Patric Hornqvist: Builder of Florida Panthers Culture

The impact of Patric Hornqvist on the Florida Panthers was apparent from the moment he walked through the door of their Sunrise arena.

In his first practice with the Panthers in 2021, Hornqvist paused as everyone was getting off the ice and made it very clear he thought they left something on the ice.

“Get back out there!” Hornqvist yelled, as general manager Bill Zito recalled. “We need to work on the power play!”

That was not Hornqvist trying to show up his new teammates in order to earn their respect.

It was just one of many natural moments which made Hornqvist who he was.

The final pick of a deep 2003 NHL Draft, Hornqvist went on to score so many big goals for the Nashville Predators — then got the Stanley Cup-winning goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins in Nashville in 2017.

But Florida may have felt his impact the most after he spent the final three years of his career there.

Panthers Beat Penguins on Patric Hornqvist Night

“I just tried to be myself and try to bring the competitive part of my game and my personality,” Hornqvist said.

“I think it shared off to the other guys and then we were off to such a good start in my first year too. And after two years, we kept rolling. We won the Presidents’ Trophy my second year and then lost in the Stanley Cup Final the third year.”

And they will continue to as Hornqvist enters his next chapter as a scouting and development consultant for the team.

“This team is for real now and that’s why I decided to work for them too,” Hornqvist said.

“They really have something good going. Bill turned it around and you can really see it on the ice and every layer of the franchise is really rolling right now.”

Zito gives Hornqvist just as much credit for helping set the standard for the Panthers.

And there was a good reason why Zito decided to make Hornqvist his first-ever acquisition when he took over as Florida GM in 2021.

“I had the ‘luxury’ of playing against him in Columbus and watching him,” the ex-Blue Jackets assistant general manager said.

“They knocked us out of the playoffs in the first round. But they were great games and it was really competitive. That was my wake-up call to a different level of competitive and focus, but it even transcends that. It’s an energy.”

Sergei Bobrovsky could attest to the nonstop motor of competitiveness Hornqvist was playing with in those games.

The 5-foot-11, 189-pound winger was not the biggest guy out there, but he certainly was one of the strongest — and he spent most of his career being a nuisance to goaltenders near the front of the net.

A good amount of his 264 regular season goals, 28 playoff goals and his iconic Stanley Cup winner were all scored near that blue paint as well.

“It was so hard to play against him,” Bobrovsky said. “And I was so happy when he got to our side.”

After all of those battles Hornqvist had with him in the playoffs, he became one of Bobrovsky’s favorite teammates pretty quickly.

It took Zito some convincing to get Hornqvist to waive his no-trade clause to go from the team he won the Stanley Cup with to the young and unproven Panthers, but his personality immediately rubbed off on his teammates from the moment he walked in the door.

Both his unwillingness to accept anything less than the best and the caring attitude he has towards the people around him.

“I think the biggest thing, especially for young guys, is just seeing his work ethic,” said Evan Rodrigues, who played with Hornqvist while still breaking into the league in Pittsburgh before joining him in Florida this offseason.