It Has Been One Hell of a Month for the Florida Panthers

Hard to believe it has only been a month since the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup, eh?

It has certainly been a hard month.

A month ago, the Panthers started off their day with a light morning skate in Fort Lauderdale before facing the media and having to talk about the potential indignity of blowing a 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final.

“For both of us, at one point of the series, we lost three games. It doesn’t matter how you draw it up,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “They lost the first three, we lost the next three. It’s even right now and it doesn’t matter what has happened to get to this point. It’s easy to forget. You forget everything that has happened this whole season, really, just focusing on one game at home.

“How can you not be so jacked up for this? This is an absolutely incredible, incredibly opportunity. You want to recognize and remember some of the good things that helped you beat these guys earlier in the series, but I’m trying to forget all of it and go in there and try to win this one game. That’s what it comes down to.”

Y’all know how that story ended.

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The Panthers ended that day in a wild celebration — one that has slowed down, sure, but is still ongoing.

Just this week, the Stanley Cup visited the Edmonton area with now-former Florida defenseman Josh Mahura bringing it to his hometown of St. Albert on Monday.

The Cup was on its way back east after senior advisor Les Jackson enjoyed his day with it in Saskatchewan.

Senior advisor Rick Dudley treated the fine folks of Lewiston, N.Y., to a glimpse of the big silver trophy, holding a public party at a brewpub near Niagara Falls on Tuesday.

Today, former Florida defenseman Brandon Montour is bringing the Stanley Cup home to Ontario for a parade and celebration in Six Nations of the Grand River which starts at 1 p.m.

It will end the week with Sam Reinhart in Vancouver.

The Stanley Cup will be headed to Finland and Sweden next month.

On Tuesday, Finnish President Alexander Stubb met with his Florida Panthers: Sasha Barkov, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Niko Mikkola, and assistant coach Tuomo Ruutu.

Barkov gave President Stubb a signed jersey. Barkov, of course, is the first Finnish captain to ever hoist the Stanley Cup.

“An honor to host our Finnish Stanley Cup winners. Great gang,” President Stubb wrote on his Instagram account. “We are so proud of you guys.

The Panthers have crammed a lot of partying and celebration into the four weeks which have followed their championship — but they have also been getting some work done.

Reinhart ended up signing an eight-year extension to stay with the Panthers, Dmitry Kulikov and Lundell getting new contracts as well.

Florida lost a number of players to free agency due to its salary cap situation, but added a slew of new players as well.

This is the slow period in hockey, with free agency signings and trade speculation on the backburner as players and executives enjoy some downtime before things start to ramp up in about a month.

The Panthers, certainly, are enjoying their down time more than others.

It certainly is well deserved.

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UP NEXT FOR THE FLORIDA PANTHERS

• NHL Free Agency: Opened July 1
• Florida Panthers Training Camp, Fort Lauderdale: Mid-September
• Florida Panthers Preseason: Sept. 22-Oct. 5
• Florida Panthers Opening Night/Banner Unveiling: Oct. 8 vs. Bruins