‘It seems like I just started’: Panthers’ Dmitry Kulikov reflects on journey to 1,000 games

The euphoria from nearly seven months ago still hits Dmitry Kulikov from time to time. It was his defining moment with the Florida Panthers, in his second stint with the team that drafted him, and it came in the biggest game in franchise history. June 24. Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers. About five minutes left in the second period. Tie game. Kulikov crashed into the Panthers’ net, swiping the puck away from danger as the Oilers eyed a scoring chance and starting the sequence that ultimately led to Florida scoring the winning goal to secure the franchise’s first ever Stanley Cup. “Certain things set it off,” Kulikov said. “You see a picture or a billboard or something like that, and then it just takes you back to the playoffs last year and you relive some memories. Or you see a picture pop up on your phone and then it just kind of comes back. Every time, it’s just chills, goosebumps.” Kulikov yearned for that moment for more than a decade-and-a-half ever since Florida drafted him in the first round as an 18-year-old. He finally reaped the rewards of his career’s longevity by getting a hockey player’s ultimate prize. On Wednesday, Kulikov’s longevity will be recognized as he plays in his 1,000th NHL game when the Panthers host the Los Angeles Kings to begin a three-game homestand at Amerant Bank Arena. He is just the 405th player and 138th defenseman in the NHL’s 108-season history to hit the milestone. It’s a feat Kulikov admits he never thought too much about. It was tough to grasp the magnitude of it early in his career mostly because it seemed so unattainable. But Kulikov got to this point by persevering through a career that saw him go from a steady presence with the Panthers to a journeyman who bounced from team to team and had to overcome injury to having stability again with the team where it all started. To Kulikov, 34, it also means something else. “It means I’m old,” Kulikov said with a laugh. “It’s a lot of games. When I first heard of somebody playing that many games, the number didn’t mean anything to me. It was so many games that I couldn’t even understand how somebody could get to that point and how many years it would take. Now that I’m coming up on 1,000, it still doesn’t make sense. It seems like I just started last year and now it’s Year 16. Kulikov’s road to 1,000 NHL games started in 2009, when the Panthers selected him with the 14th overall pick in the NHL Draft. Born in Lipetsk, Russia, Kulikov had played the previous season in Canada’s Quebec Major Junior Hockey League where he led the league’s defensemen with 62 points in 57 games while also being named the QMJHL Defenseman of the Year, Defensive Rookie of the Year and the league’s top professional prospect. “He’s mature beyond his years, a very worldly young man,” then-Panthers scouting director Scott Luce said after the Panthers drafted Kulikov. “His adjustment to North America was very quick and that speaks to his character. This guy can rush the puck, run the power play and is good defensively. We did extensive due diligence on this, with his coaches here and with his coaches in Russia. He’s a very motivated young man.” Kulikov wasn’t shy about making his immediate intentions known. “My goal is to play in the NHL next year,” Kulikov said after being drafted. “We’ll see what’s going on. I love the hard work. ... To make an NHL team, you have to be better than someone else. That’s my goal.” That gritty determination, that burning desire to keep pushing and keep improving, still lives in Kulikov 16 years later. He made the Panthers’ roster out of training camp that 2009-10 season, playing in 68 games and producing 16 points (three goals, 13 assists). Kulikov would go on to play 460 games over seven seasons with Florida before bouncing around the league. He played for seven teams over the next seven seasons, and outside of a three-season stint with the Winnipeg Jets, he played no more than 80 games with any given team and twice was traded midseason. “It’s a journey,” Kulikov said. “You learn things along the way. ... The league kind of demands of you to be a professional and just take care of yourself.” That journey ultimately brought him back home to the Panthers. Florida entered the 2023 offseason intent on adding veteran defenseman depth since it was going to be without key players Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour early in the season as they both recovered from shoulder surgery. Kulikov signed a one-year, $1 million deal to come back to Florida, which was in a much different position than it was during his first stint. When Kulikov played for the Panthers the first time around, his seven-season stretch included five years with Florida as one of the worst teams in the NHL and two with first-round exits from the playoffs. Attendance at home games was sparse more often than not. Now? Florida was coming off a run to the Stanley Cup Final and had made the playoffs each of the past four years. The team was selling out its home arena. The young players in Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad he saw coming into the league were now the leaders of a perennial contender. “It’s really cool seeing where the sport is in South Florida and how much people love hockey,” Kulikov said. “I started when I was 18. Now, I have a son. He’s also into hockey. So I go to the rink, talk to parents, and everybody seems to want their kids to play. They want their kids to make it. It’s not just for fun. It’s getting serious even at the younger levels.” Barkov said Kulikov “hasn’t changed as a person” in between his stints with the Panthers. “He’s still that young Kuli who’s excited to come to the rink every single day, even though he’s getting old,” Barkov said. “He’s a huge part of our defense. He’s always defense-first. He has skill to make plays. He has skill to shoot the puck and play in any situation on the ice. He’s very reliable to us on the back end.” Entering Wednesday, Kulikov holds the Panthers’ franchise record for hits (970) and also ranks among the top 10 in franchise history for blocked shots (749, second), games played (587, sixth), points by a defenseman (168, sixth), assists by a defenseman (136, sixth) and goals by a defenseman (32, ninth). In 127 games since returning to Florida, Kulikov has 30 points (four goals, 26 assists) and a plus-minus rating of plus-21 while averaging nearly 18 minutes of ice time per game. But for Panthers coach Paul Maurice, who also coached Kulikov during his stint in Winnipeg, it’s the moments like his play in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final that define what Kulikov has meant for the team. “He’s done a lot of heavy, hard things,” Maurice said. “The camera doesn’t always catch the back end of how it started to get the guy going. ... Dmitry’s just found the right game at the right time in his career, and he’s excelled in it.” Added Kulikov: “Everybody has their own journey, and mine has been like this. I’m fortunate that I was able to come back this past year with the Panthers. This is the best memory of my whole career, this whole past year.” And he doesn’t want those memories to end. That’s why he chose to stay with Florida, signing a four-year, $4.6 million deal this offseason that will carry Kulikov through his age-37 season. “That’s almost a statement that lends itself to this,” Panthers president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito said. “We’re trying to get guys to want to be here and he’s all-in. He’s all in, 100 percent ... and that’s really priceless. To have a commitment from a guy like that with everything that he leaves out on the ice, it’s encouraging.” Kulikov’s goal 16 years ago was just to make the league as early as he could. His goal now before he closes out his career? “Winning another Cup,” Kulikov said. “You get a taste of it. Now, what motivates me is winning another one. I don’t care about points or stats or anything like that. Winning is everything. No matter how we do it, and who is driving us on certain nights, I’m happy for everybody.”