From Salt Lake City to Stanley Cups, Florida Panthers growth is the real story

In 2002, the Florida Panthers sent five players to the Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Olli Jokinen and Niklas Hagman skated for Finland, Sandis Ozolinsh for Latvia, and Pavel Bure with Valeri Bure for Russia.

It’s a sharp time capsule, because the talent was real even when the franchise identity wasn’t.

In 2006, Florida again sent five players to the Olympics in Torino, and the names hit hard now.

Olli Jokinen went back for Finland, Roberto Luongo and Jay Bouwmeester wore Canada, Rostislav Olesz played for Czechia, and Jozef Stumpel suited up for Slovakia.

Here’s the throwback that got Panthers fans talking again.

Then the dip arrived in 2010, when Florida sent only two players to the Vancouver Olympics.

Tomas Vokoun represented Czechia, and Dennis Seidenberg played for Germany, which felt about right for where the Panthers sat in the standings back then.

In 2014, it was two again in Sochi, with Aleksander Barkov for Finland and Tomas Kopecky for Slovakia.

If you’ve been around this fanbase long enough, you still flinch at the idea of “momentum”, but the Cup-era Cats finally made belief feel normal.

Now look at 2026, because the Olympics list isn’t a novelty anymore, it’s depth.

The Panthers have 10 players going, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, and Brad Marchand for Canada, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, and Niko Mikkola for Finland.

Gustav Forsling is in for Sweden, Sandis Vilmanis and Uvis Balinskis for Latvia, and Matthew Tkachuk for the United States.

This isn’t just star power, it’s lineup proof, the Panthers can feed best-on-best teams from every part of the roster.

Florida also has a couple huge names on the injured list who won’t get the Olympic moment this time, starting with Aleksander Barkov, who’s been sidelined after ACL and MCL surgery and never had a realistic path to Milano Cortina once that timeline became clear.

Seth Jones is in the same boat on the Team USA side, after the upper-body injury he suffered at the 2026 Winter Classic forced a roster change, with USA Hockey officially replacing him with Jackson LaCombe.

Even in a choppy 2025-26, Florida sits at 29-25-3, and Reinhart still drives results at 27-28-55.

That’s what winning does in South Florida, it fills the rink, pulls kids into rinks, and turns hockey from “novelty” into something people actually grow up with.