Florida Panthers Dads Join Team for Two-Game Road Trip

Fathers of the Florida Panthers will travel with the team this weekend for games in St. Louis and Dallas. The event, known as Dads' Trip, allows parents to watch their sons play on the road.

The Panthers will fly to St. Louis on Friday and play the Blues on Saturday. They will then move to Dallas for a game on Sunday. This follows a 5-4 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.

About a dozen fathers attended the Thursday game at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla. The crowd totaled 19,151 people. Fans cheered when the dads appeared on the arena video screen. The fathers raised their drinks to acknowledge the supporters.

Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling said his father flew from Sweden to join the group. "It's going to be a lot of fun," Forsling said. "I know my dad, he's very excited. He flew all the way from Sweden, came in (Thursday) night. He's very pumped."

The team has hosted these trips since 2017. Other NHL teams began the tradition in the late 1990s. The format includes meals for players and fathers, as well as suite access for the road games. During a 2025 trip to Nashville, the fathers wore matching vests, jeans, and cowboy hats.

Carter Verhaeghe's father will meet the group in St. Louis. He missed the Thursday game where Verhaeghe recorded three assists. Verhaeghe noted that the presence of the dads adds extra motivation. "Dads' Trip is always fun," Verhaeghe said. "Great tradition every year. It's a lot of fun seeing all the dads and how much fun they have traveling as an NHL player."

Coach Paul Maurice described the current roster as one of the older groups in the league. Many players are now married and have children. Maurice joked that the event should be called a grandfather's trip because the dads have coached the players their whole lives. "Almost every guy in our room has had a baby," Maurice said. "When we started here, half of them weren't even married. So, it's a grandpa trip."