They knew it was coming, but the Florida Panthers experienced the official end of their two-year reign as the NHL’s Stanley Cup champions on Saturday, April 4.

A 9-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins sealed the Panthers’ fate. Florida is in last place in the Eastern Conference’s Atlantic Division with six games remaining.

The Panthers, who defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the past two Stanley Cup Finals, will miss the postseason for the first time since 2018-19.

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“Obviously, no one’s happy about the situation,” Panthers forward Sam Bennett said, per ESPN. “But it’s about really just sticking together as a team and going through this as a team. We’re all sticking together. It’s not fun sometimes. But we’re just trying to make the best of it.”

On Sunday, NHL.com senior writer Amalie Benjamin recapped the Panthers’ season and looked into the future.

After back-to-back #StanleyCup championships, the Florida Panthers failed to make the postseason for the first time since 2018-19.

More on their season and next year’s outlook ⤵️https://t.co/npM316m7fR

— NHL Media (@NHLMedia) April 5, 2026

Injuries

Florida lost center and captain Aleksander Barkov to a knee injury in training camp that cost him the entire season. Then, forward Matthew Tkachuk missed the first 47 games after surgery to repair a sports hernia. Defenseman Seth Jones played just 50 games, and prominent players Sam Reinhart, Brad Marchand, Evan Rodrigues and Anton Lundell missed time as well.

“It’s a factor,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “We’re going to be over 500-man games [lost], and that’s pretty hard to sustain.”

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) makes a save against the Boston Bruins. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Goaltending

Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky’s play dipped during his 16th NHL season. His .878 save percentage is the lowest of his career, and his 3.05 goals-against average is the third worst of his career.

During the Stanley Cup seasons of 2023-24 and 2024-25, Bobrovsky turned in save percentages of .915 and .905, respectively, and GAAs of 2.37 and 2.44.

Bobrovsky, who will be 38 when the 2026-27 season begins, becomes an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

Workload

According to Benjamin, Florida played an NHL-record 314 games during the three seasons leading into 2025-26. The Panthers made three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final, falling to the Vegas Golden Knights before the two title runs.

That workload may have led to mental exhaustion and could be a reason for all the injuries.

Reasons for optimism

Barkov is expected to be ready to go for the start of the 2026-27 season. Additionally, Tkachuk, Reinhart, Marchand and Lundell are signed and should be healthy.

“The players will rebound from this year because we look at the group coming back and say, ‘OK, we think we’re still in our prime here,’” Maurice said.

Plus, Florida likely will get an unexpected bonus. While the Panthers traded their first-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2025 trade for Jones, that pick was top-10 protected. Florida is in a position to retain that pick.