their pedestal and winning a title of their own, as crazy as that seems right now.
4. Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning are the one team in the group that’s in trouble. It’s because they have a top-heavy roster with glaring weaknesses and no solutions. They’ll be a playoff team next season with Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, and a strong core playing at a high level but inevitably run into the Panthers and lose in a series that won’t be close.
The problem is that they have no path to snap out of this slow decline, and they are on track to become the next Pittsburgh Penguins if things don’t change. The Lightning tried to patch up some issues with the Jake Guentzel signing but ultimately, they must rebuild the farm system to compete with the Panthers again. It’s what helped them become a juggernaut earlier in the decade and will make them a team to beat again.
Oddly enough, the Lightning are a mini-preview of what the Panthers might become over time. They were the model franchise in the NHL before the Panthers arrived, winning the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021 while appearing in the final four times in eight seasons. However, their decline started once they paid their core or star players, and that’s something the other team in South Florida must eventually address.
3. Carolina Hurricanes
If the Panthers are the team to beat in the NHL, the Hurricanes are the team to beat in the Metropolitan Division. They reached the Eastern Conference Final for the second time in three seasons and are a well-built organization, but the problem is they are no match for the Panthers, who swept them in the 2023 Eastern Conference Final and took care of them in five games this time around.
The good news for the Hurricanes is that the talent is there, aside…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…