Florida Panthers Have a Different Defensive Lineup This Time Around

The Florida Panthers will have a different defensive look than they had during last year’s Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers.

The additions of Seth Jones and Nate Schmidt to replace Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsson called for some adjustments in the defensive alignments but, according to coach Paul Maurice, nothing too drastic.

The top pairing of Gus Forsling and Aaron Ekblad remain the same. Niko Mikkola who was paired with Montour in last year’s meeting with Edmonton, is now with Jones.

Dmitry Kulikov, who played mainly with Ekman-Larsson last season is now with Schmidt.

With Ekblad returning to power play form, he and Jones are the No. 1 point pairing. Schmidt anchors the second unit.

Last season, it was Montour as the quarterback of the first unit and OEL in the second group.

During the regular season, the Panthers had 56 power play goals for 23.5 percent success rate.

It was seven fewer goals than the season before, but the exact same percentage based on the number of opportunities, despite the loss of Montour’s offensive skill.

The fortuitous late season acquisition of Jones, which required some creative cap juggling pending Matthew Tkachuk going on long-term injured reserve, could be the key to containing Edmonton’s explosive scorers.

“It was critical that in that we lost Brandon Montour last year and you can’t replace those guys easily and you couldn’t over the course of the summer,’’ Maurice said.

“[Montour is] an offensive guy that ran the power play, that could skate. So being able to fill that hole that we weren’t able to fill last summer, nor did we expect to be able to fill in the summer, was very important for us. Getting our back end to look a version of itself from last year.”

Maurice pointed out the similarities of the replacements: Jones and Montour are both elite skaters and strong offensive players; OEL and Schmidt are solid puck moving defensemen.

“Nate has some pretty good numbers for a defenseman,’’ Maurice said. “He’s put some points up this year. So we’ve kind of returned to form of last year by the additions. One we made in the summer [Schmidt] and then we had to wait on Seth.”

Schmidt had five goals and 19 points during the regular season. He has three goals in the playoffs so far.

Schmidt is no stranger to the Stanley Cup Final.

He was part of the inaugural Vegas Golden Knights team which surprisingly reached the Final in 2018.

The circumstances were considerably different then.

“When I was in Vegas, we were happy to be there,’’ Schmidt said. “This team has done it the last couple of years. Now you’re jumping aboard a well-oiled machine that believes they can do it again.

“Not that we didn’t have the belief then. It’s just a little different when you’ve got a team that’s been successful in this situation before.”

Edmonton has learned their lessons as well.

Like Florida, the defeat made them hungrier, and they are getting another opportunity.

They will be ready.

2025 STANLEY CUP FINAL

GAME 1

FLORIDA PANTHERS @ EDMONTON OILERS

Best-of-7 Series

• When: Wednesday, 8 p.m.
• Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton
• National TV: TNT/truTV 
• National Streaming: Max
• Radio: WQAM 560-AM; WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys), SiriusXM
• Radio Streaming: SiriusXM, NHL App
• Series Schedule (all games at 8 p.m., TNT) — Game 1: @Edmonton Wednesday; Game 2: @Edmonton Friday; Game 3:@Florida Monday; Game 4: @Florida, Thursday June 12; Game 5*: @Edmonton, Saturday June 14; Game 6*: @Florida, Tuesday June 17; Game 7*: @Edmonton, Friday June 20.
• Regular Season (Panthers won 2-0) — At Florida: Panthers 4, Oilers 3 (Feb. 27). At Edmonton: Panthers 6, Oilers 5 (Dec. 16).
• How They Got Here: Edmonton d. Los Angeles (6), Vegas (5), Dallas (5); Florida d. Tampa Bay (5), Toronto (7), Carolina (5)
• Postseason History: Florida Won 2024 Stanley Cup Final 4-3
• All-time Regular Season Series: Oilers lead 23-18-0, 3 ties