ESPN analyst Messier stoked for season

The reigning Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers will set the tone for the new season for the NHL and ESPN with a measuring-stick showdown that kicks off the network's opening night tripleheader on Sept. 29 (5 p.m. ET).

After the Hurricanes raise their 2026 Stanley Cup banner and host the Panthers, the Boston Bruins will host the New York Rangers (8 p.m. ET) followed by the Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights hosting the Chicago Blackhawks (10:30 p.m. ET; ESPN2, TVAS2).

The marquee matchup between the Hurricanes and the Panthers, who won the Cup in 2024 and 2025 but missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season after being besieged by injuries, could be a preview of things to come, though. Each team will be looking for an early advantage in what could be a season-long battle for supremacy in the Eastern Conference. 

"I think there'll be a little bit of stand your ground stuff," analyst Ray Ferraro said during a teleconference Wednesday to promote ESPN's coverage of the 2026-27 season, "You don't have to look too deep to see those are two of the very best teams in the League, and you know they're going to kick the ball on opening night, and each wants to show that they're not going to give an inch to the other. 

"What does it mean in the long term? … There's still so many questions that will have to play themselves out over the course of the year, but, man, what a great way to start."

The opening night tripleheader begins a slate of 100 exclusive games to be telecast across ESPN networks this season. Ferraro, a former forward who played 18 seasons in the NHL (1984-2002), and fellow ESPN analyst Mark Messier, a Hockey Hall of Fame center and six-time Stanley Cup winner who played 25 seasons in the League, are looking forward to seeing what the new season will bring.

"Much like a player, every year I just seem to be more and more excited at the start of every season," Messier said. "There's so much possibility. As a player, when I played, obviously our focus was to try to figure out a way to win a Stanley Cup every year and I feel the same way as an analyst now. Every year, there's just so much to talk about, so many headlines, so many movements, so much movement. 

"Young teams trying to get over the threshold. You've got veteran teams trying to hang onto the rope. You've got player movement. It seems like the game and the NHL just gets better and better every year."

Many are expecting the Panthers to be Cup contenders again now that they are healthy other than forward Brad Marchand, who expected to miss the start of the season with an unspecified injury. The Panthers have much of their core remaining from the team that reached three consecutive Cup Finals, including wins against the Edmonton Oilers in 2024 and 2025.

Florida further strengthened its roster by acquiring forward Brady Tkachuk in a trade with the Ottawa Senators to unite him with older brother Matthew Tkachuk.

"Last year, I think everybody realized they just ran out of gas," Messier said. "Thinking about getting (to the Cup Final) three times, winning two. Remarkable, remarkable consistency, grind, grit, focus, heart, courage. All the superlatives you want to talk about a team to be able to do that in this modern salary cap era is just insane. Coaching, ownership, management, culture, everything. … So, can they get back there? I think they have some amazing pieces. They've got a lot of experience.

"For me, the biggest thing is going to be goaltending."

Ferraro similarly pointed to the Panthers' decision to acquire goalie Jacob Markstrom in a trade with the New Jersey Devils to replace Sergei Bobrovsky, who signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs, as a potential key to their season. 

"The stability that Bobrovsky brought, and it wasn't always that he was stopping the puck at 93 percent and he erased all these mistakes in front of them, but he brought them stability and predictability in goal when he was at his best," Ferraro said. " … Markstrom has not had a predictable, consistent scorecard certainly over the last couple of years, and they're going to ask him, obviously or hopefully for them, to stop the puck less. He faces less danger chances than he might have previously, but they at the very least need consistency from him."

Carolina will bid to repeat with essentially the same roster as the one that won the Stanley Cup last season other than goalie Frederik Andersen, who signed with Edmonton. The Hurricanes still have Brandon Bussi, who won the last three games of the Cup Final against the Golden Knights, and Pyotr Kochetkov in net, though.

"As far as repeating, I just think it's impossible to do, except Florida did it two years ago," Ferraro said. "To win, you have to be the best team, but so much has to domino in your factor, in your way. And Carolina, it took them eight years to get it done and by the end of the year I think it was pretty clear they were they were the best team. For me, in that Final series, there was a break here and a break there, but man, they just wore Vegas out. 

"I am so impressed with what they've done there, and really, Florida's done the same things. I think there's some teams that just go collect players. Carolina, they have built and bought players that fit in the Carolina way of playing, and Florida has done the same thing."