Breaking Down the Florida Panthers Opening Night Lineup

FORT LAUDERDALE — Last month, Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice revealed that he was going to initially start the newly-acquired Brady Tkachuk on a line with Sasha Barkov and Sam Reinhart.

Maurice said that he likes to see how a new player reacts to playing with Barkov — not only for the obvious positive reasons (like, who does not play better with Barkov?) but for the negatives as well.

Not that we see any negative of Tkachuk joining Barkov and Reinhart.

Except that we all just assumed The Tkachuk Bros. were going to play on a line together.

Do not fret: Brady and Matthew Tkachuk will play with Sam Bennett eventually. It may not even take too long before the three are put together.

The Tkachuk Bros. will probably play together on the top power play anyway.

So, with Brady on the top line with Barkov and Reinhart, how does Florida’s other lines look?

What about the defensive pairs?

How about we take a look, eh?

FLORIDA PANTHERS PROJECTED LINES

Brady Tkachuk — Sasha Barkov — Sam Reinhart

• Pros: So, where do we start? This has the potential to be one of the top lines in the NHL on both ends of the ice. The return of Barkov is huge for the Panthers by itself; adding BT to the mix with Reinhart should be a nightmare for opposing teams. Honest, how do you slow this train down? Now, we expect BT to move down to play with MT and Bennett, but to start, this has the potential to simply overpower folks.
• Cons: Aside from not giving us Bennett wrapped in a Tkachuk tortilla, nada.

Carter Verhaeghe — Sam Bennett — Matthew Tkachuk

• Pros: This line has played together quite a bit over the past few seasons so there will be no learning curve between the three. This is a line that will certainly benefit from the speed of Verhaeghe, and he should get a lot of pucks worked his way. If he gets stopped, well, he has two linemates ready to clean up around the net.
• Cons: Again, there really are not any. The Panthers certainly would like to get a little more production from Verhaeghe during the regular season, and being able to play with MT from at least the start gives him a chance to get going early.

Eetu Luostarinen — Anton Lundell — Brad Marchand

• Pros: This is getting a bit old, but where do you find fault here? This line was put together early in the 2025 playoff run and every team the Panthers played failed to find an answer for it. Marchand was Florida’s leading scorer before his lingering injuries kept him from finishing the season. Lundell and Luostarinen had a lot to do with that. These three just flow together and are a beast to face on the defensive side of the ice.
• Cons: While Bill Zito said Marchand should be ready for the start of training camp after not needing offseason surgery, how many games can Florida get out of No. 63? There may be a little load management going on as the season goes along. If so, the Panthers certainly have some forward depth and Maurice may try mixing and matching this line during preseason to see what may just work.

Cole Reinhardt — Lars Eller — Garnet Hathaway

• Pros: Honestly, we really do not know how this line is going to line up come opening night although it’s a pretty safe bet Eller and Hathaway, two veteran pickups during the offseason, will be in it. Reinhardt showed he at least should get a crack at playing time — but so do the likes of Sandis Vilmanis and Cole Schwindt. We’ll see how this all works out.
• Cons: Hey, we know the Panthers have, perhaps, the strongest top-9 in the NHL. But this fourth line, however it ends up being assembled, ain’t too shabby. Now, where does Jonah Gadjovich fit in? The Panthers would love to see him 100 percent when camp opens, but he missed most of the season with an injury that just would not heal up. Zito said the Panthers’ injuries from the past are just that, but we shall see.

Gus Forsling — Aaron Ekblad

• Pros: This is a defensive pairing that has excelled over the past few years with both players playing off each other extremely well.
• Cons: Not much here. Forsling rarely misses a game and, although Ekblad has had some injury concerns over the years, he has been pretty healthy the past couple save for a broken finger late last season.

Niko Mikkola — Seth Jones

• Pros: Another 2025 playoff pairing that just worked from the get is this one. Mikkola and Jones have size, speed, and can get the puck out and up the ice.
• Cons: Most teams would call this their top pair, but with the Panthers, these are the No. 2 guys. Sort of. The Panthers can rotate things depending on the matchup and be just fine. That’s not a ‘con;’ just figured it was worth mentioning.

Radko Gudas — Dmitry Kulikov

• Pros: Who doesn’t love seeing Gudas back with the Panthers? Joined up with another long-time favorite in Kulikov just seems right.
• Cons: With Gudas taking No. 6 and Kulikov keeping No. 7 we’re going to have quite a few ‘6-7’ jokes well past that fad’s expiration date. Seriously, though, Florida is probably going to do at least a little bit of rotating here with Uvis Balinskis and Donovan Sebrango returning. Expect Balinskis to make the team out of camp with the Panthers, perhaps, only carrying 13 forwards so not to expose Sebrango to waivers.

Starting goalie — Jacob Markstrom

Backup goalie — Akira Schmid

• Pros: Florida went out and solved its lack-of-goalie problem within a span of about 12 hours before free agency by making two separate trades for Schmid (from Vegas) and Markstrom (not from Vegas). We could see a more balanced goalie situation than before with Sergei Bobrovsky. While Bobrovsky liked sticking to a schedule planned way in advance, the Panthers may play these two a little more by ear — or, be more flexible in starting the so-called ‘hot hand’ when called for.
• Cons: The Panthers are banking that Markstrom rounds back into form after a few down years. Hey, Markstrom had nine shutouts four seasons ago. During the 2021-22 season, Markstrom had a plus-26.1 goals saved above average. That dropped to minus-18.4 the following year. Last season, less than half of Markstrom’s starts were quality ones, and he was at minus-13.7 GSAA. With this Florida defense in front of him — and getting to work with Robb Tallas again — the Panthers feel pretty good about a turnaround here. A grand majority of their moves have worked in the past and they get the benefit of the doubt here especially when it was Roberto Luongo’s goalie department coming up with this plan.

ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON

• NHL Free Agency: Opened July 1
• Panthers Rookie Camp/Tournament: Late August/Early Sept.; Site TBA
• Panthers Training Camp: Early/Mid September; Fort Lauderdale 
• Panthers Preseason (Four Games): Starts Sept. 20 vs. Carolina Hurricanes
• 2026-27 NHL Season Opens: Late September; Site, Opponent TBA