The Florida Panthers don’t want things to change now.

They’re back-to-back Stanley Cup champions. This season is all about the chase for a three-peat.

That emphasizes the NHL’s trade season that is just about arriving. The Panthers have to make smart moves to get over the hump.

Last season, they got Brad Marchand before the deadline. There likely isn’t a deal that big out there for them, but they can still make key improvements.

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And hey, if a trade for Justin Faulk materialized to bring in the St. Louis Blues’ defenseman, that’d feel like a really solid win.

The Athletic’s James Mirtle recently identified in a new article that the Panthers’ biggest need in a trade would indeed be additional depth on defense.

“Seth Jones’ injury has highlighted how vulnerable the Panthers could be on the back end with one absence, and with the aging Jeff Petry and inexperienced Uvis Balinskis pressed into too many minutes for a contending club,” Mirtle writes. “A home-run swing for the Panthers feels like a move that gives them options on the blue line with some term (Justin Faulk?), something that could also help them get into the playoffs in a very difficult Atlantic Division.”

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The Panthers aren’t even a shoo-in to the playoffs this season. But they know what they’re capable of when they get there.

In the meantime, they’ve got to shore things up to ensure they don’t miss out on the bracket entirely.

Someone like Faulk would be the stabilizing presence to make sure they can get where they want to go.

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