When the puck drops tonight in Florida for Game 1 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals, six former members of the Anaheim Ducks will compete for hockey’s ultimate prize. The Florida Panthers roster features Brandon Montour (169 games in a Ducks uniform), Anthony Stolarz (56 games), and Josh Mahura (79 games). In comparison, the Edmonton Oilers have Corey Perry (988 games), Adam Henrique (435 games), and Sam Carrick (205 games). Many of these players suited up for the Ducks at the same time. Some are even friends off the ice. For the next two weeks, however, there are no friends.
We know that three players who used to wear a Ducks uniform will emerge from this series as Stanley Cup Champions. Who will they be?
Henrique, Montour, & Perry Were Part of Core That Last Took Ducks to Playoffs
Perry, alongside now-retired former captain Ryan Getzlaf, was the last of an old guard in Anaheim who frequently won Pacific Division titles and was on the doorstep of a Stanley Cup appearance on a few occasions. Montour joined the Ducks out of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 2016-17 and immediately filled a role as an exciting, offensively-minded defenseman, while Henrique joined the ranks in 2017-18 as a top-six forward in light of Ryan Kesler’s injury woes toward the end of his career. It was this season that they last made the playoffs but succumbed to the San Jose Sharks via a first-round sweep.
Related: Ducks’ Stanley Cup Memories: June 6, 2007
Perry, who was 32 and on the outer fringe of his prime by the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, will still go down as one of the best goal scorers of his generation and is certainly in the discussion, along with Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne, for the best goal scorer in Ducks history. He currently sits second with 372 goals scored for the team in 14 seasons of service. His impact was immediate, particularly along with his longtime running-mate Getzlaf in 2007 when they served as youthful power forwards in the top-six unit, perfectly complementing the speed and high-end skill of Selanne and Andy McDonald.
The championship run to start his career would be the first of a whopping five trips to the final round for Perry, who has since made appearances but didn’t win, with the Dallas Stars (2020), Montreal Canadiens (2021), Tampa Bay Lightning (2022), and now the Oilers. He has a pretty solid chance to win it this year. Perry centrally figured into additional Western Conference Final runs in 2006, 2015, and 2017 with the Ducks and delivered moments that will forever be remembered in Ducks history.
Montour, now in his fourth season in South Florida, makes a return trip to the Final round looking for redemption after a hard-fought, five-game series loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023. While his looming free agency raises some intrigue, it’s safe to say that he hit his stride in Florida, where he has amassed 147 points, skating in 239 games, and averaged over 20 minutes of ice per game. His recruitment this summer will be interesting to watch.
With hindsight being 20/20, the Ducks gave up on Montour too early. He showed flashes of the offensive brilliance with the Ducks that he so frequently displays with the Panthers. Still, with the Ducks caught between a rock and a hard place after that first-round sweep in 2018 and a below-average 2018-19 season, they moved Montour to Buffalo for Nathan Guhle, who has since retired from the NHL, and a first-round pick that eventually became Brayden Tracey. Tracey has yet to crack the Ducks lineup and appears to be a middle- or bottom-six player if and when he does.
Henrique will make his long-anticipated return to the Stanley Cup Final. He first made it in 2012, when the New Jersey Devils fell to the Los Angeles Kings in six games. Henrique was acquired by the Ducks in exchange for Sami Vatanen early in the 2017-18 season and would spend parts of seven seasons with the club, almost entirely in a top-six role. He was solid, if not unspectacular, in a Ducks uniform and became a model of consistency in an era for the franchise known for its striking inability to produce offense. He netted between 36 and 43 points each season for the Ducks (minus the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign) and became a fan favorite, popular teammate, and leader during his tenure. However, Henrique’s expiring contract after this season meant the writing was on the wall for his Ducks’ future, and here he is now, in Edmonton, with a chance for hockey’s ultimate prize. Not a bad tradeoff, if you ask me.
Carrick, Stolarz, & Mahura Served Depth Roles During Ducks Tenure
Carrick arrived in Edmonton alongside Henrique but has been used sparingly since. It’s not his fault. The Oilers are just an incredibly deep team, and a number of players who deserve to be in lineups are forced to watch from the locker room because of it. Carrick is one of those players. He is tenacious, can win faceoffs, isn’t afraid to mix it up, and will lay the body on anyone. He really was coming into his own this season in Anaheim. He earned every opportunity he got with his work ethic and even saw time on special teams and late-game situations with the Ducks. He will likely draw into the lineup sometime in this series, but how he is used and how often remains to be seen.
Stolarz is in his first season in Florida and performed exceptionally as a backup to Sergei Bobrovsky. He posted a goals-against-average (GAA) of 2.03 and a save percentage of .925 (SV%). Both of those led the NHL. Those figures came in 27 appearances, which is not an insignificant sample size. The 6’6″ goaltender uses his size well and collected 19 wins across three seasons with the Ducks. He became expendable this past offseason when it became clear Lukas Dostal was ready for backup duties in Anaheim. The Ducks’ loss was the Panthers’ gain, and Stolarz is on the cusp of a Stanley Cup. However, Bobrovsky has been playing the best hockey of his career the last two seasons, so Stolarz probably won’t see any time in the net unless Bobrovsky gets injured.
Mahura hasn’t been drawn into the Panther’s lineup this playoff season but was a key contributor during the Panthers’ 2023 playoff run as part of a dependable third defense pair with Radko Gudas. Mahura won’t jump off the page with any particular traits, but more often than not, he will make the right play. His Ducks career largely resembled his Panthers career in that he falls a little short on opportunities. Like Stolarz, he’ll surely be ready to go if called upon, but barring any injuries, don’t expect Mahura to make an appearance in the Final unless head coach Paul Maurice deems it necessary.
Keys to Panthers’ Victory
So, three former Ducks per team. What are the keys to victory for the Panthers so that Montour, Stolarz, and Mahura capture what eluded them last year?
Well, the Panthers are big. They are mean and have skills that can give the Oilers problems. Their centermen are excellent two-way players with size. Their defense unit is long and skates well. Aaron Ekblad is 6-foot-4, Oliver Ekman-Larsson is 6-foot-2. Montour is 6 feet with a seemingly endless motor. To this point, we haven’t really seen a team give the Oilers anything they can’t handle, but they are facing a unique challenge with the Panthers, given the depth, skill, and size on both sides of the puck. They need to use all three qualities to play defense within the rules, limit penalties, and possess the puck to limit the Oilers’ ability to attack. If they do that, they can certainly win.
Keys to Oilers’ Victory
Now, the Oilers’ turn. What will it take for Perry, Henrique, and Carrick to win a championship?
Well, limiting the effectiveness of size will go a long way. Sam Bennett, Matthew Tkachuk, Alex Barkov, Vladimir Tarasenko, Carter Verhaege, and Sam Reinhart are going to be all over the Oiler’s defense, finishing checks, getting in their kitchens, and relentlessly hounding Stuart Skinner around the net. The Oilers are big, too, and need to use that size to box out, keep pucks out of high-danger areas, and protect their net. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisatl will do as they usually do, and their supporting cast needs to follow suit. If they do, they stand a good chance.
This Could Be an All-Time Great Series
The storylines surrounding this series are endless. You have the second straight appearance by the Panthers. It’s the long-anticipated first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final for Connor McDavid, universally recognized as Planet Earth’s greatest active hockey player. There’s the fact that a Canadian franchise has not won in 31 years. There’s Tkachuk against Evander Kane and Perry. Or Barkov against McDavid and Draisatl. Bobrovsky vs the Oiler offense. There are too many to count.
For Ducks fans, there’s real entertainment value in this series, if for no other reason than the reality that a former Duck will win a Stanley Cup championship. That, in itself, is somewhat exciting, right? Who are you rooting for when the puck drops tonight at 8 PM EST?
