Which team should Flyers fans root for in the Stanley Cup Final?

The Philadelphia Flyers' season ended well over a month ago, and frankly, most fans of the struggling club seem very okay with it. Since the start of the playoffs, Flyers fans have seized the opportunity to watch quality, stress-free hockey as their own favorite team prepares to embark on a rebuild.

The playoffs are soon coming to a close. Only two teams remain in the quest for the Stanley Cup — the Florida Panthers and the Vegas Golden Knights. Both teams have yet to win a Stanley Cup, and neither franchise has existed long enough to form much of a rivalry with the Flyers.

So, which team should Flyers fans root for? There's no wrong answer, but there's an obvious choice for fans looking to root for former Flyers.

The case for the Panthers

The Panthers are the Cinderella story of the 2022-23 season. The Cats barely snuck into the playoffs, and now they're just four wins away from winning the first Stanley Cup title in franchise history.

The road to get to this point wasn't easy, either. In the first round, the Panthers took on the mighty Boston Bruins — literally the greatest regular-season team in the history of the NHL. And after falling behind 3-1 in the series, Florida stormed back to win three straight and eliminate Boston at TD Garden, thanks to the heroics of Carter Verhaeghe.

In the next round? The star-studded Toronto Maple Leafs.

Auston Matthews. John Tavares. William Nylander. Mitch Marner. The Panthers didn't stand a chance against their rival from north of the border, right?

Think again.

The Panthers took down Toronto in five games after winning three straight to start the series. The Leafs' big guns were no match for the Panthers' strong goaltending and relentless attack.

And in the Eastern Conference Final, the Panthers met with the Metropolitan Division-winning Carolina Hurricanes. The result? A 4-0 sweep. Bore snore.

The Panthers have been underdogs throughout the playoffs, and it's no secret that Philadelphia loves a good underdog story.

Plus, there are several former Flyers on the Panthers looking to give Lord Stanley a good smooch.

Defenseman Radko Gudas spent four years with the Flyers and endeared himself to the Philly fan base thanks to his grit and physicality. Now, the 32-year-old has established himself as a mainstay on the Florida blue line.

Goaltender Alex Lyon has also played a key role for the Panthers in their incredible run. In fact, the Panthers likely wouldn't have even made the playoffs had it not been for Lyon's stellar play to end the regular season. He may not have played that big a role with the Flyers in his four campaigns in Philly, but he's now a folk hero in the Sunshine State.

And speaking of goalies, of course, there's Sergei Bobrovsky.

Bobrovsky signed with the Flyers as an undrafted free agent in 2010, and after a pair of average seasons in Philly, he's since established himself as one of the better goalies in the NHL (even if he is streaky at times). After briefly relinquishing the starting job to Lyon at the beginning of the postseason, Bobrovsky has since played some of the best hockey of his career, logging an 11-2 record with a 2.21 goals against average and a .935 save percentage.

Bobrovsky's taken a lot of heat after failing to produce elite numbers in spite of his $10 million cap hit, but that contract sure isn't looking too bad now, eh?

Oh. And Matthew Tkachuk is just a flat out rockstar. So rooting for him would be kind of awesome.

The Case for the Golden Knights

The Golden Knights don't offer nearly as much for Flyers fans to root for compared to the Panthers. There's not a single former Flyer on Knights' roster, and Vegas doesn't offer that underdog narrative they once had when they made it to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural campaign. The Golden Knights, powered by their star-studded lineup, were the best team in the Western Conference this season, and they're the early favorite to hoist the Cup at the end of the season.

As good as Vegas has been since their inaugural year, though, they still haven't won a Cup yet, and after missing the playoffs entirely last season, it's hard not to at least respect their quick turnaround.

Plus, there are still some incredibly likable players on the Vegas roster, even if none of them used to play for the Flyers. And a few of them offer some excellent storylines.

For one, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith are both former Panthers who were dumped by their old club ahead of the Golden Knights' first season. Marchessault was left unprotected in the 2017 expansion draft, and Smith was traded to Vegas for a fourth-round pick just a year after signing a five-year deal with Florida. Both players have wound up being franchise cornerstones for the Golden Knights, and seeing them get the last laugh against their former team would be must-see TV.

And then, of course, there's Jack Eichel. After suffering on some horrible Buffalo Sabres teams for the first six years of his career, plus being denied his preferred surgery method to treat a herniated disc in his neck, Eichel is fully healthy and playing perhaps the best hockey of his career in his first-ever trip to the postseason. With six goals and 18 points in 17 playoff games, Eichel is a legitimate candidate to win this year's Conn Smythe Trophy.

Phil Kessel is also a Golden Knight, and who wouldn't want to see him eat hot dogs out of the Stanley Cup again?

Aside from the players, Flyers fans would likely relish the opportunity to see Bruce Cassidy, the Bruins' former head coach, immediately win the Stanley Cup in his first year in the desert. Especially after watching the Bruins fall to Florida in the first round.

Vegas has become a heck of a sports town, and the Knights winning the Cup and parading down the Vegas Strip sure would be an unbelievable moment in the history of hockey.