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Don Cherry Doubles Down on Stanley Cup Final Winner Pick

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Antonio Losada | Last updated Jun 2, 2025 8:34 AM ET

The 2025 Stanley Cup Final features a rematch between the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers, one year after Florida defeated Edmonton in seven games to win their first-ever championship.

The NHL hasn’t seen a finals rematch since the late 2000s, when the Pittsburgh Penguins avenged their loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

While not everyone is expecting history to repeat itself, legendary NHL coach and broadcaster Don Cherry thinks we'll see another fulfilled revenge.

Cherry is staying firm on his prediction from earlier this spring, and he made that clear while Speaking on Episode 310 of the "Don Cherry Grapevine Podcast."

"I’m still sticking with Edmonton," Cherry said without hesitation when his son Tim asked to revisit his pick for the potential finals winner.

The Oilers dropped both regular-season games against the Panthers this year. Still, Cherry isn’t backing away from his original pick, even though he faced a tough question by Tim regarding the upcoming goaltending battle.

Tim suggested he’d take the Panthers' Sergei Bobrovsky over the Oilers' Stuart Skinner in a long series, to which Don Cherry responded directly.

"Skinner’s playing just as good," Cherry said about the Oilers netminder compared to Bobrovsky's postseason run. "Whether he’ll do it in the Finals... we’ll see."

Tim, however, agreed with Don in that Florida won’t be able to push Edmonton around the way they did Toronto and Carolina, siding with his elder and backing up the Oilers on that front.

Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final is set for puck-drop at Rogers Place on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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