What the Blackhawks can learn from the Florida Panthers

One major part of rebuilding a franchise, like the Chicago Blackhawks are currently in the midsts of, is the NHL Draft. But winning Stanley Cup teams are not purely built through the draft.

The Florida Panthers captured its franchise first Stanley Cup Championship this past June, beating the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in Game 7 in Florida. For the Panthers, it was a moment to remember as the Stanley Cup resides in Florida for the first summer in the franchise 30 year history. The Panthers won with a roster constructed using the draft, free agency and trades — and the Blackhawks can learn a lot from their construction.

The Chicago Blackhawks can learn a lot from the Florida Panthers roster construction.

The Blackhawks 2013 and 2015 Stanley Cup rosters were riddled with Stanley Cup experience, mostly because the roster consisted of so many Hawks who had won the Cup previously. Even the 2010 Blackhawks had experienced winners, John Madden had won two Cups, and Tomas Kopecky and Andrew Ladd each won previously as well.

The Panthers entered the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs with just two players on the roster with Cup experience, Vladimir Tarasenko with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, and Carter Verhaeghe with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020.

Stanley Cup experience is definitely a plus, but for Kyle Davidson and the Blackhawks, that isn’t really something to worry about just yet.

Hawks fans have been excited about plenty of draft picks in recent years. The Hawks have been loading up at the draft. This past summer the team made three picks in the first round, including adding Artyom Levshunov second overall. Overall in 2024, the organization added eight prospects, in 2022 and 2023 the Hawks made 11 picks in each draft, including Connor Bedard first overall in 2023.

In total over the past three drafts the Blackhawks have added 30 players through the draft, including eight in the first round. So it might come as a bit of a surprise that of the 22 players who played in at least one playoff game this season for the Panthers only three were drafted by the organization.

The three players drafted by the organization were Aleksander Barkov (2013, 2nd Overall), Aaron Ekblad (2014, 1st overall) and Anton Lundell (2020, 12th overall). Those three players are huge parts of the Panthers organization, but some other key pieces have been added in other means. Every roster is different, but the Panthers showed teams can win through other means then just the draft.

The Florida Panthers used the draft, free agency and trades to build their roster.

The Panthers acquired ten of their players on the roster through free agency. Eight other players came to the organization through a trade. Just one player joined the organization through waivers. Chicago fans might remembers the player claimed off of waivers, Gustav Forsling signed a three year entry level contract with the Hawks in May 2016. In June 2019, the Hawks traded Forsling to the Caroline Hurricanes for Calvin de Haan and Aleksi Saarela, in a deal that also sent Anton Forsberg to Carolina.

Then in January 2021, the Hurricanes placed Forsling on waivers. The Panthers then claimed the defenseman. In four seasons in Florida, Forsling has become an integral part of the blue line. He averaged 23:25 minutes of ice time a night during the Panthers cup run.

Some of the standouts acquired through trades has to be Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart. Reinhart and Tkachuk were first and second consecutively in points this past season for the Panthers. Reinhart led the team in goals with 57 and Tkachuk led the team in assists with 62.

Everyone remembers the trade that brought Tkachuk to Florida, but the Reinhart trade is arguably just as important. The Buffalo Sabres traded Reinhart to Florida in exchange for Devon Levi and a 2022 first-round pick (Jiri Kulich, 28th overall).

Sometimes taking a gamble can pay off.

The Panthers took a gamble on Reinhart. Up to the point of the trade, Reinhart had registered just 295 points in 454 games, no where near a point per game and never scoring more then 25 goals. Once he came to Florida it has been a different story. In  three seasons with the Panthers, Reinhart has registered 243 points including 121 goals in 242 NHL games.

Chicago can learn a lot from a team like Florida. Sometime gambles through trades can workout, as can free agency. Carter Verhaeghe led the team in goals in the postseason. The organization signed him in free agency in October 2020.

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