Some news as the Florida Panthers open training camp today for its 33rd season at Baptist Health IcePlex in Fort Lauderdale.
While meeting with reporters yesterday, general manager Bill Zito said that he expects Brad Marchand to return from off-season surgery “early in the season,” but added that the team will be conservative in getting the 38-year-old back on the ice. Marchand dealt with a lower-body injury for most of the 2025-26 season, and with the Panthers out of the playoff picture, he was shut down for the final 19 games of the regular season.
NHL.com ‘s Super 16 Power Rankings had the Panthers in top five entering the preseason. Mike G. Morreale had this to say about the Cats.
4. Florida Panthers
“Florida’s preseason will be about seeing how well the team integrates new faces (forwards Brady Tkachuk and Garnet Hathaway, defenseman Radko Gudas, goalie Jacob Markstrom) into a lineup that has set a championship standard. Fans should pay close attention to the chemistry on the forward lines, particularly how the team replaces departed contributors and whether younger players can earn larger roles. On the blue line, watch the battle for roster spots and how effectively Florida maintains its trademark aggressive, puck-possession style.”
The league’s official site has a detailed Panthers season preview to check out.
In The Athletic’s The NHL Contention Cycle: Where does each team stand going into 2026-27 and in the future? the Panthers were one of three teams that writers Dom Luszczyszyn and Scott Wheeler tabbed as Window Closing.
Present Outlook (Rating: 9.1)
The Cats are back with a vengeance after a one-year hiatus from the playoffs. And while they may not look as potent as they did post-Cup after a year of injuries, the Panthers still boast one of the league’s scariest collections of high-end talent. Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart and Gustav Forsling have always been at the center of that; now they’ve added Matthew’s little brother Brady to make the top six even more terrifying. While age and uncertainty meant a few players stepped back compared to last year, Florida still has more than enough high-end talent to win its third Cup in four years with this group.
Future Outlook (Rating: 4.6)
The Panthers were one of the only teams not to feature a single player among the 145 in Prospect Tiers. We all know where they are and what their ambitions are, but… tick tock. They haven’t made a first-round pick in five years so this score is exclusively about projecting out their current core (accounting for some unfriendly aging curves).
Path to contention
After an off-year the Panthers are ready to return to contention. The swing on Brady Tkachuk was vital to maintaining their present value; now they have to make it count while their window to win remains open. Over the next five years it’s likely their high-end talent slips a fair bit down the top 150 given Barkov, Reinhart, Forsling, Seth Jones and Sam Bennett are all entering their 30s. A lot will depend on the staying power of those players, and there isn’t any help coming on the horizon. The Panthers aren’t shy about making trades or big signings and have the entire core locked up for years, which should make it easy to augment the existing core without losing much of a step in the future. If there’s a big fish, count the Panthers in as players for their services to keep this run alive.
The Winnipeg Jets announced that they have suspended goaltender Connor Hellebuyck for failure to report to training camp. With two of the rumored landing spots for Hellebuyck said to be Buffalo and Carolina, how this situation plays out is of much interest to Panthers fans as Hellebuyck ending up on either of those clubs would cause waves in the Eastern Conference.
While the Cats begin preparations for season 33, ESPN has a great article on the league’s potential 33rd franchise. Check out Another hockey team in Texas? What you need to know about NHL expansion.