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The Florida Panthers have won two consecutive Stanley Cups and are vying for a third. Shortly after lifting the trophy in 2025, they got to work, keeping Brad Marchand, Aaron Ekblad, and Sam Bennett in free agency. That sets them up for the first threepeat in the sport in over 40 years. Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe kept it simple when asked about winning a third straight Stanley Cup.
“Don't jinx it. No, that's the play,” Verhaeghe said when asked about the three-peat on Good Morning America, per George Richards of NHL.com. He made the television appearance with Ekblad, who spoke to reporters later in the day.
“We thought about winning it for a second straight year last year, too, so I am not going to think any differently this time around,” Ekblad said. “We don't think that thinking or talking about winning the Cup again is jinxing anything. I am preparing for the marathon that is an NHL season and the playoffs. I am preparing for it like another season.”
The Panthers are running it back, but could be without a key piece for parts of the regular season. Matthew Tkachuk missed a chunk of last regular season as well, and was not himself coming off a hernia injury. Elliotte Friedman reported that Tkachuk is set to miss time before the Olympics in February.
Other than that, there are only reasons to be optimistic for the Panthers. They are keeping mostly the same team while Mitch Marner departed for the Western Conference. Can they win a fourth straight conference title and a third straight Stanley Cup this season?
If they do, the Panthers would be the first NHL team to win three straight Stanley Cups since the 1980-83 Islanders won four in a row. They would be the first North American Big 4 team to win three straight titles since the 1998-00 Yankees.
