After seeing Connor Bedard go first overall at the draft in Nashville; the first NHL games ever held in Australia; and the usual summer free agent shenanigans, the National Hockey League will open its 106th season of play (107th overall) with a nationally televised tripleheader on ESPN.
The Tampa Bay Lightning, sans stalwart netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy, will host the Nashville Predators at 5:30 p.m.
Bedard will make his highly-anticipated NHL debut at PPG Paints Arena against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins at 8 p.m.
The Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights will raise a banner to the rafters and take on the Seattle Kraken at T-Mobile Arena at 10:30 p.m.
Panthers
The Florida Panthers, who went 4-4 in the preseason, get a couple more days to prep for their season-opener against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Florida has not officially released it’s opening day roster, but all indications are the Cats will start the season with a 22-man group that includes rookie forward Mackie Samoskevich, who had a standout preseason, and 27-year-old Latvian Uvis Balinskis, who won the role as the team’s seventh defenseman. Brett Ritchie, in camp on a PTO, remains with the team despite not being signed to a contract yet.
Forwards (13): Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe, Evan Rodrigues, Eetu Luostarinen, Nick Cousins, Steven Lorentz, Kevin Stenlund, Anton Lundell, Mackie Samoskevich, Ryan Lomberg
Defensemen (7): Gustav Forsling, Niko Mikkola, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Mike Reilly, Dmitry Kulikov, Josh Mahura, Uvis Balinskis
Goalies (2): Sergei Bobrovsky, Anthony Stolarz
Last season: 42-32-8, 92 points. Lost in Stanley Cup Final.
Stanley Cup odds: +2000
Key players added: D Oliver Ekman-Larsson, D Dmitry Kulikov, D Niko Mikkola, D Mike Reilly
Key players lost: F Anthony Duclair, F Patric Hornqvist, D Radko Gudas, D Marc Staal, G Alex Lyon
Most fascinating player: Sergei Bobrovsky. Which Bobrovsky will Florida get when the season opens? Will it be the Vezina Trophy-caliber goalie who carried the Panthers in net to an unexpected Stanley Cup Final appearance? Or will Bobrovsky struggle to show up like a $10 million-a-year player should and force Florida into either giving him time to recover or turning the No. 1 job over to someone else? Is there a long leash there from coach Paul Maurice given Bobrovsky’s stunning postseason numbers (.915 SV%, 2.78 GAA)? It’s been a wild ride for Bobrovsky with the Panthers so far, undulating between excellent and exasperating. We’ll see what version of Bobrovsky will show up in 2023-24.
Best case: Florida was the feel-good story of last season when it defied critics (and oddsmakers) to boldly go into the playoffs and all the way from there to a Cup Final. It would be easy to dismiss the Panthers’ success as a one-off feat and assume they won’t recreate it. That would be a mistake. If Bobrovsky can pick up where he left off, and if Matthew Tkachuk plays at the Hart Trophy-like level he did for much of the previous eight months and if the plethora of defensemen GM Bill Zito signed to sustain Florida’s back end perform well while Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour recover from injury, then Florida would (and should) be considered a top contender in the Eastern Conference. The stars have aligned before above these Panthers; there’s no reason it can’t happen again.
Worst case: There’s a long list of things that will need to go right for Florida to touch the success it had last season. It’s not clear how long the Panthers will be without Ekblad and Montour, leaving a gaping hole in the blue line that’s even more pronounced now that Radko Gudas has moved on too. If Florida gets run aground defensively and is leaning too heavily on (A) Bobrovsky and (B) the ability to outscore its own issues every night, that doesn’t project to end well. The worst case for Florida is it starts slow and falls too far out of postseason reach to make the type of Cinderella run that captivated us all in 2022-23. Going from three wins away from a championship to no playoff opportunity at all would be a tough pill to swallow.
X factor: Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Someone has to step up for Florida on the back end. Could that be the veteran? This is a pivotal juncture for the 32-year-old player, who was bought out by Vancouver and now joins a young, hungry Panthers team that recently became familiar with winning. That alone should ignite Ekman-Larsson and help bring out his best game, something we haven’t seen the most of since he was patrolling Arizona’s blue line over five years ago. It’s an opportunity to not only massively impact the Panthers’ back end but also to show the rest of the league that, at least for the time being, Ekman-Larsson can still be an important player for his team.
Fantasy outlook: Injuries to Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour will keep the team’s two best fantasy defenders on the sidelines until what sounds like November or December. It’s a massive opportunity for Gustav Forsling.
Bold prediction: Patrick Kane signs with the Panthers.
Sportsnet’s One bold prediction for every NHL team heading into 2023-24
Florida Panthers: Mackie Samoskevich emerges as their next under-the-radar gem
As rosters were being finalized on the weekend, 20-year-old Mackie Samoskevich remained with the Panthers and if his opportunity extends into the regular season to any length, he has a chance to make it difficult to demote him back later. Samoskevich, the 24th overall pick in 2021, scored three goals and six points in the pre-season and was the standout youngster in the organization. Injury might open the door for his first regular season looks and he could break down that door. The Panthers have seen a few underrated breakouts in recent seasons, from Mason Marchment to Carter Verhaeghe and more, and though Samoskevich is different in that he’s a young prospect, if he can establish himself the Panthers’ depth would be better off.