TONY’S TAKE – 2025 STANLEY CUP FINAL PREVIEW

by Tony Fiorello

SUNRISE, FL - JUNE 24: Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov (16) celebrates with the Stanley Cup following game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers on Monday, June 24, 2024 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla. (Photo by Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The 2025 Stanley Cup Final begins on Wednesday night and – at least on paper – this year’s edition is shaping up to be a compelling matchup for multiple reasons.

The Florida Panthers, a team that has been among the better squads in the National Hockey League over the last few years, are winners of the Prince of Wales Trophy for the fourth time in their history and are in the Final for the third consecutive season. Thanks to series wins over the Tampa Bay Lightning (five games), Toronto Maple Leafs (seven) and Carolina Hurricanes (five), Florida is also attempting to repeat as Cup champions.

Meanwhile the Clarence Campbell Bowl-winning Edmonton Oilers are in the Final for the second straight season and are aiming to take home the Cup for a sixth time, but their first since 1990. They got here by defeating the Los Angeles Kings in six games, beating the Vegas Golden Knights in five and knocking out the Dallas Stars in five, and appeared in the Western Conference Final for the third time in four years.

It doesn’t get much better than this. Here’s the scoop on each team going into Game One:

RALEIGH, NC - MAY 28: The Florida Panthers pose with the Prince of Wales Trophy after defeating the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Final of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Lenovo Center on May 28, 2025 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Josh Lavallee/NHLI via Getty Images)

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Florida Panthers (47-31-4, 98 points)

Florida is playoff-bound for the sixth straight year (the first time in franchise history that’s happened). Coach Paul Maurice and general manager Bill Zito lead a team bolstered at forward by Selke Trophy-winner Alex Barkov, power forward extraordinaire Matthew Tkachuk and ex-Buffalo Sabre Sam Reinhart.

They’re supplemented by quality depth in a clutch scorer in Carter Verhaeghe, two-way menace Sam Bennett, grinder Evan Rodrigues and one of the NHL’s best third lines made up of former Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand, Anton Lundell and Eetu Luoststarinen. The Panthers’ talent base has been exceptional this spring as 19 different players have scored for Florida in the postseason.

Defensively the Panthers boast names such as Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, Seth Jones (who has replaced Brandon Montour as the team’s power play quarterback) and Niko Mikkola. Sergei Bobrovsky remains one of the NHL’s better options in net for a team that was 15th in scoring and 14th with the man advantage, but 10th on the penalty kill and seventh in goals given up.

DALLAS, TX - MAY 29: The Edmonton Oilers pose in front of the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl after winning game 5 of the Western Conference Final between the Dallas Stars and the Edmonton Oilers on May 29, 2025 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Edmonton Oilers (48-29-5, 101 points)

Edmonton continues to blossom in the Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl era, and the all-world duo (who each had over 100 points again) isn’t doing it alone. With Zach Hyman (out for the Final after wrist surgery), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Adam Henrique, Connor Brown, Viktor Arvidsson and Corey Perry in tow, the Oilers have good secondary scoring threats as well and ex-Sabres Evander Kane and Jeff Skinner can also put the puck in the net. Mattias Janmark, Vasily Podkolzin, Trent Frederic and Kaspari Kapanen provide grit on the team’s bottom-two lines.

The Oilers are held down on the rear by defenders Evan Bouchard (one of the league’s best scoring threats from the blue line) and Mattias Ekholm. Darnell Nurse, Jake Walman, Brett Kulak, John Klingberg, Troy Stecher and Ty Emberson give the team solid play in their own zone. Stuart Skinner – who has been up-and-down in net – and Calvin Pickard have split time in goal for head coach Kris Knoblauch and new general manager Stan Bowman.

The Oilers, for the first time in a long time, don’t have an elite power play – they were just 12th in that category this year (which is low by their standards) and they were 16th on the penalty kill while 11th in scoring and 16th defensively. Similar to the Panthers, they tied a franchise record (1985 vs. Chicago) with 14 different goal scorers in a playoff series when they accomplished the feat against Dallas – a sign of great depth.

STATS AND MUSINGS

·         According to Arda Ocal of ESPN, each team from the state of Florida have gotten to the Final as many times as Canadian teams have since 1993 (nine). They’ve also reached the Final six years in a row – it’s the fourth time a state/province Cup Final streak has gone this long, joining Quebec (Canadiens 1950-60), Alberta (Oilers/Calgary Flames 1983-90) and New York (Rangers and Islanders 1979-84) – and it’s also the sixth year in a row in which an NHL market from a state without state income tax has gotten this far.

·         No Canadian team has won the Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in ’93 (the Great White North has gone 0-7 since then) and no one has repeated as Cup champions since the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and ’17.

·         2025 will mark the 44th time in the last 45 seasons in which an NHL teammate of future Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr will play in the Final (Barkov and Ekblad were teammates of Jagr’s with the Panthers from 2015-17).

·         The Oilers will try to be the just the fourth team since 1984 – and just the seventh in the expansion era (1968) – to win the Cup one year after losing in the Final. The 1983-84 Oilers, 2008-09 Penguins and last year’s Panthers are the others to do so in the last 40-plus years.

·         Additionally, it’s the first rematch in back-to-back years in the Finals since Pittsburgh and Detroit in 2008 and ’09. The others in the expansion era include the Oilers and New York Islanders in 1983 and ’84, Montreal and Boston in 1977 and ’78 and Montreal and the St. Louis Blues in 1968 and ’69.

·         Four of the last 10 Presidents Trophy winners have won the Cup in future years – the Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning, Colorado Avalanche and the Florida Panthers have all done so.

·         It is also the 10th consecutive year an Original Six team won’t win the Cup. According to Josh Dubow of the Associated Press, the previous such drought lasted six years (1980-85, 1987-92).

·         This year’s Final will be the second ever to feature each of the first four picks from the same draft class playing in at least one game for either team (Draisaitl, Reinhart, Bennett and Ekblad).

·         21 years ago, the last Final to be played before the 2004-05 year-long lockout featured the Lightning and Calgary Flames. Now their in-state/provincial rivals will face off for a second straight year.

·         Knoblauch has become the 11th coach to take a team to consecutive Finals in his first two years with one team.

·         Perry has become the first player ever to play in the Final for five different franchises (Anaheim Ducks, Dallas, Montreal, Tampa Bay and now Edmonton). He’s also appearing in the Final for the fifth time in the last six years.

·         For the second straight year the matchup between the Oilers and Panthers will be the furthest distance in league history between two cities. According to ESPN Stats and Information, it’s a distance of 2,541 miles – the previous record-holder was the 2011 Final between Boston and Vancouver (2,499 miles).

·         McDavid is one of six players all-time to have recorded 30 or more points in a postseason multiple times, along with Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Mario Lemieux and Nikita Kucherov.

·         He’s also become the second-fastest man ever get to 100 career playoff assists (90 games – only Gretzky did it faster in 70) and his next playoff point will give him 144 total. McDavid is 41st all-time in that category but he’s done it in 90 games – everyone else between 35th and 45th place needed at least 130 games to get that many.

·         McDavid also set a league record with 34 assists in one postseason a year ago, earning him the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. Heading into the Final, he also has the second-highest percentage of playoff games with two points or more all-time (50.6) – again, only the Great One stands between him and first place (51.9).

·         Hyman was originally drafted by Florida in 2010, then after not signing with them was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He’ll have a chance to get revenge against the Panthers this series.

·         Three ex-Buffalo Sabres are on the Panthers’ roster this year (Reinhart, Rodrigues and Dmitry Kulikov) while the Oilers have two (Kane and Skinner).

·         The Panthers have become the ninth NHL franchise all-time to reach the Final in three straight years, joining Montreal, Toronto, Detroit, Edmonton, New York Islanders, St. Louis, Tampa Bay and the Philadelphia Flyers. In fact, among teams in the four major sports, they’re just the fourth ever to reach their respective championship round in three straight years after not making it in any of the prior 25 seasons, joining the NBA’s Golden State Warriors (2015-19), Detroit Pistons (1988-90) and MLB’s Oakland Athletics (1972-74).

·         Edmonton has become the eight team since expansion began in 1967-68 to reach the Final after losing their first two games of that playoff. The other seven have all won the Stanley Cup.

·         Florida is the ninth team ever to win 30 straight playoff games when leading after two periods. They’re also the fifth Cup finalist in the last seven years that won’t have home-ice advantage in any series, and their plus-27 goal differential through 10 road playoff games is the largest ever.

PREDICTION

Oilers in seven. While the Panthers may be the better team in regards to goaltending talent and two-way play, Edmonton seems as if they’ve been on a mission since falling behind by two games to the Kings in the first round. Look for McDavid to complete his revenge tour and join the likes of Gretzky and Sidney Crosby as all-time greats who had to learn how to win a Cup one year and then take the next step the following season against the same team who beat them before.