The Florida Panthers are celebrating their second straight Stanley Cup after beating the Edmonton Oilers again in the Cup Final. The team is now gearing up to become the first team since the New York Islanders (1980, 1981, and 1982) to win three straight Stanley Cups.
General manager Bill Zito has already pulled off what seemed impossible this week, bringing back Aaron Ekblad, Sam Bennett, and Brad Marchand. However, defenseman Nate Schmidt was picked up by the Utah Mammoth, leaving a gap in their bottom-four defensive pairings. With that in mind, Zito decided to bring in veteran defenseman Jeff Petry on a one-year, league-minimum contract.
Petry’s Lengthy NHL Resume
Petry’s NHL story began nearly two decades ago. He was selected in the second round, 45th overall, by the Oilers in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. He did not see NHL action until the 2010-11 season when he played 35 games. That season, he scored his first career NHL goal while tallying four assists.
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After five seasons, he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens (for a second and fourth-round pick in the 2015 NHL Draft) and became a staple in their lineup. In his first few months as a Hab, he got his first taste of Stanley Cup Playoff action. Through 12 playoff games, he scored two goals and three points.
In the shortened 2021 season, the Canadiens made it to the Stanley Cup Final before they were sent packing by the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games. In that run, Petry had six assists through 20 games.
After eight seasons in Montreal, he was traded, along with Ryan Poehling, to the Pittsburgh Penguins to play with Sidney Crosby for Mike Matheson and a fourth-round pick in the 2023 Draft. He finished his time in Montreal with 70 regular-season goals, 178 regular-season assists, five postseason goals, and eight postseason assists. His time in Pittsburgh was short-lived; through one season, he played 61 games, scoring five goals and 31 points.
He was sent back to Montreal in a three-team trade in the 2023 offseason, only to be shipped out a little over a week later to the Detroit Red Wings. Through 117 games over two seasons in Detroit, he scored four goals, 28 assists and had a combined minus-9 rating. However, his veteran presence will be useful in Florida.
Easy Stop Gap for the Loss of Schmidt
With Schmidt going to Utah, Petry is a quick fix, given the amount of experience he brings to the table, and easily shores up the bottom pairing. He will likely be paired with Dmitry Kulikov, giving the Panthers’ third pairing tons of experience.
Petry Could Give Uvis Balinskis some Pointers
Prospect Uvis Balinskis is the seventh defenseman on the Panthers’ roster. He has some experience with 112 regular-season games, scoring five goals and 16 assists. This past postseason, he dressed for five playoff games, scoring a goal in Game 1 of the team’s Second-Round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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He’s still finding his footing on the roster. With a player like Petry joining the lineup, Balinskis could learn a lot from him in terms of what to do in big games and key moments. Balinskis will also play some big games next year as he was selected to represent his native Latvia in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. Learning everything he can from a player like Petry should help him excel next season.
Petry Still Hungry to Win
The Panthers somehow managed to keep their core intact this offseason, and adding Petry’s playoff experience should make him very useful for another deep playoff run. He’s not too far removed from appearing in the Cup Final, and signing with the Panthers on a league-minimum deal is an indication that he knows Florida has a winning culture and he’s still hungry to win it all.
