The Florida Panthers enter its 31st season as Stanley Cup champions for the first time in franchise history. Florida won the Atlantic Division before knocking off the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers and Edmonton Oilers to claim the crown.
The Panthers lost Brandon Montour, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Kevin Stenlund, Ryan Lomberg, Anthony Stolarz, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Josh Mahura in free agency. They have been replaced by the likes of the Boqvist brothers, Tomas Nosek, Nate Schmidt, A.J. Greer and MacKenzie Entwistle.
Despite having excellent camps, due to their waiver exemptions and that pesky salary cap, impressive youngsters like Spencer Knight, Patrick Giles and Sandis Vilmanis will start the season in Charlotte.
Florida’s initial 22-man roster is as follows:
Forwards: Sam Bennett (9), A.J. Greer (10), Jonah Gadjovich (12), Sam Reinhart (13), Anton Lundell (15), Aleksander Barkov (16), Evan Rodrigues (17), Matthew Tkachuk (19), Carter Verhaeghe (23), Mackie Samoskevich (25), Eetu Luostarinen (27), MacKenzie Entwistle (44), Jesper Boqvist (70)
Defensemen: Aaron Ekblad (5), Dmitry Kulikov (7), Uvis Balinskis (26), Adam Boqvist (34), Gustav Forsling (42), Niko Mikkola (77), Nate Schmidt (88)
Goalies: Sergei Bobrovsky (72), Chris Driedger (60),
Injured: Tomas Nosek (92), Justin Sourdif (24)
- WHEN: 7:00 p.m. ET
- WHERE: Amerant Bank Arena – Sunrise, FL
- ON THE TUBE: ESPN, Scripps
- ON THE DIAL: 104.3 FM (D/B), 1230 AM (PB), Thunder 100.3 FM (Keys)
- SOCIALS: #TimeToHunt, #NHLBruins, #BOSvsFLA, @LitterBoxCats, LBC FaceBook
- ENEMY INTEL: Stanley Cup of Chowder
- SEASON SERIES: Game 1 of 4
- LAST MEETING: @BOS 3, FLA 2 (OT) – (Recap) 4/6/2024
- NEXT MEETING: October 14, 2024
- PROJECTED STARTERS: Florida: Sergei Bobrovsky / Boston: Joonas Korpisalo
- PLAYER STATS: Florida / Boston
Tuesday in the NHL (Standings/Panthers Playoff Chances)
- St. Louis Blues at Seattle Kraken 4:30 p.m. (ESPN)
- Chicago Blackhawks at Utah Clubbers 10 p.m. (ESPN)