Florida Panthers cancel Monday’s ring ceremony due to weather conditions

The Florida Panthers announced Sunday night that Monday’s Champions Ring Ceremony at Amerant Bank Arena will not continue as planned due to the expected poor weather conditions Hurricane Milton will bring to South Florida.

Milton is on a track to slam into Florida’s Gulf Coast, potentially near Tampa, late Tuesday or Wednesday but its effects are likely to begin much earlier as Milton’s wind field expands over the Gulf of Mexico’s warm and deep waters. Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency for 35 counties across the state on Saturday and expanded it to 51 counties on Sunday, including Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade.

Heavy rainfall leading to possible flooding is expected across South Florida through much of this week, officials said. A flood watch is in effect for the entire area through Thursday morning and authorities warned of “damaging wind impacts for portions of South Florida from Milton.”

“As this event would take resources from first responders and service providers, we have made the tough decision to cancel our Champions Ring Ceremony out of an abundance of caution for the safety of all involved. We will instead distribute our championship rings privately,” said Panthers president and CEO Matt Caldwell.

“Along with state and local authorities, we are closely monitoring the situation. As of now, Opening Night vs. Boston (Tuesday) is scheduled to proceed as intended and we will continue preparing our arena and surrounding areas to safely welcome guests for Opening Night.”

Fans who brought tickets for the ring ceremony can expect a full refund.

The Panthers are looking to join the the 1972 and 1973 Miami Dolphins and the Miami Heat of 2012 and 2013 as South Florida’s back-to-back champions.

The back-to-back Eastern Conference champions bring back the core of the team that won it all last June — Sergei Bobrovsky, Sam Reinhart, Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, Anton Lundell, Gustav Forsling, Evan Rodrigues, Carter Verhaeghe and more. It’s going to take some time for the Panthers to figure out how to replace a couple of key pieces — Brandon Montour among them — and the power play is likely going to look a bit different. The Panthers play eight of their first 12 games — and 11 of their final 18 — on the road.

Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.