FORT LAUDERDALE – This season is officially in the books.
While this year’s campaign wasn’t what the Florida Panthers had wanted or expected, there is one thing for certain -- the two-time Stanley Cup champions are going to use this summer to get ready to come in firing on all cylinders in 2026-27.
Following the team’s locker room clean out at Baptist Health IcePlex on Thursday, head coach Paul Maurice, President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Zito, captain Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand, and Anton Lundell spoke ahead of the offseason.
Here are some of the things they had to say.
PAUL MAURICE
“There are lessons here, and we have to find them.” – On learning from the season
“They’re excited about the rest for recovery and to be better. It’s not I want to get out of this room, and I don’t want to think about hockey. That’s not what they’re saying. They’re saying I can’t wait to get some rest so we can get after it again. They see this block of time as a springboard.” – On players being excited to get ready for next season
“It’s only a lost year if we allow it to be a lost year.” – On using the year as a positive going forward
“I know our organization better right now because of how the last two months have been.” – On being able to see call ups in the lineup
“I would like it to send a message, actually, to our fans, and that would be a thank you. It was a tough year. Our fans have been coming to the rink, and it’s been growing in numbers. They’ve seen some pretty darn exciting hockey for the last few years, and we couldn’t deliver that, but you couldn’t tell.” – On finishing the season on a high note
BILL ZITO
“It’s a little bit of a different type of post season than we had all hoped for and expected, but it is what it is. We move forward, we think forward for certain, and we’re going to use this experience to better.” – On continuing to move forward
“Now we prepare. We re-evaluate, and come up with some ideas, and reevaluate those ideas, and just keep doing it over and over. We’ll spend a significant part of the summer planning, reviewing, and there’s a lot of moving parts and what ifs, but we’ll get to the bottom of it.” – On planning for next season
“You’re ever mindful to the core that you have and being respectful to the collective. It’s not just change for change sake. It has to make it better. Whoever comes in the door has to be a good person. They have to fit the culture. They have to be a Panther.” – On roster construction
“The scheduling, the travel, how important it is just when you have that compressed tight schedule to have an even more detailed plan than we already have, and I think it's already pretty significantly detailed. Anybody who's traveled with us, knows it's driven by science.” – On a lesson learned during the season
“It's hard. I talked to him (Jonah Gadjovich) yesterday and he's just such a good guy and he really battled and it's just pretty significant. He had surgery on his neck and then comes back and he's trying hard and he has to get right. I'm actually proud of him for making sure that he's right. … He was pretty close a couple of times and then would have a setback, but through it all, he's been a wonderful teammate.” – On Jonah Gadjovich
BRAD MARCHAND
“Obviously, it was disappointing the way the year played out, but you definitely learn something about your group every year, regardless of how it goes. I love the guys' mindset every day. We knew we were fighting an uphill battle just with everything that the team was going through, the different guys that came up, and still the way that we came together, it obviously didn't go our way, and there was a ton of adversity. I love the way that we stuck together as a group and continued internally to try to find ways to get better and improve on our situation.” – On the team sticking together
“There are some things you can control and there's some things you can't. We have to take the things that are in our control, work extremely hard, which this team does. It's one of the hardest working groups I've ever seen or heard of.” – On the Panthers’ work ethic
“We have an unbelievable depth in our room. That hasn't changed.” – On the depth of the Panthers
“It's a great opportunity for guys to reset mentally, physically, and come back with even more hunger next year. I would say that maybe I'd be a little more disappointed about the year if we didn't have the group going on next year that we will have. We'll still be on paper one of, if not the best team in the league.” – On coming back strong next season
“Being in the National Hockey League, playing for the Viola’s and being part of this group, you realize when you're in an organization like this, how special it is and how lucky and how honored we should be. It's not like this everywhere. I was very fortunate to be part of a great organization before, but when I come in the room every day, I'm thankful and grateful.” – On being a part of the Panthers organization
ALEKSANDER BARKOV
“Every week it's been better and better. It's nice every single week when I step on the ice on Mondays to feel the progress. All the guys that I worked with this this year, starting with surgeons and our medical staff and strength staff, I'm in best possible hands here. I feel great.” – On his health status
“It's a big honor to represent Finland for me and one of those childhood dreams to win World Championships is a big goal for me too. Really excited about that and been working really hard to get in shape.” – On playing for Finland during World Championships
“It was crucial to be around them whenever they were here. Every day they were here, just to be around them, go to the games, spend time with them as much as possible, so of course that that helped a lot. I can't even imagine if I would have had to do it all by myself isolated from everyone. Of course it's not a great thing, but unfortunately we had a lot of injuries this year, so the gym was always full, and it was always fun to work with those guys.” – On being around the team while injured
“A lot of injuries from past years too carried on to this year and some of the guys played with them. Some of the guys couldn't, so a lot of time to heal those injuries.” – On the team recovering from injuries
“That's the most important thing. We have built a great culture here over the last few years. Even when things are not going well, even when there's a lot of losses and tough games that went the other way. Team just stuck together, kept working hard, kept working the right way. Never changed the way we play. That's going to be crucial moving forward too.” – On the culture of the locker room
ANTON LUNDELL
“We all love to play, so obviously we would want to be in a different situation. Even if we have had long seasons during the past three years, there's always that hunger to play more.” – On not being in the playoffs this year
“You've got to look where we are and just focus on the future, and that's what I'm going to do as well. I think it's good for me and good for the team to heal the injuries now, because we have a lot of them.” – On using offseason to recover and rehab
“I think for me it was a huge season. I learned a lot. I was able to step up. I was able to be one of the guys to rely on every single night and I'm always ready for more responsibility and I'm always ready to take that.” – On stepping up during the season
“It's a big honor to be able to go represent my country, play for the country, play for Finland in World Championships and I'm excited for that opportunity.” – On playing for Finland in the World Championships
“We're all excited for the future. We're all excited for next season. I feel like we have been through it, obviously twice, winning it, but one time going to the Final and losing it too. We know what it takes and I just think we're super excited to come back fresh and have a new start next season.” – On his excitement for the future
