Less than a year ago, the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs met in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Maple Leafs were counted out yet won Game 6 in Sunrise before the Panthers strolled into Toronto and won Game 7 in a rout.
Tonight, neither the Panthers nor the Maple Leafs want to win.
Sure, both teams have a lot of pride. They will both tell you they want to win.
And that will be true for the players on the ice and those coaches behind the bench.
But the truth is, neither the Panthers nor Maple Leafs really want to win tonight’s game in Toronto.
The two teams have long been eliminated from the postseason — for different reasons, and with much different views on their future.
The Panthers, once healthy, should be back in championship contention next season. The Leafs? Probably not.
Yet right now, the 2026 NHL Draft is on the mind of a lot of folks affiliated with both teams who will not be suiting up tonight.
The two teams have a lot to lose by winning tonight’s game.
Here is the deal: The Panthers and Maple Leafs are both tied with 78 points and near the bottom of the NHL standings.
Usually, that would ensure both teams have a pretty good draft pick come June.
FHN: How Much Salary is Out for the Panthers? A Bundle
Only both have committed their first-round picks to someone else.
If certain conditions are met, however, they could keep their highly-coveted selections.
If the Maple Leafs do not end up with a top-five pick in the draft, their first-round selection goes to the Boston Bruins.
If the Panthers’ do not have a top-10 selection, their pick goes to the Chicago Blackhawks. If it is No. 10 or better, they get to keep it this summer and do what they will with it.
As long as the selection is 10 or higher, the Blackhawks will have to wait until next year to collect on the pick Florida sent over in the Seth Jones/Spencer Knight trade from last March.
So, in a season that has already been lost for both teams, more can be washed away just by, well, winning.
The Panthers and Maple Leafs both have three games remaining in this season, and, need losses to secure their unsaid goals.