SUNRISE, Fla. — Ed Jovanovski had two memorable stints with the Florida Panthers.

Now it is time for a third.

The first No. 1 overall NHL draft pick in team history, the defenseman known as ‘JovoCop’ played a big role in the early years of the franchise.

After being traded to Vancouver as part of the Pavel Bure blockbuster in 1999, Jovanovski returned to the Panthers as a free agent in 2011 — and was later named the team’s seventh captain.

Jovanovski and the Panthers split ways in 2014 when the team bought him out following his return from serious hip surgery, but this season Jovanovski is back — this time on television covering the team for Fox Sports Florida.

“I love this game and I love watching it, so I think this is going to be exciting for me to do,” Jovanovski said at one of the practices he attended last week. A little later, he walked into the locker room — past his captain’s photo on the wall — to meet up with some players, including former Coyotes teammate Keith Yandle.

“There is a lot of buzz around this team right now, so I think it is going to be an exciting season. For me, I am happy to get involved and get to work. I think I have always had a good relationship with this town, our fans here. Just being part of the game again really excites me.”

Defenseman Ed Jovanovski, who was the first overall selection of the 1994 draft, played 362 of his 1,128 NHL games with the Panthers (1995-99, 2011-14). (Pat Carter / AP)

Jovanovski will be part of a new broadcast crew doing pregame, intermission and postgame shows from home games at BB&T Center.

Although Fox does not do pre- or postgame shows when the team is on the road, Jovanovski will make his television debut from the Fox studio in Fort Lauderdale when the Panthers open their season at Tampa on Thursday night.

“This is live television and I will have to grow into it a little bit, there will be a little of a learning curve early on,” said Jovanovski, who was the first overall selection of the 1994 draft and played 362 of his 1,128 NHL games with the Panthers (1995-99, 2011-14).

“As a former player, I know how to pick apart a game but the TV part will be the hard part. But you know what? I am looking forward to getting better each and every time I am on the air. Covering a team I have been a part of makes it just more special.”

Longtime color analyst Denis Potvin retired this summer with Randy Moller replacing him in the booth. Moller had been working not only as the sideline reporter from between the benches but also worked on the set.

With Moller moving to the booth, the set for home games needed some new life and he feels the addition of Jovanovski — as well as former NHL defenseman, South Florida resident and longtime Panthers season ticket holder Jeff Chychrun — will add that.

“I have known Chick for a long time,” Jovanovski said. “He is an easy-going, fun-loving guy and I think he will be easy to work with. We come from different eras as well. I think we’ll be a good combo.”

Jovanovski and Chychrun will be joined by Fox hosts Craig Minervini or Jessica Blaylock depending on the game.

“I think it is going to be great,” said Moller, who will call games on Fox Sports with Steve Goldstein this season. “We met with Jovo a few times and he was really interested in doing this. He was looking to get back into the game and doing something with us, and I think it is great. Same goes for Chychrun. He is extremely knowledgeable, knows a lot about the Panthers and his son plays in the NHL.

“I think Fox looked at the Marlins shows with the different players and Tommy Hutton and all that. The more guys talking hockey, the merrier.

“I told both Ed and Jeff, ‘You know the game, and that’s the easy part.’ They can describe why things are happening. But they also are guys with enthusiasm and personality, and that is what fans gravitate to.”

Chychrun played in 262 NHL games in parts of seven seasons and was part of the Penguins’ Stanley Cup team in 1992 before making his home in South Florida.

During Chychrun’s final NHL season, his family bought season tickets for the Panthers’ inaugural season in 1993 and have held them since.

Jakob Chychrun grew up as a fan of the team and when he was 3, his dad took him to the Panthers’ facility in Coral Springs and put him on the ice.

“The first time he skated was with Stanley C. Panther,” Jeff said two years ago. “It just went from there.”

In 2016, Jakob Chychrun became the highest-drafted player to be born and raised in South Florida when the Coyotes took him with the 16th overall pick. In 2017, he played his first NHL game on “home ice” when Arizona visited the Panthers. His family was watching from their seats in Section 102.

Jeff Chychrun has been following the Panthers since the early days of the franchise, but now will be talking about them.

He says he was approached by the team to gauge his interest in broadcasting and he went in for an audition. The original thought was to have rotating analysts splitting up the games, but then they asked if he would be interested in doing all of the home games with Jovanovski.

“This came across my plate in July when I was asked if I had any interest, and honestly, I had never thought about doing something like this,” Chychrun said during the first intermission of Thursday’s preseason game. “I think we’re going to have some fun.

“The thing about Eddie is, he was a world-class player, got selected for a lot of big (international) events and knows a lot about this game. I think it will be interesting to see all of that come out during the broadcasts. I think he is excited about it and I cannot wait for us to start trading some ideas on the air.”

Jovanovski, who kept his offseason home in South Florida after being traded in 1999 and stayed after being bought out by the Panthers in 2014, said he had been looking to get back into the game in some capacity. Television offers him that chance.

Other changes to the broadcast include Blaylock and new reporter Katie Gaus handling many of the sideline duties Moller performed over the past few years, including in-game and postgame interviews on the road.

Though Moller will spent most of his time up in the booth with Goldstein, he said he will return between the benches at ice level to serve as color analysts for about 10 home games and some select road ones as well.

Florida’s radio broadcast team returns with Doug Plagens handling the play-by-play and Bill Lindsay doing color on home games.

“I think it is going to be a fun season,” said Moller, who is also the Panthers’ vice president for broadcasting and alumni relations. “We are going to have a different perspective with all of the former players we have. I think we have the best of both worlds.”

‘It has been a long road, no doubt about that’

Jovanovski was a rookie on the Florida team that went to the Stanley Cup finals in its third season in 1996.

He played in 253 regular-season games with the Panthers from 1995-99, growing into a top-pair defenseman before going west to Vancouver in the Bure trade.

Jovanovski, who won an Olympic gold medal with Team Canada at the 2002 Salt Lake Games, really took off as a two-way defenseman once he got to Vancouver, and he spent parts of seven seasons with the Canucks before signing with the Coyotes in 2006.

There had been rumors of a return to Florida over the years, although it did not appear the Panthers could — or would — be able to afford him.

In 2011, however, general manager Dale Tallon pared down the Panthers roster for a major rebuild.

Jovanovski, a five-time All-Star with the Canucks and Coyotes, was one of the first free agents to sign on.

The Panthers ended up adding a dozen players either through free agency or trade that offseason and it paid off as the team won the Southeast Division for the first time and made it back to the playoffs in 2012 for the first time in more than a decade.

“You ask yourself, ‘Where does the time go?’ Life goes by so quick,’’ Jovanovski said after returning to the Panthers in 2011.

“For me, there are so many memories. It was tough to leave, getting traded was unexpected. … I remember (1996) when there were Panthers banners on every light pole down I-95. We were successful at the time, things were good, and we’re trying to get back to that. Winning won’t come easy, and it will be hard, but we have to start somewhere.”

A day before the 2013 NHL season began following another lockout, Jovanovski walked into the locker room at BB&T Center and was greeted by a familiar copy of The Hockey News — circa 1994 — taped on the team’s whiteboard.

On that cover was a fresh-faced, 18-year-old Jovanovski, wearing a red Florida Panthers jersey. He was pictured squeezing an orange with a big grin on his face after being drafted by the second-year team.

Hanging in his locker was his No. 55 sweater, only this day it had something extra on it: The ‘C’ indicating his new role as captain of the team that drafted him 19 years before.

“To be a captain here is special,” Jovanovski said then. “This is the team that drafted me. I began my career here. This is the team I’m looking to finish with.”

Unfortunately for Jovanovski, the end was close.

(George Richards / The Athletic)

A few games into that lockout-shortened season, Jovanovski took a hit to the knee. The time out was oddly welcomed; Jovanovski’s chronic hip pain (which he had hidden from the public) was becoming unbearable.

“It got to the point where I couldn’t bend down to tie my laces anymore,” he said.

After missing 22 games — and secretly taking a trip to Germany to try and find some relief through advanced Platelet Rich Plasma therapy — Jovanovski tried coming back later in the 2013 season. He left that game on March 16 after just two periods and did not return.

Major hip surgery would be needed. A long rehabilitation process followed.

Instead of retiring with two-plus years of guaranteed money remaining on his contract, Jovanovski went all-in on a painful journey.

Jovanovski had hip resurfacing surgery — his hip socket and hip bone were shaved down and capped with metal — performed by Dr. Edwin Su on March 28, 2013. Five months later, he was on the ice for training camp.

It would be a while before he was cleared to play again. But on Jan. 4, 2014, Jovanovski became the first professional athlete to come back from such an invasive procedure when he played against the Nashville Predators.

On Jan. 21 in Buffalo, Jovanovski scored his first goal in almost two years. It turned out to be the last of his 137 NHL goals.

“I take every day as a win,” Jovanovski said that night. “I’m very fortunate.”

Said Tallon: “He’s a leader and God bless him. What’s he’s doing is unbelievable. He’s a tough SOB and I really like him. His teammates love him. If anyone would come back from this is Jovo. He’s been terrific.”

Jovanovski played a total of 37 games in 2014 following the surgery and hoped to return for the final year of his contract.

That summer, the Panthers had the first overall pick in the draft for just the second time in franchise history.

As was the case 20 years earlier in 1994, Florida selected a young defenseman from the Windsor, Ontario area.

“It’s crazy how that happens, right?’’ Aaron Ekblad said in August. “For the same team to take two guys from that little town first overall in the draft is insane. I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the world that can say that.’’

Jovanovski and Ekblad would not play a game together with the Panthers.

The day after the 2014 draft wrapped up in Philadelphia, the Panthers put Jovanovski on waivers in order to use one of their amnesty buyouts on the final year of the four-year contract worth $4.125 million per season he signed in 2011.

Jovanovski was taken aback by the move but later said he understood the business side of it. Although he hoped to play that final season and retire afterward, the Panthers moved on without him.

Over the years, any hard feelings between the two sides appeared to thaw.

Jovanovski accepted invitations back by the team either to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the 1996 team three years ago or to be honored by the team in last year’s 25th anniversary season.

These days he is going to be around a lot more. During training camp, he has been in the locker room and has received warm welcomes from the likes of Yandle as well as Ekblad and Jonathan Huberdeau, who was a teammate of Jovanovski’s during his first two NHL seasons.

“This is a guy who has meant a lot to this organization and he has meant a whole lot to me,” Yandle said. “I know what Eddie brings to an organization whether it is TV or just being around the team. He played the game the right way, played hard every night and gave everything he had. Just having him around, talking to the young guys in an informal setting is definitely a good thing.”

Jovanovski says he is happy for a new opportunity with a team he has shared much history with — good and bad.

“This is where I started my career and maybe it didn’t end the way I wanted it to,” Jovanovski said. “But for me, life is too short to carry around bitterness. They have given me a lot of opportunities, kind of invited me back into the fold here with Fox. Who knows where it can lead to? I am happy to cover the team, happy to be around the guys in some capacity.

“It’s always good not to burn a bridge, to keep those friendships with people who brought you along. I love the game, went to games here and brought my son to watch them. Coming to the rink and knowing things were not good would be hard on me. I’m really excited about this.”

(Top photo: Joel Auerbach / Getty Images)