Whether you cheer for the Tampa Bay Lightning or the Florida Panthers, this has been a pretty good decade to be a hockey fan in the Sunshine State.
From 2020 until 2025, one of the two Florida teams played for the Stanley Cup at the end of the playoffs.
The Lightning won hockey’s ultimate prize in 2020 and 2021; the Panthers won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 2024 and then repeated as champions in 2025.
Coming into this season, either the Lightning or Panthers had played in the past six Stanley Cup Finals. Tampa Bay lost to Colorado in 2022 to end its three-peat bid, with the Panthers going to the Final for just the second time in their history in 2023.
Florida lost that Final to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023, but certainly bounced back by beating the Edmonton Oilers the next two seasons.
Alas, that run has come to a close.
The Stanley Cup will not be spending another muggy summer in Florida.
The Panthers did not make the playoffs in what turned out to be an injury plagued season; the Lightning were knocked out of the first round for the fourth straight postseason on Sunday night when it lost 2-1 to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 7.
No, this summer, the NHL’s traveling party will be spending June somewhere else than Florida.
Perhaps it will be in Buffalo, maybe Montreal or Raleigh. Perhaps even Philadelphia.
Regardless, it will not be here.
Not this summer.
And that’s OK.
Just look how far things have come.
The Florida Panthers celebrate the 2025 Stanley Cup championship, the team’s second straight title, in Sunrise.Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
The 2019 Stanley Cup Final between the eventual champion St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins was the last championship round without a team from Florida.
The Lightning were Presidents’ Trophy winners that year — only got swept by Sergei Bobrovsky and the Columbus Blue Jackets in Round 1.
The Panthers didn’t even make it to the playoffs in 2019, but the tide seemed to be turning for the franchise when Vinnie Viola opened his checkbook wider than any other Panthers owner by signing Cup championship coach Joel Quenneville to a very lucrative deal — then going hard after Bobrovsky and pal Artemi Panarin.
Panarin decided he wanted to play in New York, but the Panthers landed Bobrovsky with the largest contract (seven years, $70 million) the team had previously ever handed out.
Life, as we knew it, would change in 2020 when the world was shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
After a long way away from the game, the NHL resumed with ‘bubbles’ in Toronto and Edmonton — with the Lightning beating the Dallas Stars for its first Stanley Cup championship since 2004.
The Panthers would have to wait a few more years to get their chance.
But they got it, and are ready to make another run at the Cup next season.
Hey, seven out of eight years for hockey in Florida would still be pretty good.
Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice celebrates the 2024 Stanley Cup championship with his team and at least six fans on Fort Lauderdale Beach. Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
LOOKING BACK AT 2019
Top Rated TV Show:Â The Big Bang Theory
Top Box Office Movie:Â Avengers: End Game
Billboard Top 100: Old Town Road – Lil Nas X featuring  Billy Ray Cyrus
Gas Price:Â $2.72
Notable Sports Moments: Tiger Woods wins the Masters; U.S. wins Women’s World Cup
Stanley Cup Champions:Â St. Louis Blues
Super Bowl Champions:Â New England Patriots
World Series Champions:Â Washington Nationals
NBA Champions:Â Toronto Raptors
Tampa Bay Lightning: Swept in Round 1 by Sergei Bobrovsky and the Columbus Blue Jackets
Florida Panthers: Missed playoffs; hired Joel Quenneville, signed Bobrovsky
ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERSÂ OFFSEASON
NHL Draft Lottery:Â Tuesday; Secaucus, NJ
NHL Draft:Â June 26-27; KeyBank Center, Buffalo
NHL Free Agency:Â Opens July 1
Panthers Development Camp:Â Late June/Early July; IcePlex, Fort Lauderdale
Panthers Rookie Camp/Tournament:Â Late August/Early Sept.; Site TBA
Panthers Training Camp:Â Early/Mid September; Fort LauderdaleÂ
2026-27 NHL Season Opens:Â Late September; Site, Opponent TBA