The People's Guide to the 2025 Stanley Cup Final

EDMONTON — We've waited long enough after almost a week without playoff hockey. The 2025 Stanley Cup Final is only one sleep away.

It is, of course, a rematch of the 2024 Final between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers. The Panthers ended up hoisting the Cup, but it didn't come as easily as they thought it might after their 3-0 start to the series.

The Oilers pushed back to force a Game 7 and fell by just one goal as the Panthers avoided a historically bad collapse.

This time around, some things have stayed the same. The Oilers still have arguably the two best forwards in the game in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and the Panthers are still the Rat Kings with an intense forecheck and a near-perfectly constructed roster from top to bottom.

Yet, some things have changed. The Panthers added Brad Marchand and Seth Jones, two crucial pieces in their round-after-round dominance. The Oilers have improved on defense as a full-team system and with acquisitions such as Jake Walman.

"They're deeper this year, and they have the two best players in the league who have a fire lit under them right now—you could see it the moment Game 7 ended last year," Marchand said of the Oilers.

"When you have that experience, you learn from those moments and you learn how to be better in them. They're definitely going to lean on that, and they've cleaned some things up—they're not giving up a whole lot."

It's Florida's forecheck and defending champion confidence vs. Edmonton's breakout and Game 7 Cup-losing perspective. Which will win out?

"The margin between the two teams isn't that wide, and this isn't a tax comment," Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said at Tuesday's media day.

Consider this the People's Guide to the 2025 Stanley Cup Final. Here are the juiciest storylines to look out for, the matchups within the matchups to keep an eye on, and some thoughts straight from the mouths of both teams on the eve of the Final.

The NHL Rat Pack: Florida's Play on the Edge

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The Panthers' brand of hockey is relentless, and nothing says "buying into relentlessness" quite like employing Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand.

Each of these players walks a rare and incredibly effective line between ratitude and skill that translates to winning all types of games against all types of opponents.

Bennett, who leads playoff scoring with 10 goals, has been one of the few players able to sustain real estate in front of the net these playoffs. He doesn't accomplish that without the ratitude, but he doesn't make it count without the skill.

Marchand broke an NHL record this postseason that was extremely on brand: He's the first player in NHL history to go 5-0 against an opponent (the Leafs, of course), in Game 7s. He's settled into less time on ice and less responsibility with the Panthers on the third line, and he's still as effective as they need him to be with four goals, 14 points, and a plus-11 in 17 games.

Tkachuk is probably the heart and soul of the rat pack, forcing opponents of their game with chirps, hits and right-on-the-line antics to draw penalties.

Look for him to taunt and trap Edmonton's Trent Frederic, a family friend he grew up with in St. Louis. Things aren't so friendly between the two on the ice these days.

Will the Real Stuart Skinner Please Stand Up?

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The Oilers got a lot of flak for sticking with goaltender Stuart Skinner this offseason and barely dipping their toes into the goalie market.

On one hand, the criticism was warranted: Edmonton lost the Stanley Cup on a weak goal Skinner allowed after a broken play.

On the other hand, Skinner ended last playoffs with a .901 save percentage and had arguably a better overall series than Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky.

Skinner has the potential to be a great goaltender, and he's shown this in single games, various shutouts throughout this playoff run, and his ability to bounce back after tough games.

"I think [Skinner] has always been a really good goalie," Leon Draisaitl said at media day Tuesday. "Does he have a bad night every once in a while? Yes. I have a bad night, Connor has a bad night, every player has a bad night every once in a while. The one thing about [Skinner] that I've always really admired is his ability to bounce back. He's always, always, always the goalie that when he has an off night, you know his next game is going to be good. That's a really good characteristic to have in any play, but especially a goalie. We have full trust in him."

We might be witnessing the biggest bounce-back of Skinner's career by the end of this series.

He was benched for Calvin Pickard after giving up 15 goals on 82 shots for a 5.36 GAA and a .817 save percentage in his first three starts this postseason.

"Our team wasn't very good in front of him against LA," head coach Kris Knoblauch reminded us Tuesday. "He wasn't on top of his game either, but he was able to shrug that off. Now, we wouldn't be here without him and the way that he's played."

The Oilers had no choice but to throw him back in when Pickard was sidelined with a lower-body injury after Game 2 of the second round, but he's looked like a different player ever since.

He's 6-1 with a 1.41 GAA, a .944 save percentage, and three shutouts in his last seven games.

The Stanley Cup Final is a huge opportunity for Skinner to own his reputation and step into the greatness he appears capable of.

Connor McDavid vs. Aleksander Barkov

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Aleksander Barkov is the building block the Panthers have built around for a reason: There isn't a more competent, more cool-headed, more consistent two-way player in the league right now.

His unselfishness has been key in this era of scary deep scoring for the Panthers. He's happy to let Bennett, Sam Reinhart and whoever else score the momentous goals as he grinds down the opponent's top lines and chips in on offense at a point per game clip. Barkov has been able to contain the best in the league round by round -- Nikita Kucherov in the first round, the Maple Leafs' Core Four when it mattered most in the second round and literally every Carolina Hurricane in the Eastern Conference Final.

"I have really appreciated his game," Marchand said. "Playing with (Patrice Bergeron) for a long time, he plays similar to him. The way that he can slow down the game is pretty incredible, and obviously, the way he plays both sides of the puck. He's an extreme talent, and an even better human being."

His toughest task is ahead of him when it comes to the containment of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but he has the experience from last season to draw from -- and a little extra help.

Postcards from the Supporting Cast

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We love the Stanley Cup Final because it is an event full of gorgeous, unpredictable, instantly historic moments. Many of these moments are the product of your McDavids and your Barkovs rising to the challenge; Their teams just won't win if they don't.

But each year, some of the most special moments come from the supporting cast stepping up, like a rookie taking the next step in his career right in front of our eyes, or a journeyman making sure the final step is a good one.

This year, we've got Jeff Skinner, a league-wide fan favorite who played 1,078 regular-season NHL games before getting the chance to suit up for the playoffs. The 33-year-old has only played two out of 16 potential games this postseason due to Evander Kane's return, but he's got a goal and an assist and has left his mark.

We've also got Corey Perry, the 40-year-old veteran who has spent the latter half of his career inching towards a second Cup win, but falling just short. Perry is playing in his sixth Stanley Cup Final and looking for his first win since 2007. He's provided key scoring depth for the Oilers this postseason with seven goals and 10 points in 16 games.

On the Panthers, we've got 37-year-old Marchand looking to etch some new career lore playing for a team other than the Bruins for the first time in his NHL career. The former Boston captain has adjusted perfectly fine in an understandably reduced responsibility role on this stacked Panthers team.

He might've imagined himself staying with the Bruins for the rest of his career, and he negotiated with the team in good faith, but the trade was out of his control and he's made the most of it.

The Ramifications for McDavid's Free Agency If the Oilers Lose

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We all want to stay in the moment when it comes to enjoying the Stanley Cup Final, but for McDavid, the current moment comes with career-altering ramifications.

No pressure? How about all of the pressure? McDavid, who won the Conn Smythe despite his team losing last year, will be the first one to put the pressure on himself. When the Oilers hired GM Stan Bowman in the offseason, Bowman went to visit McDavid and he immediately felt the urgency.

"The first time I talked to Connor...all he talked about was 'I just want to win the Cup.' that was it," Bowman recalled Tuesday. "This is his singular focus. He's accomplished everything he could accomplish individually in this sport. You can see how bad he wanted it last year, right now he's on a mission."

So, the best player in the world has accomplished everything short of winning a Stanley Cup at 28 years old, and he's headed into the final year of his contract.

As loyal as McDavid has been through the ups and downs with these Oilers in his decade with the franchise, he's in his prime and he's now come this close to accomplishing his biggest goal. Now that he's that close again, you wonder where another heartbreak might leave him as he is due to ink another contract.

No pressure.

A Modern Dynasty in Florida?

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Taxes this, taxes that: Players really want to sign with the Florida Panthers and continue to play for them because they're a tight-knit group on the verge of dynasty status.

"The sun doesn't kill us, it's a nice environment to live in, [and Florida has] a little something for everyone," Panthers GM Bill Zito said. "Players know so many of the players have come to us and have had career years. I think the tax thing is marginal at best, I think the real reason (we are attracting top free agents) is we're trying to the best of our ability to win."

Whatever you believe about why the top players in the league are motivated to join the Panthers, you cannot deny they're building something special. They've seemed to just improve year after year, with a failed trip to the Cup Final, last year's Cup win, and now a team that looks even more complete, dominant, and conditioned.

If the Panthers hoist the Cup for the second consecutive year, we'll know they're the prototype for a contemporary NHL dynasty. We'll know it takes a full-team forecheck, a roster with no weak link, a goalie who doesn't have to be perfect but does have to steal those crucial few games, a degree of ratitude, and players who want to be there.

If a little more sunshine and a little less IRS involvement make the winning even sweeter, so be it. All's fair in war and dynasties.