How Old School Bruins and Flyers Shaped Panthers

Gone are the 1970s Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers, who would drive opposing teams out of buildings in absolute terror and agony through their dirty play and forceful hitting, more punishing than a whack to the side of the head by a shoe from an irate Mike Milbury.

Two qualities, when combined with skill, enabled both teams to win two Cups from 1970 to 1975, and their legacy lives on in today's NHL.

The Florida Panthers, who are coming off their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearance while successfully defending the Cup, have done so with a playstyle that has made seasoned hockey fans reminiscent of the rugged early '70s Bruins and the Broad Street Bullies Flyers.

Look, it would be a stretch to compare the modern-day Panthers to those Bruins and Flyers teams, because let's face it, nobody is ever going to break Dave Schultz's single-season penalty minute record , but it wouldn't be far-fetched to think that remnants of those rosters aren't sprinkled into the defending Stanley Cup Champs.

It's the way those gruesome Bruins and Flyers teams wore opponents down, both physically and mentally, with an offensive punch, that's reflected in the way the Panthers play today.

Seeing Florida center man Sam Bennett terrorize every goalie his team faced in the playoffs this past season, while being an offensive juggernaut in the process, gave shades of the skilled and feisty Derek Sanderson.

That crossover also applies to Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who can be looked at as a modern-day Don Awrey, a Bruins defenseman during the 1970s who was known for his physical and dirty play.

Bennett and Ekblad are on a Panthers roster full of agitators that is undoubtedly the best team in the NHL, which has created a new precedent in the process.

Even before repeating as Cup Champions, the Panthers left their mark league-wide.

"Well, I said this before, they play like a team.

So to win, you have to be a team.

They're the standard.

They won the Cup, so they're the standard," said Los Angeles Kings head coach Jim Hiller before the 2024-25 season, who believed playing Florida in the preseason would be a good test for his team before they begin their regular season.

Since Hiller hasn't coached his Kings team to the Finals, he hasn't witnessed a full-fledged playoff Panthers team, but Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving has.

"They've set the bar in our division," said Treliving during the Maple Leafs' end-of-season Media Availability this year." They've set the bar in our league.

That's what we aspire to." It's a harsh reality Treliving has had to accept after seeing his team get beaten up and ultimately outplayed in the seven games his Maple Leafs played against the Panthers in the second round this year.

Though his team was defeated, Treliving's Leafs were the only team to garner three wins against the back-to-back Champs, and although he will be managing a Leafs team without star forward Mitch Marner next season, Treliving has taken a page out of Florida's book this offseason.

Though Treliving wasn't able to replace Marner's offensive production in the sign-and-trade with Vegas, he was able to receive Nicolas Roy, who is a solid two-way physical centerman who solidifies a strong center core for the Leafs.

Along with Roy, Treliving also traded for Dakota Joshua in exchange for a 2028 4th-round pick.

Like Roy, Joshua is known for his physicality with a touch of offensive upside.

Add those two acquisitions to a 2025 Maple Leafs draft class without a player under 6-foot-1 and 184 pounds, and you have a Maple Leafs front office that's trying to replicate a championship-level pedigree.

Toronto wasn't the only team adding size to its future at this year's draft.

With their nine selections, Hiller's Kings didn't select a player under six feet and 176 pounds, a mediocre group in terms of size when compared to Chicago and Philadelphia's draft classes.

When looking back at the 2025 draft class, it was evident that certain picks were made due to a trait that this article has consistently highlighted: physicality.

Soo Greyhounds center man Brady Martin, who was selected fifth overall by the Nashville Predators , was considered a reach by many due to better talent still being available.

But in Nashville's defence, they probably couldn't pass on a forward such as Martin, who, with his blend of physicality, nastiness, and skill, drew comparisons to Bennett, who just headmanned a dynasty Panthers team.

A selection that didn't receive a question mark in this years draft was Barrie Colts defenceman Kashawn Aitcheson, who was selected 17th overall by the New York Islanders due to his helmet-removing hits and skill.

A selection that helped crown the Islanders the winners of the 2025 NHL Draft.

NHL history may not be entirely repeating itself, but the traits of Sanderson and Awrey have reminded us how physicality, peskiness, with a blend of skill have influenced modern-day hockey.

Just like the Flyers dethroned the Bruins when they beat them in 1974 to win their first of two back-to-back Cups, it makes you wonder how long Florida can stay on the pedestal their throwback identity has built because the trickle-down effect is in full motion.

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