If there is one team in the NHL that can’t allow Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers to have nice things, it’s the Florida Panthers. After news broke of the Oilers captain’s extension, a Hall of Famer in Sunrise dropped a stern message poking fans in Alberta.
2,543 miles stand between Sunrise and Edmonton, still the bad blood between the Panthers and Oilers is enough to fill a river in between the two cities. Consecutive meetings in the Stanley Cup Final will do that to any two organizations. However, the Cats have walked away victorious both times and are looking to extend their dominance in the NHL.
To the victor go the spoils. The Panthers are now getting greedy in their wish to torment the Oilers. After McDavid’s new contract with Edmonton was announced, Hall of Famer Roberto Luongo mocked fans in Alberta with a sarcastic statement.
“No state tax strikes again!,” Roberto Luongo wrote while quoting a report of McDavid’s new salary and contract length with the Oilers. The former goaltender—now special advisor to general manager Bill Zito—repeated a common argument used against the Panthers by many fans in the NHL.
Roberto Luongo #1 talks to the media prior to the ceremony to retire his jersey
Though Luongo never got his hands on the Stanley Cup during his NHL playing career (lost 2011 Final with the Vancouver Canucks), he has hoisted the Cup twice as an executive on Florida’s front office.
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An asterisk on greatness
The argument about Florida’s advantage in playing in a no-state-tax location has become popular—and, quite frankly, exhausting—across the NHL. While the Panthers can sign players to lower contracts because of it, claiming their success is based solely on that would be a massive understatement.
After all, the Cats hadn’t won a Stanley Cup in their first 29 NHL seasons, and tax regulations in the Sunshine State didn’t change during that span. So, what changed? Well, the Panthers did. They hired Bill Zito, traded for Matthew Tkachuk, brought in Paul Maurice, and found gems where the rest of the league only saw rejects and waived players.
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Most importantly, the Cats brewed a winning formula—one no team has been able to stop so far. It sounds ridiculous to say, especially after hoisting back-to-back Stanley Cups and eyeing a threepeat, but Florida deserves its flowers.
