‘This is why you play:’ Pats alum Mahura has shot at hoisting Stanley Cup

On Oct. 9 of last year, Josh Mahura literally didn’t know where he was going.

Today, he knows exactly where he’s heading: The Stanley Cup final.

In October, the Anaheim Ducks put the former Regina Pats defenceman on waivers, throwing his hockey future into question. The following day, Mahura was claimed by the Florida Panthers — and nearly eight months later, he and the Panthers are the NHL’s Eastern Conference champions.

“Things just happened so quick (after I was put on waivers) that it’s weird,” the 25-year-old product of St. Albert, Alta., said during a chat Wednesday with The Green Zone’s Jamie Nye and Drew Remenda.

“One moment you’re getting told you’re being put on waivers and if you clear, you’re going to the American league. Then it’s just such a whirlwind to the next day. You’re getting the call saying, ‘Pack your stuff up. You’re going to the other side of the country and you’re going to the Panthers.’

“(I’m) just so fortunate to be in this position … It has just been so fun, what we have done this year, and to be able to be a part of it has been such a privilege.”

Mahura began his WHL career with the Red Deer Rebels in 2014. He was acquired by the Pats during the 2016-17 season and helped them post a league-best 52-12-8 regular-season record that season.

Regina reached the league final, but lost to the Seattle Thunderbirds in six games.

That experience has provided Mahura with some idea of what to expect during a long playoff run — Florida is heading into its fourth playoff series of this post-season, the same number the 2016-17 Pats played — but he noted a key difference.

The Pats were expected to make the WHL final that season. The Panthers squeaked into the 2023 playoffs as the conference’s eighth seed.

“Developing that underdog mentality has been a little bit different from when I was in Regina,” said Mahura, whom Anaheim selected in the third round (85th overall) of the 2016 NHL draft. “We had a pretty good team (with the Pats) and just fell short of where we wanted to go.

“This is why you play this late in the year and it’s what you prepare for and what the team prepares for. It’s just a lot of fun.”

Florida went 42-32-8 in the 2022-23 regular season and clinched a playoff berth with just two days left in the regular season. The Panthers then bounced the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs and Carolina Hurricanes in the first three rounds of the playoffs to reach the Stanley Cup final.

Not a lot of people expected Florida to make it to the NHL championship series — after all, Boston was the No. 1 seed in the East after setting a league record for most points in a regular season — but that message apparently didn’t reach the Sunshine State.

“We always knew throughout the year, throughout the ups and downs, that we trusted each other in the room,” Mahura said. “We trusted the product that we could put on the ice and what the coaching staff was trying to teach us.

“As it started to come down to the wire, we knew we had to win a lot of games (to reach the post-season). We would have liked to do it a little bit sooner, maybe, but we were still able to put ourselves in a position to win and to make the playoffs. And we knew once we got in that it didn’t really matter who we played. We believed in ourselves and knew we had a chance against anyone.”

Beating the Hurricanes in four games in the conference final gave the Panthers some much-needed rest, even if Game 1 went to a fourth overtime. They skated every other day as they waited for the Western Conference final to wrap up — the Vegas Golden Knights took out the Dallas Stars in six games — and also used that time to get themselves mentally ready for the final.

“We know what we’re going into,” Mahura said. “It’s not too hard to stay in the moment and stay ready for the opportunity coming up.”

To that end, the Panthers have tried to put distractions out of their minds. Mahura said the organization has done a fine job taking care of players’ families and getting tickets so the players could focus on the task at hand.

“We’ve got two weeks left here (so) we’re dialing in,” Mahura said. “It’s the biggest two weeks of a lot of our hockey careers, so we’re taking it as seriously as anything we ever have.”