Can the Dolphins Take Anything from the Florida Panthers?

Mike McDaniel knows how to make a statement, and there he was again at the end of his press conference Thursday when asked whether he'll be watching the upcoming Stanley Cup Final.

"Absolutely," McDaniel quickly replied. "I mean, do I have a pulse?"

With that, the Miami Dolphins head coach created a viral social media clip.

Mike McDaniel is all of us right now. 😤 #StanleyCup

📺: @EdmontonOilers vs. @FlaPanthers Game 1 on Saturday, June 8 at 8p ET on ABC, @ESPNPlus, @Sportsnet, Sportsnet+, and @TVASports

(🎥: @MiamiDolphins) pic.twitter.com/v60CB6geFJ
— NHL (@NHL) June 6, 2024

McDaniel added that he would be there, and WSVN reporter Josh Moser reported that the head coach indeed would be banging the drum for the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena ahead of Game 1 against the Edmonton Oilers.

NO PRESSURE FROM PANTHERS

It's a second consecutive Final appearance for the Panthers, with the Miami Heat joining the fun with a run to the NBA Finals last season.

As was the case last spring, McDaniel was asked about the idea of the Panthers' playoff success putting more pressure on the Dolphins.

“I think there’s always pressure," McDaniel said. "We don’t need that to happen to feel pressure for that. I don’t see this job as a void of pressure ever. One thing I tried to articulate to the team at length that I think they’ve started to capture is the pressure exists because there’s a lot of people that want to do your job. Whatever job you have, a lot of people want to do it. So if you’re not performing the best in your opportunity, it’s tick, tick, tick for everybody, always. You get hired in this business to win games. I’m never not going to feel the pressure of that regardless of who does what. I think that’s important to understand.

"I think to me that the internal pressure that we put on ourselves far exceeds any cup or trophy or what any team is doing. But it is cool to see and you do get a nice reminder of what we’re all here to do and how you just cannot replicate the experience and the gratification of being able as a team to achieve things. So it is a nice thing to have at home to watch and we’re all rooting for them and fired up knowing how hard that is. And you appreciate that and you trying to take some of the tools that their team used to be the best version of the team on the national stage, to be in the final pairing. There’s great stuff from that. But pressure? If you don’t feel the pressure, you are oblivious to reality.”

A PANTHERS LESSON FOR THE DOLPHINS?

Really, though, the biggest connection we can take from the Panthers when it comes to the Dolphins involves the drastic change of style the team underwent and whether that might be something to think about for the future.

The Panthers are going to the FInals for the second time in two seasons after making a seismic, franchise-changing trades, that after finishing with the best regular season record in the entire league.

In trading leading scorer Jonathan Huberdeau to the Calgary Flames for gritty (and also high-scoring) forward Matthew Tkachuk and bringing in veteran coach Paul Maurice, the Panthers totally changed their team, going from a high-flying, high-octane offensive team to a more defense-oriented that wins with discipline and grit, a team much better built for playoff success.

See where we're going with this?

The Dolphins are going to be running it back for a third season under McDaniel with a team built around its incredible speed, a formula that's been good enough to help the team put itself in position to win the AFC East title each of the past two seasons before things came crashing down at the end.

It's not wild to suggest that if the 2024 season produces the same kind of result for the Dolphins, the time might come to consider a Panthers-like major move.