FORT LAUDERDALE - The Florida Panthers open the 2026-27 NHL season Tuesday in Raleigh against the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes, a rematch that carries extra sting for a Florida club that missed the playoffs last season and spent five months watching from the outside.
ESPN is broadcasting the 5 p.m. puck drop at Lenovo Center as the first game of a season-opening tripleheader. For the third straight year, the Panthers are the NHL’s opening-night headliner - but this time it is Carolina raising a banner before the game, not Florida.
“It has been a long offseason,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said, according to Florida Hockey Now. “We’re happy to start the year, happy to be the first game of the NHL season. We have been the first game of the season the last three years, but we’re on the other side of [the celebration] this time. So, a little extra motivation going into this one against a powerhouse team, the best team in the league.”
Head coach Paul Maurice, who declined to use last season’s injury wave as an excuse for the playoff miss, offered a two-word assessment of Carolina’s championship moment: “Deservedly so.”
The Panthers enter the new season with a significantly retooled roster. Brady Tkachuk joins Sasha Barkov and Sam Reinhart on the top line, while defenseman Radko Gudas returns to Florida after leaving in 2023 for Anaheim, where he was eventually named captain. Gudas is paired with Dmitry Kulikov on the third defensive pairing. In goal, Jacob Markstrom and Akira Schmid replace Sergei Bobrovsky, who parted ways with the club after seven years and two Stanley Cup championships.
“Not saying that’s always by design, but after the first championship, we had a number of players hit a home run … they got their contracts and they left with us cheering for them on the way out the door,” Maurice said. “We wish they could have stayed, but we understand. It turned out to be a good thing for us because it happened each year. Seven or eight guys go out. You get some new guys that come in. Radko comes in as a new guy. That’s a little bit different. Brady comes in as a new guy, but he knows another guy, so it’s a little bit different. But we felt that we had to have some turnover. You couldn’t just sit with the same group. You needed to bring in some really hungry people.”
Forwards Brad Marchand and Jonah Gadjovich begin the season on injured reserve. The Panthers are listed among the betting favorites to win the Stanley Cup for the third time in four years, a run that began with the franchise’s first championship since its only prior Final appearance in 1996.
Matthew Tkachuk said the team is keeping its ambitions grounded. “Make the playoffs,” he said. “You can’t look too far ahead. You have to have a good start. Every team says it right now. Some teams don’t, and they’re behind the 8-ball early. So you have to come with a good start. But we just talked about it: Worry about just making the playoffs. That’s your only goal.”
The Atlantic Division offers three guaranteed playoff spots and potentially two wild card positions. Florida’s next game after Tuesday is Thursday at the San Jose Sharks at 10 p.m. The Panthers host Carolina at home Jan. 21 and March 10.