2025 Stanley Cup Champions
What the Florida Panthers Could Look Like on Opening Night
FORT LAUDERDALE — The Florida Panthers do not know when they will open the 2025-26 NHL season, nor do they know who their opponent will be.
But they have a pretty good idea of how they will look when the season starts.
With GM Bill Zito keeping most of the band together, the Panthers will look a lot like they did when they beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 in Game 6 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final for their second straight championship.
Brad Marchand was on the ice for Florida’s opener in 2024 when the Panthers raised their first championship banner.
This time, he will get to enjoy it.
Marchand is one of three high-end free agents that Zito signed to contract extensions before the NHL’s free agency period opened up.
With Marchand, Sam Bennett, and Aaron Ekblad back, the Panthers will not look much different in their top-9 nor in the top two defensive pairings.
One change will likely be the absence of Matthew Tkachuk who is expected to miss the start of the season — and more — if it is determined he needs surgery to repair his abductor and sports hernia injuries which cost him the final 25 games of the regular season.
The Panthers are currently a few million over the salary cap, but if Tkachuk is on LTIR when the season starts, they will be in compliance.
Florida did say goodbye to some members of the 2025 Stanley Cup champions on Tuesday: Nate Schmidt signed a three-year deal with Utah, Nico Sturm signed with Minnesota, and Vitek Vanecek was replaced by Daniil Tarasov.
Jaycob Megna, who won the Stanley Cup for the first time with his hometown Panthers, got a two-year deal from Vegas.
Jeff Petry could be the new addition to the blueline, replacing Schmidt as Dmitry Kulikov’s partner at least initially.
Aside from that, the Panthers are not expected to look much different than what you all are used to seeing.
In fact, right now, all 12 forwards who should be on the ice for the Panthers on Opening Night likely will have played in at least a couple of playoff games this past season.
Not many teams can say that.
So, here’s how the Panthers should look sometime in early October when they raise their second championship banner to the rafters in Sunrise:
PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS OPENING NIGHT LINES
23 Carter Verhaeghe // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart
17 Evan Rodrigues // 9 Sam Bennett // 25 Mackie Samoskevich
27 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 63 Brad Marchand
10 AJ Greer // 92 Tomas Nosek // 12 Jonah Gadjovich
42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad
77 Niko Mikkola // 3 Seth Jones
7 Dmitry Kulikov // 46 Jeff Petry
72 Sergei Bobrovsky
40 Daniil Tarasov
Scratched: Jesper Boqvist, Uvis Balinskis
Injured: Matthew Tkachuk (LTIR/lower body)
2024 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS 2025
FLORIDA PANTHERS
UP NEXT
- Start of NHL Free Agency: Opened Tuesday
- Panthers Development Camp, Fort Lauderdale IcePlex: Today, Thursday
- Panthers Rookie Camp, Fort Lauderdale IcePlex: Early September
- Prospect Showcase @ Tampa Bay Lightning: Early September, Wesley Chapel
- Training Camp: Mid-September
- Exhibition Games: Starts Sept. 21 @ Nashville (doubleheader)
- Opening Night: Oct 7-9 (opponent, time, date TBA)
So how do they become cap compliant when Chucky comes back in a couple of months? You should have explained that.
Rodriguez and his $3M AAV is the likely cap casualty here. Depending on Samoskevich’s cap hit, they can either try to send Boqvist through waivers to the minors and bury his cap hit or trade him and his $1.5M AAV as well. That should put the team in compliance.
Nothing to explain really. They’ll worry about it when it happens. Someone else might be hurt, maybe they trade someone. Worry about tomorrow tomorrow. They’re obviously not too concerned.
Now that’s a beautiful roster
A proven championship roster.