There will be smiles. There will be tears. A communal sense of accomplishment will be shared while the Florida Panthers, who won the Cup each of the previous two seasons, wait for puck drop for the NHL’s season-opening game (5 p.m. ET; ESPN).
“I’m excited to kind of put a bow on it and put it behind us a little bit,” captain Jordan Staal said after practice Monday. “You know, it’s hard, because you’re dragging right to the last minute with the puck drop five minutes later into a new season, so it’s going to be mixed emotions.
“It’s going to be hard not to try to enjoy the moment and reminisce a little bit and enjoy having the Cup in front of our fans in our building, but at the same time, know you’re stepping into (the) fire of a big match. So, it’s going to be a challenge, but it’s going to be a cool moment I’m very excited for.”
Staal, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs after scoring eight goals in 19 postseason games, waited 17 years between titles. He won the championship with the Pittsburgh Penguins as a 20 year old in 2009.
Jalen Chatfield wasn’t sure this moment would ever come for him. He joined the Hurricanes as a little known late bloomer during the 2021-22 season. The core of the club welcomed him, became his brothers, and guided him on and off the ice into becoming a valuable member of the team and the community.
Of the 22 players who dressed in the 2026 postseason, 20 remain with the Hurricanes -- an almost unprecedented rate of stability for a Stanley Cup champion in this era of free agency. Goalie Frederik Andersen moved to the Edmonton Oilers as an unrestricted free agent on July 1, while defenseman Alexander Nikishin is a restricted free agent who hasn’t been signed by the club.
The 20 players spent Sunday together, the Stanley Cup on hand while they received their commemorative rings in a private ceremony.
“That's the group we have and I wouldn't want anybody else to be my teammates,” Chatfield said. “We all love each other.
“We all go out and play for each other and we compete for each other. … We knew right away we had the locker room, we had the group of guys, like this was our team. We went and we did it, and it's unbelievable.”
The Hurricanes won the Cup on the road, partying all night after a Game 6 victory at the Vegas Golden Knights. They came home and had a few wild nights partying downtown with the trophy, capped by an unforgettable parade.
But, the Stanley Cup has yet to be on public display at the arena. That will be rectified Tuesday, shortly before the banner is raised.
“I'd say it's something that they deserve,” veteran forward Jordan Martinook said of the fans. “Obviously, we feed off our fans a lot and to have them involved in the moment will be pretty cool.”
The 34-year-old has played 797 regular-season NHL games, chasing a dream that was forged from watching the NHL champions of his childhood. Now, he is part of that fraternity.
Sebastian Aho can’t wait to see the response of the fans.
The star forward was welcomed into this Southern community upon his arrival from northern Finland, literally a world removed. He has become part of the fabric of this place, of the Caniacs.
He arrived as a shy teenager and has morphed into one of the faces of the franchise, his voice carrying the same weight as Staal’s.
For a decade, he would look at the banner from the 2006-07 season hanging from the rafters, wondering if he would ever help a team accomplish such a feat. He heard members of the previous championship team, including his coach Rod Brind’Amour, talk about the eternal bond that comes from winning.
“This obviously means a ton,” the 29-year-old forward said. “You know, I've obviously had a special bond with this city, organization, this group before that, but you know, once you win, you know, you're really tight forever, right?
“We're always going to share (this) and we're going to have this bond with the team, with the city and everything, and it's just a reminder there for everyone that, you know, we did something great.”
Brind’Amour was a vital member of the 2006-07 championship team as the Hurricanes' captain. He has told his players what this all means. He remembers the celebrations, the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. He knows how hard it is to repeat because he didn’t.
The coach has spent this shortened training camp stressing that there is no time to live in the past. He has loved what he has seen from his players so far, and he hopes that they enjoy the ceremony and then immediately shift their mindsets to what lies ahead, to the challenges of repeating.
On Opening Night, the Florida Panthers are a perfect opponent. They had won the Stanley Cup in each of the previous two seasons before the Hurricanes.
“It's going to happen for our group all year, we're going to be reminded of the previous season," Brind'Amour said. "That's the previous season and we're all running a different race and so, you know, Opening Night, we're going to be, ‘Oh, that's all great,’ but that's, that doesn't count for anything going on today. That's just what you have to remember. How hard it was.
“I think it's good because whenever you get reminded of that. The guys will remember how hard it was to do that and what it took to get to that, and that's what we've got to be tonight or the next night or whenever you get reminded of that. That's the way we have to approach it.”
