Fort Lauderdale, Florida – Seth Jones had waited most of his life to obtain a Stanley Cup ring. And then, he had to wait even longer before seeing him.
The Florida Panthers distributed the rings of their second consecutive title on Monday, and Jones was the first person on the long list of players, coaches and staff who obtained precious jewelry during the ceremony.
But the Panthers have a rule: no one opens the box until everyone can open the box together. So, Jones – who joined the team halfway last season – had to wait … and wait … and wait … before he and everyone could see the new brilliant Bobe.
“Great,” said Jones. “It’s a collector’s item for the rest of my life.”
Among the highlights of the ring: a piece on the speeches that Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett pronounced during the Stanley Cup parade, where they happily stressed that they apologize for people for the panthers being the panthers. This phrasing is engraved inside the ring, which has more than 250 diamonds and rubies and is created from white and yellow gold.
A ring adapted to consecutive champions 💍 pic.twitter.com/u8y6fs9y2f
– Florida Panthers (@Flapanthers) October 6, 2025
On the sides of the players’ rings: their name and number on one side, as well as the team’s logo and “back to back champions” on the other.
The panthers made the ceremony in private, with the players all in dark costumes and red links. The celebration of fans occurs on Tuesday when the team increases the banner before their first home game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The property group – Vincent and Teresa Viola and their families – presented each other, then the word finally came to open the boxes.
“I never believed that the possession of a sports team could be as invigorating, as the heart, as you care about players when they injure themselves,” said Teresa Viola, the wife of the owner of the Vincent Viola team. “You want to run there like a mom and go just,” my god, are you okay? “This team showed me the spirit of conviviality, family, everything I hoped.”
All the trophies of last season were on a table near the stage. There were the two won by Captain Aleksander Barkov – the Selke trophy as the best defensive striker of the NHL and King Clancy in recognition of his leadership and his humanitarian work on and out of the ice. There was the Conn Smythe trophy, the one that Bennett obtained as a MVP of the playoffs. There was the Prince of Wales trophy, which the panthers won in each of the last three seasons as champions of the Eastern Conference.
And, of course, there was the Stanley Cup. Panthers have taken it everywhere for a better part of the last 3 months – hospitals, firefighters, fishing trips, even meat dumplings eaten the thing – and now start the quest to try to win it again.
The rings were distributed. The banner rises on Tuesday. There will be reminders along the way, such as the broadcast of a ring at the renowned hockey temple, the Stanley Cup final magazines with Edmonton and the match matches. But the panthers know it’s time to turn the page to what awaits.
“It is very important to manage this and not to live in the past,” said the coach of the Panthers, Paul Maurice. “But also, we want to make sure that we don’t want to do that. It is good to take advantage of tonight. And it’s ok when we have to do other things that bring us back. We just don’t have a meeting every day that we arrive at the ice.”
