Panthers have ‘extra motivation’ heading into season opener against Hurricanes

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A team other than the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup in June.

That is not news to them.

But if for some reason it slipped their minds, they will certainly be reminded prior to opening the 2026-27 NHL season with the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Tuesday (5 p.m. ET; ESPN).

The Hurricanes will raise their 2025-26 championship banner to the rafters before opening face-off. It is a matchup of the past three Stanley Cup champions with Florida winning it in back-to-back seasons (2024, 2025).

The Panthers (40-38-4) lost captain Aleksander Barkov to a knee injury on the first day of training camp last season and missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs entirely, finishing seventh in the Atlantic Division. 

“It has been a long offseason,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said on Monday before the team departed for Raleigh. “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.”

It’s already difficult for the Panthers to avoid seeing the Hurricanes celebrate their championship. On Monday, one of the televisions in the dressing room was tuned to NHL Network, which was showing a replay of Carolina’s Cup-clinching 3-0 win against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final.

Tkachuk only briefly looked away.

“They want the season to start just like us,” he said. “But this is a cool moment for them to have, like that one last moment. I always looked at it like that. When training camp starts, it’s a whole new year, but you have that one last memory and it’s going to be an emotional night for them and their fans.

“It’ll be emotional for us too. I mean, they took the Cup after we had it for two years. It’s going to be intense on both sides.”

Florida coach Paul Maurice obviously has ties to Carolina, even coaching Rod Brind’Amour during his two stints there (1999-2003; 2008-10). Brind’Amour is entering his ninth season as Hurricanes head coach.

“They just won the Stanley Cup and they are going to get their banner raised in their building, (and) rightfully so,” Maurice said. “There will be juice. It will be exciting. It will be great.”

Barkov, who missed all of 2025-26, was just one major injury the Panthers were forced to deal with last season. Tkachuk, forwards Sam Reinhart and Brad Marchand, and defenseman Seth Jones also missed significant time. Marchand is expected to miss the first month of this season after having offseason surgery, but Florida is otherwise healthy and eager to reemerge as a Stanley Cup contender.

The Panthers also made key offseason additions, none bigger than the acquisition of forward Brady Tkachuk on June 21 in a trade with the Ottawa Senators. They also replaced goalie Sergei Bobrovsky with Jacob Markstrom and also brought back defenseman Radko Gudas, who played here for three seasons (2020-23).

“We want to have a good start. We know what it feels like to have that kind of a ceremony,” Barkov said. “For us, we just want to play our game right from the start. We know they’re going to be ready. They’ll be excited seeing the banner raised. We have to be ready. Extra ready.

Maurice said he would like to have his team on the bench for the banner-raising ceremony, but he’s unsure if it will be.

The visiting bench at Lenovo Center is not connected to the visitor’s dressing room, so the Panthers would probably have to skate onto the ice from the corner of the arena a few minutes early to avoid getting in the way of the festivities.

When Florida celebrated each of its back-to-back championships the following season, the visiting teams -- the Boston Bruins in 2024 and the Chicago Blackhawks a year ago -- remained in the dressing room.

“We have a history, with the Panthers, of being on the bench for any celebrations,” Maurice said. “We believe it’s important for the League, for our players to appreciate the successes of the other players. I think that’s really important.

“But sometimes the other team doesn’t necessarily want you on the bench; it’s kind of a private thing. So, we’ll check with Carolina. … It would not be out of disrespect for us not wanting to be out there.”

Matthew Tkachuk, for one, seems to be leaning toward being on the ice for the ceremony.

“We will have enough motivation, whatever we do,” he said. “We have not talked about it, but we will be champing at the bit to get out there.”