Hockey is back in South Florida. The Florida Panthers will hit the ice on Thursday for their first official practice of 2025 Training Camp at the Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale. Florida is gearing up to defend their back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships, and they’ve got a roster that is built to do just that. On Wednesday, THN Florida posted one word for every Panthers forward [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers/players/1-word-for-every-florida-panthers-player-ahead-of-training-camp] ahead of them kicking off training camp. Now we’ll cover the defensemen and goaltenders: Aaron Ekblad: Lineup As in, stay in it. Over the past couple seasons, Ekblad has missed a total of 57 games between injury and suspension. It’s quite a change from the durability he showed during the first five years of his career, when he only missed 19 games combined. The 29-year-old has said that he wants to get back to that kind of reliability, so we’ll see the stars re-align for Ekblad this season. Seth Jones: Comfort Between the regular season and the playoffs, Jones has played 44 games in a Panthers sweater after being acquired at last season’s Trade Deadline. Learning the defensive systems of a team that has won consecutive Stanley Cups while leaning on their defensive hockey is not an easy task, but Jones managed to look darn good despite the limited adjustment time. Now, with an offseason to learn and absorb, and a full training camp to put everything into motion, Jones should be able to take things to another level this season. Gustav Forsling: Pristine No notes. Keep doing what you’re doing. Niko Mikkola: Future Mikkola has proven to be a perfect fit with the Panthers, and his play has been incredibly consistent over his two seasons in South Florida. He’s 29 years old and playing the best hockey of his career, but he’ll be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. Will he cash in on the open market or keep the bus rolling with the Cats? Dmitry Kulikov: Home The Panthers’ first round selection from all the back at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, Kulikov found his way back to South Florida during the summer of 2023 after playing for seven different, non-Florida teams in seven years. Since re-arriving, consistent health has allowed his game to flourish. He’s now won a pair of championships with the team that drafted him, and he has a deal signed that will keep him with the Cats until he’s 37 years old. Uvis Balinskis: Regular Last season, Balinskis was a regular in Florida’s lineup, playing 76 games in what proved to be a strong first full NHL season. After the arrival of Jones, however, Balinskis became the seventh defenseman, playing only when someone was hurt or suspended from that point on. The coaching staff raves about his consistency and professionalism, so it will be interesting to see if he can solidify a spot in the top six once again. Jeff Petry: Footsteps The newest Panthers blueliner will look to follow in the footsteps of veterans like Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Nate Schmidt, who each signed one-year deals with Florida and went on to have exceptional seasons with a team that they were extremely good fits for. The Panthers signed Petry because they feel he’s a strong candidate to have a similar success story. Sergei Bobrovsky: Share If it were up to Bob, he would play every single game he suits up for. Fortunately, he knows that listening to his goaltending coach, Robb Tallas, when it comes to limiting his ice time and staying fresh, is a key to the success he’s had over the past three postseasons. Sharing the goal crease during the regular season is crucial for Bob and the Panthers if they want to continue boasting the strongest, most consistent goaltending in the league come playoff time. Daniil Tarasov: Sponge Soak up as much as you can from one of your goaltending idols (Bob) and from the wealth of knowledge contained within Florida’s goaltending excellence department. 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(Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images)
