The back-to-back NHL Stanley Cup champions Florida Panthers visited the White House on Thursday, two days before their current road trip concluded.

The Panthers play at Carolina on Friday before returning to Washington to face the Capitals. It is a familiar stop at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, with the team having landed an invitation after defeating Edmonton to win the Stanley Cup last season.

Florida’s four-game win over Edmonton in the 2025 Stanley Cup Final set the stage for another White House visit.

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"It's an honor to welcome to the White House the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers. Unbelievable team, unbelievable athletes, players. These men are responsible for the greatest feats in Panthers franchise history," Trump said.

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"And beyond that, you compare them to some of the greatest hockey teams ever," he said. "Including the first-ever Presidents' Trophy, three straight finals appearances."

During the ceremony, the Panthers presented Trump with a No. 47 jersey, championship rings and a golden hockey stick.

"Good for slashing," the president said in reference to the hockey stick. Trump put on one of the rings, flashed it to the cameras and waved his new hockey stick during the ceremony.

Trump also highlighted the locale of the last two seasons' Stanley Cup runner-up, Edmonton, Canada. "You denied Canada the Stanley Cup," he said, adding the U.S. has "a little competition" with its neighboring nation.

"We’re doing much better than Canada, but that’s okay," Trump noted. "We want them to do well, and they’re going to do well."

Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk beamed with pride as he walked to the podium. "On behalf of the whole organization and mainly the players. We are so honored to be here… being an American, I know I said it last year, but nothing beats this. I'm so proud to be an American. I'm so proud to be here with you and everybody else."

"Winning it takes a toll, you pay a price for it," he continued. "Each one of these members behind me, it really does take a village to make it happen. Each person played a very very important part in it."

Tkachuk also noted excitement about playing for Team USA in February at the 2026 Winter Olympics. "Representing you and the millions back here, not month in the Olympics, will be one of the highlights of my life as well."

When they were White House guests last year, the Panthers brought the Stanley Cup and also presented Trump with a personalized jersey. The coveted trophy was also on display on Thursday. 

Tkachuk and Brad Marchand have recently dealt with injury, but both players could be back on the ice as soon as this weekend. The Panthers entered Thursday in 12th place in the NHL's Eastern Conference standings.

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Some Democrats are worried that the "abolish ICE" slogan will become as infamous a liberal slogan as "defund the police," the New York Times reported on Thursday.

Per the Times, "some Democrats worry that calls to eliminate the agency are an unwelcome distraction from more pragmatic approaches. They fear that the ‘Abolish ICE’ slogan will age as poorly as ‘Defund the Police’ did."

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., believes that pushing "Abolish ICE" rhetoric "would hurt the cause."

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"Clearly ICE is an absolute problem — they’re out of control, moving way too fast," Gallego told the Times.

"The last thing we need to do, again, is to make the same mistake when it comes to ‘Defund the Police’ rhetoric. That ended up not actually helping communicate what people wanted. People want a slimmed-down ICE that is truly focused on security."

Calls to defund the police from far-left figures became more popular among Democrats in 2020, after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman. However, the phrase did not catch on with the public and wound up hurting down-ticket Democrats in that year's election, and many leaders in the party have sought to distance themselves from the slogan that appears to critics as wokeness run amok.

"But some Democrats caution that calling for the outright elimination of ICE is a trap that will only help Republicans," the New York Times reported. 

The center-left think tank The Third Way cautions Democrats to avoid calls to abolish ICE.

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"The impulse is emotional," reads their memo. "The slogan is simple. But politically, it is lethal. Every call to abolish ICE risks squandering one of the clearest opportunities in years to secure meaningful reform of immigration enforcement — while handing Republicans exactly the fight they want."

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An ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good last week during a federal enforcement operation in south Minneapolis. Federal officials have said agents were attempting to make arrests when the woman tried to use her vehicle as a weapon, prompting an ICE agent to fire in self-defense.

Top Democrats, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, criticized the federal account of the incident and rejected the claim that the officer acted in self-defense. Minnesota has since sued the Trump administration, claiming the immigration enforcement surge in the state is "unlawful" and "unprecedented."