If you want to see the Panthers raise their new championship banner, mark your calendars.
The two-time reigning Stanley Cup champions will open the 2025-26 season on Oct. 7 at 5 p.m., the NHL announced Monday. Florida will play the Chicago Blackhawks in the season opener. Chicago was the second-worst team in the Western Conference last season.
The Panthers are searching for the NHL’s first threepeat since the New York Islanders’ dynasty from 1980-83.
The Panthers return nearly the whole team from last season’s championship squad. Stars like Aleksander Barkov, Sergei Bobrovsky, Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk were already under contract for the season. Then the Panthers’ front office stunned observers by re-signing the team’s three biggest free agents: Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand.
“This was 100 percent those guys wanting to be part of something that they created,” Panthers general manager Bill Zito recently said. “We kind of wax poetic about the team and the community they’ve become, and I think this is a great example of what it means to them. And it’s 100 percent those men who made that decision that they all wanted to continue to try it together.”
The team is not exactly the same as last season. Florida did lose some players from last year’s run, including defenseman Nate Schmidt and center Nico Sturm. To replace Schmidt, the Panthers signed veteran defenseman Jeff Petry.
With all of the key players returning, it is no wonder that the Panthers are the favorites to win the Stanley Cup again. Hard Rock gives Florida +700 odds to win a third straight Stanley Cup. The next closest team is the one the Panthers have beaten the last two years, the Edmonton Oilers, who are listed at +850.
