Evan Rodrigues celebrating Stanley Cup with Panthers teammates (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Evan Rodrigues knows the Florida Panthers have something special brewing down in South Florida.
The 32-year-old veteran is entering his third season with the Panthers and is coming off back-to-back Stanley Cup wins. Entering the 2025-26 season, Florida returns all of their core players after re-signing Brad Marchand, Aaron Ekblad, and Sam Bennett. They’ll be the Stanley Cup favorites entering the new season.
“It’s a great group to be around,” says Rodrigues in a one-on-one interview with RG. “We get to live in Florida and enjoy the weather and everything that comes with it. I don’t think I’ve been on a team where you get to the rink, you’ll laugh, play and enjoy every second when it comes to working. It’s almost like the flip of a switch. We know how to go from messing around to let’s put our work boots on.”
Although the Panthers aren’t an old group, they are an experienced group. All of their core guys have been through three Stanley Cup Finals runs, with recent additions such as Marchand and Seth Jones having been through playoff battles. Marchand previously won a Stanley Cup early in his career with the Boston Bruins.
Panthers Poised for a Three-Peat
Core players such as Bennett, Ekblad, Sam Reinhart, and Matthew Tkachuk are all no older than 30 years old. It’s a major reason why the Panthers appear to have a dynasty in the making.
“Let’s work, even if it’s a 20-minute practice,” says Rodrigues of the Panthers’ mindset. “Put in the work for the 20 minutes and then go about your day. We’ve become a mature group. I’ve only been here for two years. Some of these guys, obviously a lot longer, but we’ve all become very mature, and we’ve earned our coaches respect. It’s just a great environment.”
Veteran Additions Sparked Another Cup Run
The midseason acquisitions of a proven playoff performer in Marchand and a veteran defenseman such as Jones proved to be the difference in the Panthers’ latest Stanley Cup Finals run. Marchand had two game-winning goals, one against the Toronto Maple Leafs and another against the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Meanwhile, Jones played a pivotal role, posting nine points in 23 playoff games.
“It’s a boost,” says Rodrigues of their additions. “We went through the regular season and we were going pretty good, but everyone wants that little spark going into the playoffs and (we) traded for Jones and everyone thought that’s what we needed. Everyone’s giddy and happy, and we’re like, ‘All right, we’re gonna do this again.’”
“Then literally at the last second, you know, we get Marchand, and it’s like, ‘Alright, it’s ours to lose,'” Rodrigues continues to say. “Everyone in the locker room felt like we were the only thing that was going to stand in our way. If we played the way we knew we’d play, then we were going to win. There was no doubt, there wasn’t a team on paper that we thought could test us, and at the end of the day, we felt like as long as we played our game, that we were winning. That was our mindset, and it came to fruition.”
The Panthers had three main priorities shortly after winning the Stanley Cup and that was to re-sign Marchand, Ekblad, and Bennett. And they did exactly that all within a 24-hour time period.
“I can’t remember exactly, but our group chat was pretty hilarious, especially how it all kind of came within a few days,” says Rodrigues. “They all kind of signed within 24 hours. A lot of texts going, then it goes silent for a day. And then the next day it blows up again. It was good. Everyone was happy for one another. I think everyone was pretty pumped to see them all re-sign just knowing that. I think everyone kind of had the thought as soon as they all re-signed, ‘We’re doing this again. Let’s gear up and get after it.'”
The Panthers arguably had a better run in 2025 than they did in 2024, considering they appeared to vastly outmatch the Oilers in the Stanley Cup Finals. While the series did go six games, the Oilers only had pockets of play where they outplayed the Panthers. Meanwhile, Florida appeared to be the more dominant and consistent team throughout the series.
“Not to sound cocky by any means, there was a confidence there,” says Rodrigues. “There was an experience from the year prior that we thought we were a better team than we were the year before, that as long as we did what we had to do, we were going to win again. Happy to see that happen.”
The Challenge of Defending Champions
When asked what is the biggest challenge in three-peating, Rodrigues had a simple answer — there’s a target on your back.
Rodrigues recently celebrated his day with the Stanley Cup with a trip to Epcot at Walt Disney World with his wife and three kids. He’ll be aiming to celebrate a third Stanley Cup after next season this time of the year.Â
“You have a target on your back, I feel like it’s the biggest challenge everyone wants to knock you down,” says Rodrigues. “The biggest thing is being able to handle that, being able to handle the ups and downs of another long season. Guys have played a lot of games over the past two-to-three years, and this year is going to be more difficult with the Olympics coming into play. Being able to handle the stresses and the difficult points in this season, especially with how many games are piled into a short amount of time. That’ll definitely be one of the biggest challenges.”
Rodrigues mentions another key for the upcoming season, which is getting off to a good start. The Panthers obviously weren’t a dominant regular season team last year, finishing with the fifth-most points in the Eastern Conference. However, they turned it on when it mattered in the playoffs, only being pushed past six games in their playoff series against the Maple Leafs.
One of the challenges the Panthers will have to obviously overcome is the absence of Tkachuk, who will be sidelined for the first few months of the season after surgery.
“Just getting off to a good start, even without Chucky, everyone’s going to need to step up a little bit more,” says Rodrigues. “We’ve done a good job of that years prior. When guys go down — Barky, Reinhart, in the playoffs, guys have stepped up,” says Rodrigues. “We have a lot of depth that we’ll be okay. He’s obviously a big loss. ”
“Not only the on-ice stuff, but the locker room voice that he is” says Rodrigues. “You can feel that a little bit in the room at the same time. We have guys that can step up, and that’s just like any other team. But that’s what we’re going to have to do.”
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Rodrigues at Disney World with his family celebrating Stanley Cup.