Captain of the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, Dalpe signed a two-year extension with Florida earlier this year
Professional hockey journeyman Zac Dalpe has found a home with the Florida Panthers.
The veteran of 13 professional seasons has played for six different National Hockey League teams and another six in American league.
Dalpe made his NHL debut all the way back in 2010 with the Carolina Hurricanes. He’s played at least one NHL game in 11 of the 12 years since.
He initially signed with Florida prior to the 2021-22 season, serving as captain for the Panthers AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, in both years with the club.
Florida General Manager Bill Zito, who knew Dalpe from when both were with the Columbus Blue Jackets organization, signed Dalpe to a two-year extension earlier this year.
Now skating in his third training camp with the Panthers, the 33-year-old admitted this one feels unlike the dozen or so others he’s previously been a part of.
“It's been a different camp, mentally,” Dalpe said. “I've never really done what I did to end last season, to go through something like that as a part of the group, and now you come into camp and you feel a part of the group. I don't want to say I have to reestablish myself, but I think they know what I have, and then I can build off the confidence that I know what I can do. It's just less nerves, less anxiety and you just go out and trust your game.”
It's true, the experience of going through a playoff run can have a profound impact on an athlete.
But in Daple’s case, there was a bit more to it than that.
As he explained to THN Florida after a recent practice at the Ice Den in Coral Springs, being a part of the Panthers run to the Stanley Cup Final brought him something that he’d never experienced before.
It wasn’t as simple as being a player on a good team.
Amid their postseason run, it became common knowledge that the Panthers had something special brewing in their locker room. Florida has built a team of high-character young men who motivate one another and hold each other accountable.
As they do with all who put on a Panthers sweater, they welcomed Dalpe with open arms and embraced his style of hockey, encouraging him to be confident in his game.
There was no added pressure on Dalpe, he could simply go out and do his thing, and he was receiving plenty of support and encouragement from his teammates.
“The way that the guys brought me in – you're playing these games in the regular season, but you're kind of wondering if you're gonna get set down or not – then when you come up and play in the playoffs and you play what you think is an important role, and then you have very important people on the team telling you that it is an important role,” Dalpe said. “No offense to the other teams I played with, but nobody's ever told me that. Fourteen years into a career you think you would have heard that, but you haven't.”
Entering last season, Dalpe’s only experience in the Stanley Cup Playoffs had been three games with the Minnesota Wild in 2016, and over ten years had passed since he’d been on any kind of postseason run that lasted more than eight games.
This time, not only was Dalpe along for one of the most amazing rides that any hockey player could hope for, but he played a key role for Florida and scored one of the team’s biggest goals during their first-round upset of the Boston Bruins.
“I've been doing this a long time, and it's gone any way possible,” Dalpe said. “But now when you went that far, and you were part of the group…I actually felt a part of the group. Obviously I was, but it's the first time in my career I felt like I was a part of an NHL group.”
Dalpe may not be on the Panthers Opening Night roster, that remains to be seen.
Whether he begins the season in Sunrise or in Charlotte, things have changed for Dalpe. He’s been to war with his Panthers brothers, and they are forever bonded because of it.
The man who has been living his dream has seen it reach a new level, and you can bet the mortgage that he’s appreciating every moment.
“Obviously it's not all rainbows every single day, but this is what I wanted to do my whole life," Dalpe said. “It's a cliche, but I cherish it. I know it's not going to last for the rest of my life. The feeling that I have coming to the rink is like no other, and I just want to keep it going as long as I can.”
