For the third consecutive season the Florida Panthers are heading to the Eastern Conference Finals. It also happens to be the second-straight season that the former Minnesota Wild defenseman Dmitry Kulikov is heading to the Conference Finals.
Kulikov, 34, won the Stanley Cup last season for the Panthers and has spent the last two seasons in Florida. He has recorded five goals, 28 assists, and 33 points in 146 games. He has one goal and five assists in 36 playoff games for the Panthers in the last two seasons as well.
His Wild tenure only lasted one season. The 6-foot-1 defenseman played in 80 games during the 2021-22 season for the Wild. He recorded seven goals and 24 points that year and was a plus-23. He played in only two playoff games for the Wild and was a minus-4.
The Wild ended up trading him after just one season in his two-year contract they gave him. Kulikov was traded to the Anaheim Ducks for future considerations and was later traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins that season for Brock McGinn and a 3rd-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Following the 2022-23 season, Kulikov signed with the Panthers where he has been since. He has been a big piece on the back-end for the Panthers and is playing on a defense pair with Minnesota native and former Minnesota Golden Gopher, Nate Schmidt.
Kulikov is now going back to the Conference Finals as a reigning Stanley Cup Champion.
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