The New Jersey Devils want the feeling the Florida Panthers have right now. The Panthers just lifted Lord Stanley's Cup, the second year in a row they were the last team standing. They haven't lost a series since the 2023 Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights. It's been a miraculous run, led by the hiring of Paul Maurice and the acquisition of Matthew Tkachuk.
Bill Zito put together an incredible club that was built for these two runs. He did not rest on his laurels and constantly tinkered with the roster. He brought the best of the best in the room, and people thought he was crazy for many of his moves. They thought he blew it when he let Andrew Brunette walk in favor of former Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice. He made moves that were criticized, and some rightfully so (Owen Tippett and a first for Claude Giroux, trading a first for Ben Chiarot), but they made enough moves to overcome any mistakes.
How can the New Jersey Devils emulate what the Florida Panthers just did?
The Devils desperately want to be Stanley Cup contenders. A mixture of bad luck, injuries, and missing pieces in the roster construction have the Devils into Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes's primes without coming close. They didn't even take advantage of Luke Hughes's entry-level contract, and now they have to give him big bucks. However, they can see from Florida's example that it just takes the right collection of players for a short amount of time to build a dynasty.
Lesson #1: Go after former top draft picks
The Florida Panthers have always prioritized top talent. They want players who were taken at the top of their drafts. Right now, they have six top-10 draft picks playing for them. Most of them were taken even higher. They put their chips in on talent, and they won.
The Panthers got Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart within a few months of each other. Those moves set the stage for where they are now. Matthew Tkachuk pushed them over the top. Then, they kept getting those top former draft picks who came at somewhat of a value.
Some say they paid a huge price for all three of them, but at the end of the day, they traded Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weager, Devon Levi, Emil Heineman, two first-round picks and a second-round pick for Tkachuk, Bennett, and Reinhart. All three of their values are way higher than that now. Heck, Sam Bennett might get $10 million per season in free agency.
Lesson #2: Be as bold as you can be
Sometimes, you have to make moves that make your gut sink. It takes some incredible guts to make the moves that Bill Zito made. He’s taken a dozen insane chances, and only about half of them worked. He let guys walk in free agency. He spends first-round picks like they regenerate. Zito is going after the player, and he’ll pay the price that has to be paid.
Fitzgerald hasn’t shown he can do that yet. He’ll make big moves. Trading for Timo Meier was a big move, but what did he lose going the other way? The boldest part of that was trading what could have been two first-round picks, but that was already a long shot.
Fitzgerald wants to win negotiations. Zito wants to win hockey games. That’s been the big difference. They started with a similar level of talent. Zito makes the move he needs to make. Fitzgerald needs to stop looking for players who make sense based on return and get players who make sense. Period.
Lesson #3: You can win with an older goalie
Sergei Bobrovsky and Jacob Markstrom made their NHL debuts in the same season. Markstrom played one game for the Florida Panthers in 2010-11, and Bobrovsky had more of a role with the Flyers that season. Now, a decade and a half later, Markstrom is watching as Bob wins the Stanley Cup with his former franchise.
But Bobrovsky is proving that an older goalie can handle the grind of the postseason. There are no more Martin Brodeurs who play close to 90 games in a season, but Bobrovsky played more than 75 games this season. He finished the regular season with 54 games played, which feels about right.
Markstrom played 49 games and missed more than a month during the season. Sheldon Keefe might be riding him a little too much in the regular season. The Devils need to build a team that can sleepwalk into the playoffs so they can strategically rest their lineup. Markstrom would be the most important element of that, because he can win the Stanley Cup despite being older than 35 years old.