Last Three Stanley Cup Champions Didn’t Reach The Following Season’s Playoffs as Panthers’ Woes Continue

There’s an old saying in hockey: the cost of glory is paid in scars you can’t always see. Some are physical—the pulled groin, the surgically-repaired knee, the stitches above your lip—but others run deeper. They show up in the standings, months after champagne has dried on the Stanley Cup, when the lights dim and the schedule says reset. The Florida Panthers—once ferocious, now beleaguered—are this year’s embodiment of that cruel reality.

You don’t need to squint at the standings to find them; they’re in the NHL’s basement, 25 games into their bid for a historic three-peat. The numbers are sobering: a 12-12-1 record, 25 points, dead last in the Atlantic. Surprisingly, though, online betting sites haven’t given up on the champs just yet – far from it. The latest NHL lines at Bovada still make the Cats a shock +800 second favorite to claim a third straight Stanley Cup, with only the +400 Colorado Avalanche priced shorter. 

Still, the Panthers are now metastasized by injuries and overreliance, collapsing from conqueror to casualty. How does the champion become just another statistic? Let’s dig where the bruises are deepest.

BACK TO BACK 🏆

The Florida Panthers are #StanleyCup CHAMPIONS pic.twitter.com/vqZTdTRt18

— Bovada (@BovadaOfficial) June 18, 2025

Three-Peat Dreams In Trouble Already 

Forget luxury; this roster’s living hour-to-hour. Aleksander Barkov—the heart and conscience of this team—is gone for the year, his torn ACL and MCL draining leadership from every shift. Matthew Tkachuk, Florida’s competitive fire, is rehabbing an adductor injury, his return date sliding into December, like a mirage receding in the desert. The role call beyond the stars reads like orthopedic ward rounds: Luostarinen, Nosek, Gadjovich, Kulikov, Schwindt… one after another shelved, seven key contributors out long-term.

The domino effect is as ruthless as it is predictable. Sergei Bobrovsky, once invincible in clutch moments, has cratered to a .882 save percentage. Nights at Amerant Bank Arena—previously a house of miracles—have turned into recurring nightmares, punctuated by a 4-1 home humiliation to Toronto, capping a demoralizing three-game skid. Special teams? Nowhere near special: the Panthers sit just 19th (19.3%) on the power play and 21st (78.5%) on the kill. Defensive coverage is malfunctioning, and Paul Maurice’s message of “resilience through adversity” is wearing thin as Florida stares up nine points at Tampa Bay and grips in vain for a wildcard lifeline.

Yes, there are flickers of the old identity—shot share remains a league-best 52%, flashes of discipline and grit still surface—but flashes don’t win playoff berths. The adversity is real, and history whispers an uncomfortable truth: the path from dynasty to downfall can be frighteningly short.

The Cup Hangover

This is not a Panthers-only plague. Recent Stanley Cup history has turned cruel on the kings of June. It’s no longer enough to climb the mountain; now, the greater test may be surviving the descent. The Panthers are not just confronting the modern “champion’s curse”—they’re reliving a trilogy of heartbreak that has turned promise into purgatory for the greatest teams of their era.

Let’s reset the stage and revisit the last three defending champions whose reigns ended not with celebration, but with the cold silence of playoff elimination.

Kings (2014-15): Champions Dethroned

Has any team embodied “impossible” like the 2014 LA Kings? Down 3-0 to the loaded Sharks, they authored the rarest comeback in NHL history. The Ducks and Blackhawks threw every haymaker; the Kings rose anyway, taking both series in seven, and finally broke the Rangers’ will with Martinez’s double-OT masterstroke to lift the Cup.

Fatigue, though, offers no mercy. The Kings entered 2014-15 with heavy legs and heavier hearts—64 playoff games in three years, plus a Sochi Olympics detour, had drained their core to the marrow. Injuries shredded their blue line; the Voynov scandal only compounded instability. The offense stalled (214 goals for, 21st league-wide), and Quick’s brilliance could not prevent road misery (15-18-8 away from Staples Center). A tantalizing eight-game win streak faded as the grind ground them down; a 3-1 loss to the upstart Flames delivered the final blow.

Hurricanes (2006-07): From Tempest to Tumble

Hockey’s ultimate Cinderella tale reached its climax in 2006: the Carolina Hurricanes, stoking Raleigh’s hockey fever, ripped through the playoffs behind Cam Ward’s Conn Smythe brilliance and a relentless, puck-hounding attack. Williams and Staal scored at will; Brind’Amour was the metronome that kept the beat. A 4-3 Final win over Edmonton was peak euphoria—trophies and ticker tape in a non-traditional market.

But parades don’t win next year’s points. Carolina’s depth eroded as critical free agents left, and Stillman’s absence after shoulder surgery left a gnawing void. Predictably, the offense withered (228 goals, down from 294), and Ward’s playoff magic reverted to a more human .920 save percentage. Laviolette wrestled with a lineup stuck in neutral, and by April, a late nosedive left them watching from home, the first Cup hangover in the salary-cap era sealing nine more years in the wilderness.

Devils (1995-96): The Trap Stalls Out

The 1995 Devils built a dynasty blueprint. Lemaire’s neutral-zone trap, Brodeur’s composure, and Lemieux’s snarl decimated powerhouses and delivered a 16-4 playoff record, including a four-game mugging of the Red Wings. Voices hailed the trap as impenetrable, a chess match none could solve.

The next season told a different story. Lemieux departed, Niedermayer missed stretches, and the offense became a sputter: 209 goals, 24th in the NHL. Brodeur posted a mortal .895 save percentage; the midseason 10-game losing spell revealed fissures in the previously bulletproof system. By the finish line, the Devils were ninth—five points off a playoff invite. The trap, for all its innovation, still needed fuel; even the best structure collapses when the foundation rots.

They rebuilt, but the message lingered: even greatness, left untended, withers.