Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice will be wired for the beginning of the 2026-27 NHL campaign, perhaps more so than for some past seasons.
The offseason layoff was a long one for the Panthers, vastly different from the previous two years.
“We’ve been off for a while,” Maurice said, referring to Florida not qualifying for the postseason in 2025-26. “That was a long time off. I can’t wait for the regular season to start.”
The situation is the opposite for the Carolina Hurricanes, who will raise their Stanley Cup banner before facing the Panthers in the NHL’s season opener Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C.
The matchup involves the Stanley Cup winners of the past three seasons, with the Panthers winning in 2024 and 2025 and the Hurricanes capturing the franchise’s second Cup slightly more than three months ago.
While the offseason seemed long for some, training camps were abbreviated this year and teams played only four preseason games before opening the season in September.
“It’s such a short camp that communication between players is critical,” Maurice said.
The Hurricanes will be anxious to embark on what they hope will be another rewarding journey with their core still in place.
The preseason has worked out fine for Carolina, coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
“I think our guys got the rust off, and they’ll feel good about where their game is at going into opening night,” he said.
The Hurricanes begin without forward Seth Jarvis, who had shoulder surgery in late June. He led the team with 32 goals last season.
It also looks like Carolina might be without unsigned restricted free-agent defenseman Alexander Nikishin. In his place, the Hurricanes can choose from among Mike Reilly, Charles Alexis Legault and newcomer Juuso Valimaki.
“There’s going to be some competition there, along with the younger guys that we know who have come up and played well,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s good to have that.”
Carolina’s goalie mix no longer includes veteran Frederik Andersen, so now Pyotr Kochetkov and Brandon Bussi, one of last season’s heroes as a rookie, will share time between the pipes.
The opener will mark the Florida debut for winger Brady Tkachuk, who joins older brother Matthew in the lineup after spending his entire career with the Ottawa Senators.
“He’s just so powerful … he’s not at his prime yet. He’s just coming into it now,” Maurice said of Brady Tkachuk. “He plays a slightly different game than anybody that we have. It’s just a different mix of skill set.”
Brady Tkachuk didn’t have a point last spring when the Hurricanes swept the Senators in the first round of the playoffs.
Maurice said there’s enough talent for the Panthers to again emerge as one of the Eastern Conference’s top teams.
“We’ve got the systems in place and the rest of it is just be yourself and we’ll make minor adjustments,” he said.
Like the Hurricanes, the Panthers will be without a key offensive piece as forward Brad Marchand recovers from offseason surgery.
