Why the Panthers are the nicest ‘rats’ to win the Stanley Cup (twice)
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Greg Wyshynski
SUNRISE, Fla. — The Florida Panthers had to win the Stanley Cup, and then they had to win another one, because it’s the ultimate way to infuriate everyone who isn’t the Florida Panthers.
They’re the most antagonistic trash-talking bullies in the National Hockey League. Opponents decry their actions and fans of other teams outright loathe them. It took 29 years, but the franchise made famous for having rats thrown on the ice also now has the most famous rat on the ice in winger Brad Marchand — a label he has accepted. Being the last team standing isn’t just a tribute to their elite preparation, execution and talent. It’s delivering on the promise of their endless taunting.
“It’s the bad-boy mentality. They embody it. They hit you and then they stand over you and tell you how much better they are than you. And then they tell you that you’re going to be beaten, by any means necessary,” one current NHL player told ESPN. “They’re going to do everything they can to embarrass you, not only physically but on the scoreboard.”
It’s the provocation from players such as Marchand and Matthew Tkachuk. It’s their ability to dish it out and gleefully take it, such as when big-bearded Jonah Gadjovich stuck out his tongue at the Edmonton Oilers after having been bloodied in a fight with Darnell Nurse.
It’s the opposing goalies with whom center Sam Bennett has collided with a plausible deniability of guilt. It’s their ability to draw penalties but not take them. “They seem to get away with it more than we do. It’s tough to find the line,” Oilers winger Evander Kane lamented during the Stanley Cup Final.
Marchand responded to Kane: “Sometimes we get away with things. You can’t call everything all the time.”
The more nefarious parts of the Panthers’ game are a feature, not a bug. Their antagonism and swagger are the sweeteners for one of the best recipes for success the league has seen cooked up: Offensive domination, defensive suffocation and about a dozen players that always seem to rise to the occasion.
Florida has advanced to three Stanley Cup Finals under head coach Paul Maurice. They’re the first team to do so in three straight full NHL seasons since the Edmonton Oilers from 1983-85. (The Tampa Bay Lightning won two Cups and lost in their third trip to the Final during the season-altering COVID-19 pandemic.)
Like the 80s era Oilers, the Panthers lost in their first trip, getting eliminated in five games against the Vegas Golden Knights, and then won back-to-back Stanley Cups. The Panthers are the seventh team in the past 40 seasons to win consecutive Cups.
No one else in the NHL can match their depth. Aleksander Barkov and Sam Reinhart, both finalists for the Selke Trophy as best defensive forwards in the NHL, on their top line, deployed with frequency against Oilers star Connor McDavid. Bennett, leading all playoff scorers in goals, and superstar winger/agent of chaos Tkachuk on the second line. Marchand, saving the best playoff series of his life for the Stanley Cup Final, cementing an unmatchable third line with criminally underrated forwards Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell.
Two defensive pairings — Aaron Ekblad and Gustav Forsling, as well as Seth Jones and Niko Mikkola — that were brilliant in the postseason. When all else failed, Sergei Bobrovsky was the ideal last line of defense in goal.
The Panthers were the best road team in NHL playoff history, tying the record for wins (10) and obliterating the record for goals scored away from home: 61, or 12 more than Wayne Gretzky’s Los Angeles Kings scored in 1993 (49).
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Sam Reinhart nets 4 goals in Game 6
Sam Reinhart scores four for the Panthers in Game 6 against the Oilers.
“Anybody that knows hockey is in awe of what they’ve been able to accomplish,” said Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Messier, a member of two separate back-to-back Cup winners in Edmonton, who is now an analyst for ESPN.
Messier doesn’t see the Panthers as a team defined by their villainy.
“They can play any style that you want. They have such underrated talent at many positions,” he said. “You don’t get the right players at the right stages of their careers all the time. This is a very sophisticated, talented, driven team.”
Someone else that doesn’t want the Florida Panthers defined solely as agitating bullies?
The Florida Panthers themselves.
“I just don’t see where we’re these big physical sons of b—-es,” general manager Bill Zito said.
The Panthers argue that the on-ice antics others have used to define them in these two Stanley Cup championship runs aren’t indicative of who these players are off the ice. That perceptions of their villainy shouldn’t overshadow the chemistry, culture and camaraderie that are the actual foundations for these championships.
“We don’t talk about it. That’s not our style. That’s not what we talk about before games,” Tkachuk said. “We want to play fast and physical. We want to stick up for each other when it’s there.”
Are the Florida Panthers actually the friendliest “rats” to ever to win the Stanley Cup twice?
“At the end of the day, you’re willing to do things on the ice that aren’t typical of you as a person off the ice,” Marchand said.
THERE’S PROBABLY NO GREATER indication that the Panthers frustrate opponents than the passion with which opponents swear that the Panthers do not, in fact, frustrate them.
“[Agitation] is part of their DNA. It’s what they do,” Oilers center Leon Draisaitl said during the Stanley Cup Final. “I’m not going crazy. I don’t think anybody’s going crazy. It’s an emotional time. They’re good at what they do. But no one’s going crazy here.”
Kane said the Panthers’ reputation for agitation is a bit overstated.
“You know what? I think they get a little too much credit for how crazy they drive teams. I don’t think it’s Florida driving us crazy at all. We’ve done a great job of not letting them get in our heads,” said Kane, who had more penalty minutes in the first five games of the Stanley Cup Final (20) than he had in his previous 15 playoff games combined (12).
Playing the Panthers can be exasperating. Not only in the things they do, but in how they get away with the things they do. Such as when Bennett keeps colliding with opposing goaltenders.
It happened at least four times in this playoff run, most infamously when Bennett concussed former teammate Anthony Stolarz of the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 of the second round. Stolarz wouldn’t return to the playoffs. Bennett wasn’t penalized, and there were no repercussions with the NHL Department of Player Safety. But Toronto fans and media were outraged, adding this Bennett incident to a list of others in his career — including when he concussed Leafs forward Matthew Knies by throwing him to the ice in May 2023.
“I’ve seen every hit that Sam Bennett’s thrown since he was 12 years old on TV this morning,” Maurice said the day after the Stolarz incident. “There was a hit 2½ years ago that [the media has] shown 4,000 times. There was a parking ticket seven years ago that I think made the video.”
In the 2025 playoffs, Bennett would also collide with Carolina’s Frederik Andersen, and had two instances in which he toppled into Stuart Skinner‘s crease against the Oilers.
“Obviously, you don’t like when guys are purposely falling into your goaltender,” Kane said.
For many opponents, the Panthers are Team “They Just Can’t Keep Getting Away With It” in the NHL.
“It’s annoyingly frustrating,” one current NHL player said. “When you play them, you’re like, ‘They figured it out.’ They’re being smart, in quotation marks, when it comes to that kind of stuff. But it’s all within the rules.”
Defenseman Nate Schmidt hated facing the Panthers before signing with them last offseason. “I’ve got to tell you that playing against them is no fun,” he said. “I do enjoy playing with them versus being on the other side of things.”
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Fight breaks out between Panthers, Oilers
A big brawl erupts as tensions boil over between the Panthers and the Oilers in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.
The Panthers weren’t always as provocative as they are now. Back in 2022, Florida won the Presidents’ Trophy with the league’s best record (122 points) and its best offense (4.11 goals per game) under interim coach Andrew Brunette, who took over after head coach Joel Quenneville’s resignation. Their leading scorer was winger Jonathan Huberdeau, who had 115 points in 80 games, tied for second overall in the NHL.
But after the Panthers were swept in the second round by the rival Tampa Bay Lightning, it was obvious that their regular-season success didn’t translate to the postseason after “an in-depth examination of all aspects of our team,” as Zito termed it at the time. On June 22, it was announced that Brunette was done and that Paul Maurice would be the new head coach.
That hiring wasn’t universally praised — Maurice had been behind NHL benches since the mid-1990s with the Hartford Whalers, with only one trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2002 to his credit. But Zito said the Panthers’ change in attitude “starts with Paul.”
The Panthers had 842 penalty minutes in their Presidents’ Trophy season. They increased to 998 in Maurice’s first season, and then 1,116 in his second season, when Florida won the Stanley Cup.
One month after Maurice’s hiring came another landmark moment, and an even more shocking one: Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar were traded to the Calgary Flames for Tkachuk.
The Panthers had now entered their Swagger Era.
“I hate Edmonton, but I hate Tampa more now,” was the declarative statement from Tkachuk at his introductory news conference. The Lightning had eliminated the Panthers in consecutive postseasons. It is perhaps no coincidence that Florida is 2-0 against Tampa Bay and Edmonton since the Tkachuk trade.
“I bring a certain swagger that will really help this team,” Tkachuk said at the time. “I have a good confidence. It’s not a cockiness. I think some of these teams in this conference that have had success have that. I have to help with that.”
A big part of that swagger comes from Tkachuk’s willingness to say anything or do anything to win, as anyone who watched the first USA vs. Canada game in the 4 Nations Face-Off no doubt recalls. But Zito said that Tkachuk is the personification of why the Panthers are misunderstood as the NHL’s current reigning bullies — their agitation simply comes from how difficult it is to play against him.
“He has a nuanced game that combines elite hands and hockey sense with a level of compete. When you look across the league at the players who have that, pretty much to a man, they’re agitating,” Zito said.
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Matthew Tkachuk fired up after padding Panthers’ lead
Matthew Tkachuk lights the lamp to pad the Panthers’ lead in the first period.
This is where the Panthers reject the premise that they’re the king rats of the NHL.
“I think our reputation is just guys that play hard. We don’t like giving space on the ice, and that leads to a lot of confrontation and a lot of collisions and stuff like that,” defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. “And it’s not necessarily that we’re being bullies, we’re just trying to play as hard as we possibly can.”
Zito agreed.
“Bodychecking is part of the game of hockey. When you play the game the right way and pay attention to all the details, checking is going to be part of it. It’s not to intimidate. It’s not to injure. It’s literally so that you can’t get into the play if I bump into you,” Zito said. “It’s just chess, except with time and space. So it’s effective.”
Marchand has now been a part of two of the most difficult teams in the NHL to play against: The Boston Bruins, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2011, and the Panthers, with whom he lifted one on Tuesday.
Both teams were called “bullies” — it’s hard to forget the image of Marchand delivering a series of blows to Daniel Sedin’s head in the Stanley Cup Final against Vancouver. But both teams, according to Marchand, just played the way you need to play to survive in the postseason.
“Obviously, the high-end skill game and finesse, it gets you here, but it takes a whole different game and level to take you far,” he said. “That’s obviously what we had for a very long time in Boston. What Florida’s done a great job at is building a team that’s tough to compete against this time of year. So that’s the style of game that you want to be part of.”
Marchand has personally experienced the villainous side of the Panthers. Bennett gave him a gloved punch in last year’s playoffs that left Marchand concussed and forced him out of their series.
“I didn’t hold a grudge. I know how this game’s played. I played a similar way and it’s something that we joke about now,” said Marchand, now Bennett’s teammate. “I’ve been in positions where I’ve done things like that to guys that I end up being teammates with. Things happen on the ice and you move past it.”
That’s hockey, according to Marchand.
“I can’t speak for other sports, but our culture is where you could fight a guy and meet up afterwards and laugh about everything. That’s just how it is,” he said. “You’re doing a job when you’re on the ice. That’s all.”
Which is to say that off the ice, the Panthers are different people. And that chemistry is the real reason why they’ve skated the Cup for a second straight time, according to them.
“They’re hard on the ice. They are. And most of that is driven by how they feel about each other. They don’t want to let the other guy down. There’s a caring about them,” Maurice said. “These guys are different.”
IF MARCHAND HAS learned anything with the Florida Panthers, it’s that plastic rats hurt when your teammates are slap shooting them at you.
In one of the playoffs’ most memorable new traditions, Panthers players would take turns shooting rats, tossed on the ice by fans, at Marchand after victories.
“They see my family on the ice and want us to be together,” Marchand deadpanned. “They’re just bullying me. They’re shooting to hurt now.”
Besides being their most dominant scorer in the Stanley Cup Final, Marchand was also the fulcrum for the Panthers’ merriment after coming over from the Bruins at the trade deadline.
“Marchy and I bounce off the walls quite a bit. It’s nice to have somebody else to do that with,” Schmidt said. “One bouncy ball is fun. When you bang two of them together? It’s a little bit more fun. So I’ve enjoyed his time here.”
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Brad Marchand scores 56 seconds in to give Panthers early lead
Brad Marchand flicks it in through a crowd of defenders to give the Panthers an early lead vs. the Oilers.
The bouncing around during the pregame. The rat-shooting. The now-legendary poker games on cross-continent flights. The team field trips to Dairy Queen, and the subsequent confusion about whether Marchand was eating a Blizzard between periods of a playoff game.
(Spoiler: It was honey, something Marchand has enjoyed since he was a child feeding it to his stuffed Winnie the Pooh doll. “It’s what we do in Halifax. We feed teddy bears honey,” he said.)
“There’s a million things that happen behind the scenes that fans don’t see,” Marchand said. “Those are little things that make it a little bit easier and allow you to get your mind off some of the stress. I think you can see when we’re together, we’re just like big kids. Behind closed doors, everyone’s always joking around and having fun.”
There’s a democratization of comedy in the Panthers’ dressing room. The players say no one is spared from the punchlines, no matter their salary or ice time. It’s the byproduct of the team’s overall mindset. When Tkachuk says “nobody cares who scores,” they mean it.
“It can’t be overstated, the character and … I don’t know if it’s the right word, but the grace of each guy. If you came into the meal room, you wouldn’t … know … who’s … who,” Zito said, pounding his hands on the table for emphasis. “You didn’t know who scored the winning goal. You didn’t know who didn’t play. I think that, as much as anything, is a testament to those guys and their character.”
Every offseason, Maurice does a “culture survey” for his team. Last offseason, one of the players reported that when they walked into the Panthers’ dressing room for the first time “it felt like I’d been there for 10 years” with the team.
“That room that we have is so welcoming. Your personality fits almost no matter what it is. The more unusual your personality, the more you’re going to fit in our room,” Maurice said. “As long as you do those four or five things you need to do, everybody gets to be themselves.”
What makes that chemistry work?
“That’s all Barkov, truly,” Maurice said.
“[Barkov] is like a magnet. You just find yourself gravitating towards him,” Schmidt said. “You see what Cap does and it just kind of trickles its way all the way through the lineup. There’s just no other way to do it. It’s not like he’s not a vocally imposing person. It’s just, you need to do it because it feels like you have to do it for him.”
Zito likened Barkov to a planet with “all the energy that comes from him” as a leader.
“It starts with Sasha,” the GM said. “Paul’s talked about this. I’ve talked about it. The players have talked about it. The only person who doesn’t [get] talked about it is Sasha. How caring he is as a human and as a teammate. He makes you want to be a better person. So then it’s easy to have the positive aspects of your personality come through. It’s like he pulls it out of you.”
Barkov has learned from his teammates, too. Marchand in particular, since he arrived at the trade deadline.
“He’s obviously very old, but he still works hard and wants to be better,” said Barkov, 29, of the 37-year-old Marchand. (See? Everyone gets clowned on.) “It’s fun to see, and it’s contagious. You want to work as hard as him.”
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Panthers go up 3-0 on Sam Reinhart’s 2nd goal
Sam Reinhart notches his second goal to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead in the second period.
Every incarnation of the Panthers during their three-year reign as Eastern Conference champions has seen turnover on the roster. Eric and Marc Staal, as well as Radko Gudas, were on the 2023 team. Brandon Montour, Ryan Lomberg, Nick Cousins, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Vladimir Tarasenko were on the Stanley Cup winner last season. This season saw Marchand, Schmidt, Seth Jones and A.J. Greer join the roster, among others.
“You just try to fit in, come in and not disturb anything, not change anything. Just seamlessly trying to blend in and add a little bit of your spice, I guess you’d say,” said Greer, who signed as a free agent.
“Coming into a group who had just won the Stanley Cup, I was just trying to inject a little bit of energy. They had a long season. Sometimes that can get to you mentally and physically of course. So I come in and kind of replenish that energy, bring in a new face and just be myself, personality-wise,” he said. “The guys welcomed me very, very well. Those guys that are all around the locker room and that’s a big reason why they won.”
To hear the stories of humility and familial warmth from inside the Panthers remains in stark contrast with the team that frequently emerges on the ice. They are the epitome of “a player you love to have on your team and hate to play against,” a time-tested hockey cliché that Marchand used to describe Bennett recently. They frustrate opponents during games and push each other to play like champions behind the scenes.
“This is something about hockey culture that makes it special and unique,” one current NHL player said. “Some of the guys that are the biggest pieces of s— on the ice are the greatest people off the ice.”
Maurice was recently asked about that dichotomy.
“I’ll ask you two questions that might be personal. You don’t have to answer. Have you ever shotgunned a beer? And have you ever been to church?” he began.
“Now, would you shotgun a beer if you’re in church? No, you wouldn’t, and that doesn’t make you a hypocrite. There’s a context in that place for all things.”
Maurice hated facing Tkachuk when he was coaching in Winnipeg and Tkachuk was in Calgary. His swagger on the ice informed Maurice’s opinion about him as a person, which was quickly dispelled when the two were united in Florida.
“You meet him and you’re like, ‘Oh my god, what a wonderful human being,'” Maurice said.
Same with Marchand. Same with Bennett, who is “a dog on a bone” on the ice but raises money to help find adoptive homes for canines in his spare time.
The Panthers aren’t just what they are on the ice. They aren’t just what they are off the ice. But the sum of those parts — the harm and the harmony — combined to make them back-to-back Stanley Cup champions.
“They’re all really, really nice people,” Maurice said of his team. “Then the puck drops.”
The two race teams suing NASCAR over antitrust allegations filed for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction Monday to be recognized as chartered organizations for the remainder of 2025.
23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are locked in a lengthy legal battle over the charter system, which is the equivalent of the franchise model in other sports. 23XI, owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row, owned by entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, last September rejected NASCAR’s final proposal on extensions and instead filed an antitrust suit.
The case is winding its way through the court system but now with urgency: The teams are set to lose their charters Wednesday and in the latest filing, they allege NASCAR has indicated it will immediately begin the process of selling the six tags that guarantee entry into every race as well as monetary rewards and other benefits.
Should the teams have their six combined charters revoked, the drivers would have to qualify on speed to make each week’s race and would receive a smaller percentage of the purse. They might also have to refund money paid out through the first 20 races of the year.
NASCAR accused 23XI and Front Row of filing “a third motion for another unnecessary and inappropriate preliminary injunction” and noted it has made multiple requests to the teams “to present a proposal to resolve this litigation.
“We have yet to receive a proposal from 23XI or Front Row, as they have instead preferred to continue their damaging and distracting lawsuit,” NASCAR said in a statement. “We will defend NASCAR’s integrity from this baseless lawsuit forced upon the sport that threatens to divide the stakeholders committed to serving race fans everywhere.
“We remain focused on collaborating with the 13 race teams that signed the 2025 charter agreements and share our mutual goal of delivering the best racing in the world each week, including this weekend in Dover.”
Later Monday, Rick Ware Racing and Legacy Motor Club had a scheduled court date in North Carolina over their fight for a charter. Legacy, owned by seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, contends it had an agreement with RWR to lease one of its two charters in 2026.
RWR contends the agreement was for 2027, and it already has a contract with RFK Racing to lease that team a charter next season.
The NHL’s board of governors and the NHLPA’s membership have ratified a new collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA runs through the end of the 2025-26 season, with the new one carrying through the end of the 2029-30 season.
While the continuation of labor peace is the most important development for a league that has endured multiple work stoppages this millennium, there are a number of wrinkles that are noteworthy to fans.
ESPN reporters Ryan S. Clark, Kristen Shilton and Greg Wyshynski break it all down for you here:
Draft recap: All 224 picks
Grades for all 32 teams
Winners and losers
When does this new CBA take effect?
The new NHL CBA is set to begin on Sept. 16, 2026 and runs through Sept. 15, 2030. Including the coming season, that gives the NHL five years of labor peace, and would make the fastest both sides have reached an extension in Gary Bettman’s tenure as NHL commissioner.
It’s also the first major negotiation for NHLPA head Marty Walsh, who stepped into the executive director role in 2023 — Shilton
What are the big differences in the new CBA compared to the current one?
There are a few major headlines from the new CBA.
First are the schedule changes: the league will move to an 84-game regular season, with a shortened preseason (a maximum of four games), so each team is still able to play every opponent while divisional rivals have four games against one another every other season.
There will also be alterations to contract lengths, going to a maximum seven-year deal instead of the current eight-year mark; right now, a player can re-sign for eight years with his own team or seven with another in free agency, while the new CBA stipulates it’ll be seven or six years, respectively.
Deferred salaries will also be on the way out. And there will be a new position established for a team’s full-time emergency backup goaltender — or EBUG — where that player can practice and travel with the team.
The CBA also contains updated language on long-term injured reserve and how it can be used, particularly when it comes to adding players from LTIR to the roster for the postseason — Shilton
What’s the motivation for an 84-game season?
The new CBA expands the regular season to 84 games and reduces the exhibition season to four games per team. Players with 100 games played in their NHL careers can play in a maximum of two exhibition games. Players who competed in at least 50 games in the previous season will have a maximum of 13 days of training camp.
The NHL had an 84-game season from 1992 to 1994, when the league and NHLPA agreed to add two neutral-site games to every team’s schedule. But since 1995-96, every full NHL regular season has been 82 games.
For at least the past four years, the league has had internal discussions about adding two games to the schedule while decreasing the preseason. The current CBA restricted teams from playing more than 82 games, so expansion of the regular season required collective bargaining.
There was a functional motivation behind the increase in games: Currently, each team plays either three or four games against divisional opponents, for a total of 26 games; they play three games against non-divisional teams within their own conference, for a total of 24 games; and they play two games, home and away, against opponents from the other conference for a total of 32 games. Adding two games would allow teams to even out their divisional schedule, while swapping in two regular-season games — with regular-season crowd sizes and prices — for two exhibition games.
The reduction of the preseason would also give the NHL the chance to start the regular season earlier, perhaps in the last week of September. Obviously, given the grind of the current regular season and the playoffs, there’s concern about wear and tear on the players with two additional games. But the reduction of training camp and the exhibition season was appealing to players, and they signed off on the 84-game season in the new CBA. — Wyshynski
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Why Mitch Marner is a great fit for Vegas
Greg Wyshynski reports on Mitch Marner getting traded from the Maple Leafs to the Golden Knights.
How do the new long-term injured reserve rules work?
The practice of teams using long-term injured reserve (LTIR) to create late-season salary cap space — only to have the injured player return for the first game of the playoffs after sitting out game No. 82 of the regular season — tracks back to 2015. That’s when the Chicago Blackhawks used an injured Patrick Kane‘s salary cap space to add players at the trade deadline. Kane returned for the start of the first round, and eventually won the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP in their Stanley Cup win.
Since then, the NHL has seen teams such as the Tampa Bay Lightning (Nikita Kucherov 2020-21), Vegas Golden Knights (Mark Stone, 2023), Florida Panthers (Matthew Tkachuk, 2024) also use LTIR to their advantage en route to Stanley Cup wins.
The NHL has investigated each occurrence of teams using LTIR and then having players return for the playoffs, finding nothing actionable — although the league is currently investigating the Edmonton Oilers use of LTIR for Evander Kane, who sat out the regular season and returned in the first round of the most recent postseason.
Last year, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said that if “the majority” of general managers wanted a change to this practice, the NHL would consider it. Some players weren’t happy about the salary cap loophole.
Ron Hainsey, NHLPA assistant executive director, said during the Stanley Cup Final that players have expressed concern at different times “either public or privately” about misuse of long-term injured reserve. He said that the NHL made closing that loophole “a priority for them” in labor talks.
Under the new CBA, the total salary and bonuses for “a player or players” that have replaced a player on LTIR may not exceed the amount of total salary and bonuses of the player they are replacing. For example: In 2024, the Golden Knights put winger Stone and his $9.5 million salary on LTIR, given that he was out because of a lacerated spleen. The Golden Knights added $10.8 million in salary to their cap before the trade deadline in defenseman Noah Hanifin and forwards Tomas Hertl and Anthony Mantha.
But the bigger tweak to the LTIR rule states that “the average amounts of such replacement player(s) may not exceed the prior season’s average league salary.” According to PuckPedia, the average player salary last season was $3,817,293, for example.
The CBA does allow an exception to these LTIR rules, with NHL and NHLPA approval, based on how much time the injured player is likely to miss. Teams can exceed these “average amounts,” but the injured player would be ineligible to return that season or in the postseason.
But the NHL and NHLPA doubled-down on discouraging teams from abusing LTIR to go over the salary cap in the Stanley Cup playoffs by establishing “playoff cap counting” for the first time. — Wyshynski
What is ‘playoff cap counting’ and how will it affect the postseason?
In 2021, the Carolina Hurricanes lost to Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference playoffs. That’s when defenseman Dougie Hamilton famously lamented that his team fell to a Lightning squad “that’s $18 million over the cap or whatever they are,” as Tampa Bay used Kucherov’s LTIR space in the regular season before he returned for the playoffs.
Even more famously, Kucherov wore a T-shirt that read “$18M OVER THE CAP” during their Stanley Cup championship celebration.
The NHL and NHLPA have attempted to put an end to this creative accounting — in combination with the new LTIR rules in the regular season — through a new CBA provision called “playoff cap counting.”
By 3 p.m. local time or five hours before a playoff game — whatever is earlier — teams will submit a roster of 18 players and two goaltenders to NHL Central Registry. There will be a “playoff playing roster averaged club salary” calculated for that roster that must be under the “upper limit” of the salary cap for that team. The “averaged club salary” is the sum of the face value averaged amounts of the player salary and bonuses for that season for each player on the roster, and all amounts charged to the team’s salary cap.
Teams can make changes to their rosters after that day’s deadline, provided they’ve cleared it with NHL Central Registry.
1:54
How Aaron Ekblad, Panthers benefit from staying together
Greg Wyshynski reports on Aaron Ekblad signing a new deal that keeps him with the Panthers for eight more years.
The “upper limit” for an individual team is the leaguewide salary cap ceiling minus any cap penalties for contract buyouts; 35-plus players or players with one-way contracts demoted to the minor leagues; retained salary in trades; cap recapture penalties; or contract grievance settlements.
The cap compliance is only for the players participating in a given postseason game. As one NHL player agent told ESPN: “You can have $130 million in salaries on your total roster once the playoffs start, but the 18 players and two goalies that are on the ice must be cap-compliant.”
These rules will be in effect for the first two seasons of the new CBA (2026-28). After that, either the NHL or the NHLPA can reopen this section of the CBA for “good faith discussions about the concerns that led to the election to reopen and whether these rules could be modified in a manner that would effectively address such concerns.”
If there’s no resolution of those concerns, the “playoff cap counting” will remain in place for the 2028-29 season. — Wyshynski
Did the NHL CBA make neck guards mandatory?
Professional leagues around the world have adjusted their player equipment protection standards since Adam Johnson’s death in October 2023. Johnson, 29, was playing for the Nottingham Panthers of England’s Elite Ice Hockey League when he suffered a neck laceration from an opponent’s skate blade.
The AHL mandated cut-resistant neck protection for players and officials for the 2024-25 season. The IIHF did the same for international tournaments, while USA Hockey required all players under the age of 18 to wear them.
Now, the NHL and NHLPA have adjusted their standards for neck protection in the new CBA.
Beginning with the 2026-27 season, players who have zero games of NHL experience will be required to wear “cut-resistant protection on the neck area with a minimum cut level protection score of A5.” The ANSI/ISEA 105-2016 Standard rates neck guards on a scale from A1 to A9, and players are encouraged to seek out neck protection that’s better than the minimal requirement.
Players with NHL experience prior to the 2026-27 season will not be required to wear neck protection. — Wyshynski
What’s the new player dress code?
The NHL and NHLPA agreed that teams will no longer be permitted “to propose any rules concerning player dress code.”
Under the previous CBA, the NHL was the only North American major men’s pro sports league with a dress code specified through collective bargaining. Exhibit 14, Rule 5 read: “Players are required to wear jackets, ties and dress pants to all Club games and while traveling to and from such games unless otherwise specified by the Head Coach or General Manager.”
That rule was deleted in the new CBA.
The only requirement now for players is that they “dress in a manner that is consistent with contemporary fashion norms.”
Sorry, boys: No toga parties on game days. — Wyshynski
Does the new CBA cover the Olympics beyond 2026?
Yes. The NHL and NHLPA have committed to participate in the 2030 Winter Olympics, scheduled to be held in the French Alps. As usual, the commitment is ” subject to negotiation of terms acceptable to each of the NHL, NHLPA, IIHF and/or IOC.”
And as we saw with the 2022 Beijing Games, having a commitment in the CBA doesn’t guarantee NHL players on Olympic ice. — Wyshynski
Did the NHL end three-team salary retention trades?
It has become an NHL trade deadline tradition. One team retains salary on a player so he can fit under another team’s salary cap. But to make the trade happen, those teams invite a third team to the table to retain even more of that salary to make it work.
Like when the Lightning acquired old friend Yanni Gourde from the Seattle Kraken last season. Gourde made $5,166,667 against the cap. Seattle traded him to Detroit for defenseman Kyle Aucoin, and the Kraken retained $2,583,334 in salary. The Red Wings then retained $1,291,667 of Gourde’s salary in sending him to Tampa Bay for a fourth-round pick, allowing the Lightning to fit him under their cap.
Though the NHL will still allow retained salary transactions, there’s now a mandatory waiting period until that player’s salary can be retained in a second transaction. A second retained salary transaction may not occur within 75 regular-season days of the first retained salary transaction.
Days outside of the regular-season schedule do not count toward the required 75 regular-season days, and therefore the restriction might span multiple seasons, according to the CBA. — Wyshynski
Can players now endorse alcoholic beverages?
Yes. The previous CBA banned players from any endorsement or sponsorship of alcoholic beverages. That has been taken out of the new CBA. If only Bob Beers were still playing …
While players remain prohibited from any endorsement or sponsorship of tobacco products, a carryover from the previous CBA, they’re also banned from endorsement or sponsorship of “cannabis (including CBD) products.” — Wyshynski
What are the new parameters for Emergency Goaltender Replacement?
The NHL is making things official with the emergency backup goaltender (EBUG) position.
In the past, that third goalie spot went to someone hanging out in the arena during a game, ready to jump in for either team if both of their own goaltenders were injured or fell ill during the course of play. Basically, it was a guy in street clothes holding onto the dream of holding down an NHL crease.
Now, the league has given permanent status to the EBUG role. That player will travel with and practice for only one club. But there are rules involved in their employment.
This CBA designates that to serve as a team’s emergency goaltender replacement, the individual cannot have played an NHL game under an NHL contract, appeared in more than 80 professional hockey games, have been in professional hockey within the previous three seasons, have a contractual obligation that would prevent them from fulfilling their role as the EBUG or be on the reserve or restricted free agent list of an NHL club.
Teams must submit one designated EBUG 48 hours before the NHL regular season starts. During the season, teams can declare that player 24 hours before a game. — Shilton
What’s the deal with eliminating deferred salaries?
The new CBA will prohibit teams from brokering deferred salary arrangements, meaning players will be paid in full during the contract term lengths. This is meant to save players from financial uncertainty and makes for simplified contract structures with the club.
There are examples of players who had enormous signing bonuses paid up front or had structured their deals to include significant payouts when they ended. Both tactics could serve to lower an individual’s cap hit over the life of a deal. Now that won’t be an option for teams or players to use in negotiations. — Shilton
What’s different about contract lengths?
Starting under the new CBA, the maximum length of a player contract will go from eight years to seven years if he’s re-signing with the same club, and down to just six years (from the current seven) if he signs with a new team.
So, for example, a player coming off his three-year, entry-level contract could re-sign only with that same team for up to seven years, and he’ll become an unrestricted free agent sooner than the current agreement would allow.
This could benefit teams that have signed players to long-term contracts that didn’t age well (for whatever reason) as they won’t be tied as long to that decision. And for players, it can help preserve some of their prime years if they want to move on following a potential 10 (rather than 11) maximum seasons with one club. — Shilton
What does the new league minimum salary look like? How does it compare to the other men’s professional leagues?
Under the new CBA, the minimum salary for an NHL player will rise from $775,000 to $1 million by the end of the four-year agreement. Although gradual, it is a significant rise for a league in which the salary cap presents more challenges compared to its counterparts.
For example, the NHL will see its salary cap rise to $95.5 million in 2025-26, compared to that of the NFL in which Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott’s highest three-year average is $61.6 million.
So how does the new NHL minimum salary upon the CBA’s completion compare to its counterparts in the Big 4?
The NBA league minimum for the 2025-26 season is $1.4 million for a rookie, while players with more than 10 years can earn beyond $3.997 million in a league that has a maximum of 15 roster spots
The NFL, which has a 53-player roster, has a league minimum of $840,000 for rookies in 2025, while a veteran with more than seven years will earn $1.255 million.
MLB’s CBA, which expires after the 2026 season, has the minimum salary for the 2025 season set at $760,000, and that figure increases to $780,000 next season. — Clark
Is this Gary Bettman’s final CBA as commissioner?
Possibly. The Athletic reported in January that the board of governors had begun planning for Bettman’s eventual retirement “in a couple of years,” while starting the process to find his successor.
Bettman became the NHL’s first commissioner in 1993, and has the distinction of being the longest-serving commissioner among the four major men’s professional leagues in North America. He is also the oldest. Bettman turned 73 in June, while contemporaries Roger Goodell, Rob Manfred and Adam Silver are all in their early- to mid-60s.
That’s not to suggest he couldn’t remain in place. There is a precedent of commissioners across those leagues who remained in those respective roles into their 70s. Ford Frick, who served as the third commissioner of MLB, was 71 when he stepped down in 1965. There are more recent examples than Frick, as former NBA commissioner David Stern stepping down in 2014 when he was 71, and former MLB commissioner Bud Selig stepped down in 2015 at age 80. — Clark
Jake Retzlaff announced on Friday that he’s withdrawing from BYU, formally initiating his transfer process from the school.
Retzlaff, BYU’s starting quarterback last year, said in an Instagram post that he made the “difficult decision” to withdraw and that he plans to “step away” from the BYU program. The post makes public what had been expected, as Retzlaff began informing his teammates and coaches in late June of his intent to transfer.
According to ESPN sources, Retzlaff’s path to transfer to a new school is not expected to come from the NCAA transfer portal. With Retzlaff just short of graduating, which would make the transfer process more traditional, he plans to simply leave BYU and then enroll at a new school.
That path is not a common one, but there’s precedent. That includes former Wisconsin defensive back Xavier Lucas leaving school this winter and enrolling at the University of Miami.
Retzlaff expressed his gratitude for his time at BYU, saying “it has meant more to me than just football.” He added that he’s “excited to turn the page and embrace the next chapter.”
BYU officials generally avoided the topic of Retzlaff at Big 12 media days this week, deferring to him to make a statement on his next move.
In a statement on Friday, BYU athletics said: “We are grateful for the time Jake Retzlaff has spent at BYU. As he moves forward, BYU Athletics understands and respects Jake’s decision to withdraw from BYU, and we wish him all the best as he enters the next phase of his career.”
Retzlaff’s departure comes in the wake of BYU’s planned seven-game suspension of him for violating the school’s honor code.
That suspension arose after he was accused in a lawsuit of raping a woman in 2023. The lawsuit ended up being dismissed on June 30, with the parties jointly agreeing to dismiss with prejudice, but Retzlaff’s response included an admission of premarital sex, which is a violation of the BYU honor code.
Retzlaff went 11-2 as BYU’s starting quarterback in 2024, throwing for 2,947 yards and 20 touchdowns. His departure leaves BYU with a three-way quarterback race this summer to replace him, with no clear favorite.
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