The Florida Panthers are back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, even when it felt like after the first time around they wouldn’t be able to make it back to the Stanley Cup Final for the third straight season. But, the immense depth on this team made it feel inevitable that they would be back.

But, it might be even harder to run it back this season. Players like Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, Brad Marchand and Nate Schmidt are unrestricted free agents and set for a big raise. Can the Panthers find a way to bring them all back?

Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk talked about the chances of the Panthers bringing back Bennett, Marchand and Ekblad for one more run on Daily Faceoff Live.

Frank Seravalli: It’s amazing watching Bill Zito, the Panthers ultra-aggressive GM, on the ice after emotionally hoisting the cup and letting out a roar, and in an interview just a couple minutes later said, “I think we can bring them all back”. Yeah, that’s great. That’s kind of like a mama pup with her litter. Like, yeah, “we can keep them all”. No you can’t. That’s not how it works.

If everyone wanted to take less to come back, I guess you could theoretically make it all work. But look, Nate Schmidt is the poster child for how much everyone has made their value skyrocket here. Nate Schmidt came on a one-year deal after being bought out less than one calendar year ago by the Winnipeg Jets, signs for $800,000. He’s probably in line to get something like a three-year deal at $3 million, at least. Five points in this final alone. Aaron Ekblad has continued to push up his value. He’s going be very difficult for the Panthers to maintain. Marchand probably priced himself out because you’re thinking that they’re going to keep Bennett.

So there’s a lot happening here for the Florida Panthers. They have some cap space, but not an infinite amount, and they’re gonna have to make some really hard decisions.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Yeah, very, very difficult. I think Aaron Ekblad might be the most difficult of the bunch if that makes sense, in the perspective of you probably want to have some form of loyalty, he’s been there forever. But also, he’s a guy that, again, he’s a two-time Stanley Cup champion, but he looked slow to me in that Cup Final. He didn’t look like a guy who I’d go, “You know what? Yeah, he can give me a $7 million level for the next five or six years”.

Frank Seravalli: And he’s probably in line to sign a seven or eight year deal somewhere, to be honest. So I’m with you, I agree on Ekblad. To me, I think he’s the easiest guy to let part ways. Not saying that any of them are easy, but of this group, to me, I think he presents the most risk long-term.

And beyond that, not to quote a crusty NHL GM who likes to say this all the time, but if you want loyalty, get a dog. The loyalty is we’ve paid you all these years, you’ve made a ton of money, and you just won two Stanley Cups in one of the most beautiful places in the world to live. We love you. Come back any time, but we’re going to shake your hand and move on.

That’s sort of the philosophy and approach that I’d have, not to oversimplify it or to make it crass. But I just think even Brad Marchand at three years times $8 million, I think is less risk than signing Aaron Ekblad to six, seven or eight years.

You can watch the full episode here…

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