ESPN’s ESPYS Awards 2025 are on the way and will be presented on July 16 at the iconic Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The excitement has skyrocketed as many of the standout star athletes of 2024-25 season are in the race to win the coveted honors. While nominations for the Best Athlete have been the talk of the town, team awards have also created their fair share of buzz, and the Florida Panthers are pretty much at the center of it.

For Best Athlete–Men’s Sports, the intense tussle is going on between MLB sensation Shohei Ohtani, superstar NFL running back Saquon Barkley, who recently made headlines for being the cover athlete of Madden 26, the 2024 NFL MVP Josh Allen, and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s rising NBA star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Meanwhile, in the Women’s Sports category, gymnastics legend Simone Biles, track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, and WNBA standout A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces are locked in a thrilling competition of their own.

The nominations for the Best Team include the 2024-25 Super Bowl Champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the 2024-25 NBA Champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, who stunned fans with their historic run, and the US Women’s National Soccer Team. Alongside them, the NHL community is buzzing with excitement as the back-to-back Stanley Cup winners, the Florida Panthers, have also got a nod. The Panthers crushed the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final series with a 4-2 final record in the best-of-seven showdown, securing their place among the elite at ESPN’s ESPYS Awards.

Last year, too, the Florida Panthers were nominated for Best Team at the ESPY Awards. Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid received nominations for both ‘Best Athlete, Men’s Sports’ and ‘Best NHL Player.’ This year, however, no NHL player has been nominated for Best Athlete, Men’s Sports. Still, Alex Ovechkin, who broke Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record this year, has secured a nomination for Best Record-Breaking Performance. Meanwhile, Kevin Durant—recently traded to the Houston Rockets in a historic seven-team deal—and WNBA star Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever are also in the spotlight.

Florida Panthers’ back-to-back Stanley Cup wins hit different 

The Florida Panthers clinched their first Stanley Cup win in the 2023-24 season and repeated the victory also in the latest season. In fact, they played their third consecutive Stanley Cup final this past season. They lost the 2022-23 season to the Vegas Golden Knights. But never looked back after that. They won their first title under the head coaching of Paul Maurice in 2023 and their second in 2024. They are now eyeing a three-peat. If achieved, the Florida Panthers will become the first team to win the Cup three-peat since the salary cap era started (2005-06).

But to win in 2024-25, the Panthers did a lot of hard work in terms of keeping the players. Fourteen players who played at least one Stanley Cup Playoff game in 2025 were on the Cup-winning roster last season. They built the team strategically when the playoffs had not yet started. The Panthers acquired Brad Marchand on March 7, who had been playing for the Boston for the past 16 years. And it paid off. He scored 20 points in the playoffs, including 10 crucial goals. 

The Florida Panthers’ roster stands as a true testament to smart front office moves and balanced team-building. And they didn’t stop there. The Panthers signed in free agency, acquired seven via trade, and four were NHL draft picks, and one was a savvy waiver-wire pickup.

All these efforts resulted in the team scoring more and more points. Impressively, 19 of the 22 skaters found the back of the net during the playoffs, while 21 registered at least one point. Looking ahead to the upcoming season, the Panthers have retained three of their star players: Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett, and Aaron Ekblad. Now the question is, can the Cats make it three Stanley Cups in a row?