Leon Draisaitl and Aleksander Barkov lead a group of European stars into the 2025 Stanley Cup Final with Germany, Finland and Sweden set to be well-represented during the championship series. Game 1 goes in Edmonton on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET on TNT, truTV, Max, SN, TVAS, CBC).* Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jeff Skinner are among the several skaters seeking their first Cup after playing over 900 career games, while Corey Perry and Brad Marchand can get their second after winning championships 18 and 14 years ago, respectively.
* The 2025 NHL Scouting Combine presented by Fanatics begins today at Buffalo’s KeyBank Center and LECOM HarborCenter, with top-ranked prospect Matthew Schaefer among one of 90 prospects invited to participate. Schaefer is a member of the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters, who Connor McDavid played three seasons with before reaching the NHL.
European stars seek Stanley Cup in Final rematch between Oilers, Panthers
Leon Draisaitl and Aleksander Barkov lead a group of European stars into “The Rematch” who all share the same goal of capturing the most-coveted prize in hockey.
* Draisaitl ranks second in the NHL with 25 points this postseason and looks to add a Stanley Cup to his decorated career resume which already includes a Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy (2024-25), Art Ross Trophy (2019-20), Hart Memorial Trophy (2019-20) and Ted Lindsay Award (2019-20). He is also a finalist for the Hart Trophy this season.
* Draisaitl has played a significant role in the growth of hockey in Germany and tops all of the League’s scoring leaderboards among players born within the country (regular season or playoffs). He can join a rare list of German-born Cup winners in NHL history which includes current Panthers forward Nico Sturm as well as Uwe Krupp, the latter of whom tallied the triple-overtime clincher against Florida in Game 4 of the 1996 Final.
* Barkov continues to inspire his younger countrymen Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen and Niko Mikkola as the quartet looks to become the second set of Finnish-born teammates in NHL history to repeat as champions, following Jari Kurri and Esa Tikkanen with the 1987 and 1988 Oilers. Lundell (3-2—5 in 3 GP) and Luostarinen (2-5—7 in 3 GP) shone in series-clinching wins this postseason, while Mikkola tallied twice in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final and has been nicknamed “The Condor” due to his imposing height.
* Florida’s four Finns are set to face countryman Kasperi Kapanen, who enters the Final with a two-game goal streak and tallied the overtime clincher in Game 5 of the Second Round. Kapanen’s father, Sami, skated 554 games (regular season & playoffs) under Panthers head coach Paul Maurice with the Hartford Whalers and Hurricanes, including five during the 2002 Final.
* Viktor Arvidsson, Mattias Ekholm, Mattias Janmark and John Klingberg of the Oilers as well as Jesper Boqvist and Gustav Forsling of the Panthers are set to represent Sweden in the Final. Ekholm returned to Edmonton’s lineup and provided the primary assist on the series-clinching goal in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final.
* Each of the last 10 Cup-winning rosters have featured at least one Swedish-born player dating to 2015, which marks the longest streak in NHL history (previous: 8 from 1980 to 1987). The Oilers can become the sixth Cup-winning team with four Swedish-born players on their roster, following the 2008 Red Wings (7), 2015 Blackhawks (5), 1983 Islanders (5), 2013 Blackhawks (4) and 1982 Islanders (4).
Several other stars set sights on redemption, repeat in championship series
Evan Bouchard, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Stuart Skinner strive to flip the script from last year and win their first Stanley Cup, while Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe vie for a second straight championship.
* Bouchard has consistently elevated his play this time of year and has career averages of 1.09 points per game in the playoffs compared to 0.69 during the regular season. The difference of 0.40 is by far the highest in NHL history (min. 50 GP in both playoffs & regular season), ahead of teammate Leon Draisaitl (1.48 in playoffs; 1.21 in regular season), former forward Jude Drouin (0.94 in playoffs; 0.68 in regular season) and Final opponent Evan Rodrigues (0.67 in playoffs; 0.44 in regular season) who round out the top four.
* Nugent-Hopkins, who shone during the Western Conference Final, can capture a championship after being chosen with the No. 1 pick in the 2011 NHL Draft and skating each of his first 14 seasons for Edmonton. Nugent-Hopkins is the longest-tenured member of the Oilers’ roster.
* Skinner enters a second straight Final with his hometown team owning a four-game winning streak and a 6-1 record through his last seven appearances (1.41 GAA, .944 SV%, 3 SO). There have been six instances in NHL history of an Alberta-based club winning the Cup and each roster featured an Alberta-born goaltender (Grant Fuhr; 1990 EDM, 1988 EDM, 1987 EDM, 1985 EDM & 1984 EDM; Mike Vernon; 1989 CGY).
* Bennett leads the NHL with 10 goals this postseason and needs one to tie the franchise record for most in a playoff year. Reinhart, who made history alongside Bennett and Aaron Ekblad last year when the Panthers became the first Cup-winning roster with three of the top four picks from the same NHL Draft, has followed up his historic 67-goal campaign (regular season & playoffs, including the Cup clincher) with 43 this season.
* Tkachuk was acquired by the Panthers via the second trade in NHL history featuring 100-point scorers being swapped and has helped Florida forge League-leading totals for playoff wins (41), series victories (10) and Final berths (3) over that span. He is set to become the second player since the end of the 1980s Oilers and Islanders dynasties to appear in the Final during each of his first three seasons with a franchise (also Patrick Maroon: 2020 to 2022 w/ TBL).
* Verhaeghe has continued his clutch scoring this postseason, which includes tallying the series-clinching goal with 7:39 remaining in regulation during Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final. Verhaeghe can capture the third Cup of his career following championships with the 2024 Panthers and 2020 Lightning.
MORE VETERANS ENDEAVOR TO END LONG WAITS FOR FIRST, SECOND STANLEY CUP
Jeff Skinner (1,080 GP), Adam Henrique (1,054 GP), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1,049 GP), Evander Kane (1,021 GP), Mattias Ekholm (997 GP) and Seth Jones (914 GP) are the six players with at least 900 career games (regular season & playoffs) seeking their first Stanley Cup. Skinner, who scored a goal during his return to the lineup in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final, would have the second-most games among active players before their first Cup behind Alex Ovechkin with the 2018 Capitals (1,124 GP).
* Jones accounts for three of the League-leading 15 combined goals scored by the Panthers’ defense corps this postseason. Jones can capture his family’s second championship from one of the major North American professional sports leagues after his father, Popeye, won the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy as an assistant coach with the 2023 Denver Nuggets.
* Corey Perry (2007 ANA) and Brad Marchand (2011 BOS) are the other previous Cup winners set to skate in the Final. Perry can become the first player in NHL history to go 18-plus years between Cups and best the current mark held by Chris Chelios (16 from 1986 MTL to 2002 DET), while Marchand would be the fifth with 14 years from one championship to the next.
McDavid, Ekblad SET TO SQUARE OFF at same time as 2025 NHL SCOUTING COMBINE
Connor McDavid and Aaron Ekblad are set to open their second straight Stanley Cup Final while the 2025 NHL Scouting Combine presented by Fanatics is in full swing at Buffalo’s KeyBank Center and LECOM HarborCenter. The latter event begins today and runs through June 7.
* McDavid (No. 1 in 2015) and Ekblad (No. 1 in 2014) were the most-recent No. 1 picks chosen from the OHL, but top-ranked North American skater Matthew Schaefer can snap the nine-year drought if his name is called first overall. Schaefer is a defenseman with the OHL’s Erie Otters, who McDavid and Connor Brown played for with Kris Knoblauch as their head coach.
QUICK CLICKS
* Matthew Tkachuk, Panthers brace for Stanley Cup Final rematch against ‘very hungry’ Oilers
* Connor Brown to return for Oilers in Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final against Panthers
* Brad Marchand fortunate for ‘great fit,’ Stanley Cup pursuit with Panthers
* Matt Duchene would ‘love to stay’ with Stars, seeks longer contract
* Oilers having fun, staying loose on way to Stanley Cup Final
