A lot of NHL teams spent the offseason trying to widen their championship window. The Florida Panthers, according to a big chunk of league insiders, may have slammed theirs wide open.
In The Athletic’s survey of 22 coaches and 13 executives, Florida was the name that kept surfacing when respondents were asked to identify the team best positioned to win the 2026-27 Stanley Cup. Nineteen of the 35 people polled picked the Panthers, a striking number in a league that usually spreads the optimism around.
One anonymous NHL coach pointed straight to the Panthers’ mix of physicality, depth and star power: "I would go with Florida, as long as Jacob Markstrom gets back to his “A” game. Very hard to play against physically and depth to play that way.
Lots of skill up front and on the blue line. Their true leader, Aleksander Barkov, is back and hungry.
They’re very much motivated knowing their window is wide open still,"
Another coach cited the team’s identity and the arrival of the Tkachuk brothers as major reasons Florida sits atop the league’s preseason imagination: "Florida. Stanley Cup-winning coach and winning, expect-to-win culture.
New energy with Tkachuk brothers Matthew and Brady, but a healthy Barkov is the most important factor. First-shot-against goals and consistency are question marks with Markstrom, but a strong defense to let him see the puck more often than not should lead to success.
I like their overall healthy swagger. They’re a hard team to play against with winning culture and confidence."
The Panthers’ offseason explains why so many around the league are buying in. The front office made room, took some hits, and then went hunting for upgrades. Sergei Bobrovsky moved on in free agency, and Mackie Samoskevich was dealt to the Seattle Kraken for draft capital.
Then came the splash moves. Florida traded for Brady Tkachuk, reuniting him with Matthew Tkachuk. Ottawa received a ninth overall 2026 pick, a 25th overall 2026 pick, a 2027 second-round pick, and a top-10 protected 2029 first-round pick in the deal.
2 days until Panthers hockey…
2 goals in 11 seconds in a playoff game🤯 pic.twitter.com/H15FAYcUYI
- FL PanthersMuse (@flpanthersmuse) September 27, 2026
Florida kept going from there, adding Jacob Markstrom and Angus Crookshank in a trade with the New Jersey Devils that sent Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist, and Ben Steeves the other way. Paul Maurice’s group also brought in Akira Schmid from the Vegas Golden Knights to back up Markstrom, then added Garnet Hathaway from the Philadelphia Flyers for more physical depth. The rest of the offseason included bringing back Radko Gudas and signing Lars Eller and Jeff Petry.
The cap sheet tells the same story. Florida has $0 in active cap space and carries a $150,000 dead cap penalty. This is a win-now roster, and the insiders surveyed clearly see it that way.
"Hard to bet against the Florida Panthers. They return a healthy and more truculent lineup than last season.
I think the age concern is overblown, as most of their top players are right in the prime of their careers. My only question would be in goal, but that is something they could address later in the year if needed," an NHL executive said.
Dallas, Vegas and even Carolina got some mention in the survey, but Florida stood alone at the top. With Paul Maurice, Brady Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, Jacob Markstrom and Matthew Tkachuk all in the mix, the Panthers are carrying the weight of expectations and the possibility of another title run.
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Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton recently sized up Floridas outlook and, even with playoff optimism intact, there was a clear note of skepticism in the mix. The concern centered on the goaltending, with Jacob Markstrom and the rest of the tandem drawing the most scrutiny, and the sense was that Florida may be better positioned to land a Wild Card berth than to chase a division title right away. [Read more 🡒]