The Stanley Cup is looking a little bit differently this summer.
Over the past couple weeks, the historic trophy has been getting its annual makeover, though the changes are always on the subtle side.
Added to the lower ring of the Stanley Cup were the names of this year’s champions, the Florida Panthers.
The Stanley Cup is looking a little bit differently this summer.
Over the past couple weeks, the historic trophy has been getting its annual makeover, though the changes are always on the subtle side.
Added to the lower ring of the Stanley Cup were the names of this year’s champions, the Florida Panthers
Florida is the first team to have its members engraved into the Cup in consecutive years since the Tampa Bay Lightning went back-to-back in 2020 and 2021.
Just like last year, Florida petitioned the NHL to have a few names added over the 50-person limit, and similarly to a year ago, the league acquiesced and allowed the Panthers 53 names.
For the players, there are 14 members of the Panthers whose names appear on the cup in both years. The eight first timers are Uvis Balinskis, Jesper Boqvist, A.J. Greer, Seth Jones, Tomas Nosek Mackie Samoskevich, Nate Schmidt and Vitek Vanecek.
In order to include several people – front office members and trainers among them – who were not included on the Cup last year, Florida had to leave some people off this time.
Some of the new names include medical staff and trainers Mike Joyce, Brian Riedel, Mike Valcy and Tim Wittenauer, equipment managers Thomas Anderson and Dakota King, as well as front office members including Director of Amateur Scouting Shane Churla and Vice President of Player Engagement Mike Huff.
Among the names that were not included on the Cup this year was team co-owner Doug Cifu.
Other members of the front office who were included on the Cup last year, such as Paul Fenton, Patric Hornqvist, Rick Dudley, Bryan McCabe and Braden Birch, are not there this year in order to make room for the aforementioned members of the team who were added for the first time.
The Panthers will begin having their special days with the Stanley Cup next week. A.J. Greer and Jaycob Magna will be among the first players to enjoy their Cup days.
Stay tuned for more on that front in the coming days and weeks.
