Panthers Pulse: Stanley Cup Hero Dmitry Kulikov Earned the Right to Stay Home

After his Game 7 heroics, Dmitry Kulikov cashed in on a four-year contract that will keep him in South Florida for the long run.

Photo courtesy of Anthony Calderale

Leading up to the beginning of training camp, Pucks and Palms will be previewing each of the key pieces of the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers in a series called ‘Panthers Pulse’ heading into the 2024-25 season. Dmitry Kulikov is next.

2023-24 Stats: one goal, 20 points, 76 GP (Playoffs: two assists, 24 GP)

Eight years after the Florida Panthers sent him packing in a trade to the Buffalo Sabres, Dmitry Kulikov returned home and was a hero when it mattered the most.

The Panthers rewarded the journeyman defenseman with stability in the form of a four-year deal worth $1.15 million.

After a tour of seven teams in the seven seasons he spent away from South Florida, Kulikov returned with the goal of winning a Stanley Cup in the place he called home — and he delivered.

He was arguably the hero.

With chaos ensuing in front of the net and Sergei Bobrovsky out of position in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, Kulikov cleared the puck away from the goal line, diving into the net to get to the puck before Dylan Holloway could pot the puck home. Seconds later, Sam Reinhart gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead, which would stand as the game’s final score.

That moment was a microcosm of what Kulikov brought to the Panthers on a night-to-night basis.

He blocked a ton of shots and he logged a ton of minutes on a Florida penalty kill which saw a major resurgence last season.

Kulikov’s 84 blocked shots ranked third on the team, he logged the sixth-most shorthanded minutes per game on a Panthers penalty kill which went from the 10th-worst in 2022-23 to the sixth-best in 2023-24 and he came up big when the Panthers were missing Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour for the first month of the season.

During that stretch, the Panthers gave up the 10th-fewest goals per-game and Kulikov played a big role in making that happen.

For the lifetime of his four-year deal, Kulikov will continue to be a reliable third-pairing defenseman and a veteran leader in the locker room. He certainly delivered on both of those promises last year.

He will also likely play an even bigger role on the penalty kill this upcoming season in the event one of Ekblad or Gustav Forsling step up to quarterback Florida’s top power play unit.

The 33-year-old blueliner no longer has to worry about packing his bags, going from city to city as he did the past seven years.

He is home: the place he started his NHL career and continued to live during the offseason during his time away from the Panthers.

And now he has a shiny Stanley Cup ring to go with it.

Up Next in Panthers Pulse: Chris Driedger

Previously: Matthew Tkachuk, Gustav Forsling, Sam Bennett, Evan Rodrigues, Eetu Luostarinen, Uvis Balinskis, Anton Lundell, Sergei Bobrovsky, Spencer Knight, Aleksander Barkov, Adam Boqvist, A.J. Greer, Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola, Nate Schmidt, Tobias Bjornfot, Mackie Samoskevich, Jonah Gadjovich, Carter Verhaeghe, Tomas Nosek, Aaron Ekblad