Oilers vs Panthers II: Stanley Cup Final preview
June 2, 2025
A Date with Destiny
June 3, 2025
June 2, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg
The Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers are set to meet in the Stanley Cup Final for the second consecutive year. This will be the first Stanley Cup rematch since 2009 when the Pittsburgh Penguins got revenge on former Oiler GM Ken Holland’s Detroit Red Wings. Holland took the loss in last year’s series, but he isn’t around for the rematch.
There are always connections between the players and staff from the two teams that make the Stanley Cup Final because the hockey world is so small and people change organizations lots of times in their careers. Last year, I wrote about how the Oilers won the final game of the 2013-14 season, which happened to be Ryan Smyth’s final NHL game. They leapfrogged the Panthers in the standings, and the Panthers ended up winning the draft lottery and selecting Aaron Ekblad first overall. I also wrote about how the first four picks from the 2014 NHL draft (Ekblad, Sam Reinhart, Leon Draisaitl, and Sam Bennett) were all involved in the series, as they will be again this year.
New Oilers forward Kasperi Kapanen was drafted 22nd overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in that same draft. Kapanen scored the gold medal winning goal for Finland in overtime in the 2016 World Junior gold medal game. Former Oiler Jesse Puljujarvi was the MVP of that tournament. Puljujarvi was signed by the Panthers late this season after being released by the Penguins. He played five games for the Panthers before being sent down to their AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers.
Kapanen isn’t the only new Oiler this year, and there are several new Panthers players this year as well. That means that there are plenty of other new connections to explore!
Sam Reinhart’s brother, Griffin Reinhart, was the captain of the Edmonton Oil Kings when they won the Memorial Cup in 2013-14. Griffin Reinhart was traded to the Oilers for the sixteenth overall pick in the infamous trade that occurred during the 2015 draft in Florida (the Connor McDavid draft). He played 29 games for the Oilers in the 2015-16 season. Sam and Griffin’s father, Paul Reinhart, was a member of the Calgary Flames when they beat the Oilers in the second round of the 1986 playoffs.
Sam Reinhart played with new Oilers forward Jeff Skinner on the Buffalo Sabres from 2018-2021. Skinner also played with Panthers assistant coach Tuomo Ruutu with the Carolina Hurricanes from 2010-2014. Ruutu’s older brother, Jarko Ruutu, played with Corey Perry on the 2010-11 Anaheim Ducks. That was the year that Perry won the Hart and Rocket Richard Trophies.
Perry also played with Panthers defenceman Jaycob Megna on the Ducks from 2016-2019. Oilers forwards Adam Henrique and Max Jones (2018-19 only) were also on those teams. Megna’s brother, Jayson Megna, played with the Ducks in the 2022-23 season. Along with Henrique and Jones, Oilers defenceman John Klingberg and Panthers defenceman Dmitri Kulikov played on that 2022-23 Ducks team. Kulikov was the Oilers’ big trade deadline acquisition in 2021, but he only remained with the Oilers through that short 2021 playoff season.
The Panthers acquired Brad Marchand from the Boston Bruins at the trade deadline. Evander Kane played the first two games of last year’s final before being scratched due to the core injuries that limited his performance for most of last season, so he didn’t get much of a chance to impact last year’s final. Their fathers, Kevin Marchand and Perry Kane, played together on the Dartmouth Arrows in 1981.
The Bruins were sellers at this year’s trade deadline. Marchand and new Oilers forward Trent Frederic were the two biggest players that they moved. Those two were obviously teammates on the Bruins alongside Jones this past season. Jones came to the Oilers as part of the three-way trade that brought Frederic to the Oilers. Panthers forward AJ Greer was also a Bruin with Marchand and Frederic in the 2022-23 season. Marchand also played with Oilers assistant coach Mark Stuart on the Bruins for two seasons from 2009-2011.
Related: Oilers acquire Frederic
The Panthers also acquired Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks at the trade deadline. His younger brother, Caleb, was drafted by the Oilers in 2015. New Oilers GM Stan Bowman acquired the elder Jones brother from the Columbus Blue Jackets in a blockbuster trade in 2021 while he was the GM of the Blackhawks. Adam Boqvist was the main piece of the return for the Blue Jackets in that trade. Boqvist was claimed by the Panthers on waivers earlier this season before subsequently being waived and claimed by the New York Islanders. His brother, Jesper Boqvist, is a current member of the Panthers. Cole Sillinger was selected with the 2021 first round pick that the Blue Jackets acquired in the Jones trade. His father, Mike Sillinger, played for the Panthers from 1999-2001.
The Oilers did their own shopping at the trade deadline. In addition to getting Frederic and Jones, they acquired Jake Walman from the San Jose Sharks. Vitek Vanecek was also traded by the Sharks at the deadline, but he went to the Panthers.
Related: Walman was the smartest use of Kane’s LTIR space
The Panthers also acquired Nico Sturm from the Sharks at this year’s trade deadline. Sturm played with new Oilers defenceman Ty Emberson on the Sharks last year. Sturm is the son of Marco Sturm, who was the highest scoring German born player in NHL history until Leon Draisaitl came along. Sturm played for the Panthers in his final NHL season in 2011-12. The next season, he went to Germany to play for the Kölner Haie (Cologne Sharks), which is Draisaitl’s hometown team. Draisaitl’s father, Peter Draisaitl, coached the Haie in the 2017-18 and the 2018-19 seasons.
New Oilers forward Viktor Arvidsson was drafted by the Nashville Predators in the fourth round of the 2014 draft. Patric Hornqivst started as a Scouting and Development Consultant with the Panthers last season. Hornqvist played with Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm on the Nashville Predators from 2011-2014. Hornqvist was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins on June 27, 2014, which was the same day that they drafted Arvidsson. Former Oiler James Neal was part of the return that went to Nashville in that trade. Hornqvist was an assistant general manager on Sweden’s 4 Nations Faceoff team this past February. Both Ekholm and Arvidsson were on that team.
Swedish Oilers forward Mattias Janmark wasn’t on the 4 Nations Faceoff team, but he did play with Panthers forward Tomas Nosek on the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2020-21 season. Panthers defenceman Nate Schmidt also played for the Golden Knights, but not with Janmark. Schmidt was with the Vancouver Canucks in the 2020-21 season. Oilers forward Vasily Podkolzin was a prospect with the Canucks at that time. Podkolzin was drafted tenth overall in the 2019 NHL draft, and he didn’t play with the Canucks until the 2021-22 season.
Sylvain Rodrigue was the goalie coach for the Oilers’ AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, from 2015 until this past summer. He was a goaltending consultant for the Oilers for two years before becoming the goalie coach for the Condors. His son, Olivier Rodrigue, is an Oilers prospect who recently made his NHL debut for the Oilers. Rodrigue left the Oilers organization this summer to join the Panthers organization to be the goalie coach for the Checkers.
There are plenty more of these kinds of connections that I wrote about in last year’s version of this piece. My favourite one is that Panthers head coach Paul Maurice coached Oilers assistant coach and Oilers legend Paul Coffey with the Hartford Whalers in the 1996-97 season. That was Maurice’s second year coaching in the NHL.
Related: Deep Dive: Oilers and Panthers Stanley Cup Final Connections and Storylines
The season before that (1995-96), Coffey’s Detroit Red Wings lost to Panthers assistant coach Sylvain Lefevbre’s Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Final. The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup that year, and they swept the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.
These connections between the Oilers and the Panthers don’t add a ton of spice to the series, but it’s fun to connect the dots and to have the blast from the past. It just shows you that even though there haven’t been many trades between these two teams, there are still plenty of connections between the teams.
The strongest connection these two franchises have is their budding Stanley Cup Final rivalry. Oilers vs Panthers II gets underway on Wednesday night from Rogers Place.
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