Paul Maurice has already tipped his hand on the Florida Panthers’ opening-night look, and the biggest surprise is right at the top. Last month, Maurice said Brady Tkachuk would initially skate on a line with Sasha Barkov and Sam Reinhart, a setup he wants to see for more than just the obvious reasons.
Maurice likes to watch how a new player responds to Barkov - for the good and, as he put it, the bad. In this case, though, there does not seem to be much downside.
The only real wrinkle is that plenty of people expected the Tkachuk brothers to start together. That may still happen soon enough, just not right away.
Brady and Matthew Tkachuk will play with Sam Bennett eventually, and it may not take long before Maurice puts that trio together. The brothers also figure to link up on the top power play.
For now, though, Florida’s projected forward group starts with Brady Tkachuk - Sasha Barkov - Sam Reinhart.
That line has the look of a heavyweight. Barkov’s return alone changes things, and putting Tkachuk with him and Reinhart gives the Panthers a group that could overwhelm opponents at both ends of the ice. The only complaint is the one fans already had in mind: no Bennett in the mix at the start.
The second line keeps a familiar feel: Carter Verhaeghe - Sam Bennett - Matthew Tkachuk. That group has spent plenty of time together over the past few seasons, so there is no adjustment period to worry about.
Verhaeghe’s speed should help drive the line, and if his chances do not go in, Bennett and Tkachuk are there to finish around the net. Florida would also like more regular-season production from Verhaeghe, and giving him a chance to begin the year with Matthew Tkachuk could help with that.
The third line is another one that already has a proven track record: Eetu Luostarinen - Anton Lundell - Brad Marchand. The Panthers put that trio together early in the 2025 playoff run, and nobody found a clean answer for it.
Marchand led Florida in scoring before lingering injuries kept him from finishing the season, while Lundell and Luostarinen played a major role in that success. The only real question is how many games Florida gets from Marchand, since Bill Zito said he should be ready for the start of training camp after not needing offseason surgery.
Load management could come into play, and Maurice may use the preseason to mix and match.
The fourth line is less settled, but veteran names are already in the picture. Cole Reinhardt, Lars Eller and Garnet Hathaway are the likely candidates, though the exact alignment is still up in the air.
Eller and Hathaway were offseason pickups, while Reinhardt has earned a look. Sandis Vilmanis and Cole Schwindt are also in the mix, and Jonah Gadjovich is another name to watch if he is healthy after missing most of last season with an injury that would not heal.
Zito said the Panthers’ injuries from the past are just that, but the club still has decisions to make here.
On defense, the top pair remains Gus Forsling and Aaron Ekblad. That duo has worked extremely well over the past few years, and there is not much to nitpick. Forsling is rarely out of the lineup, and Ekblad has been mostly healthy the past couple of seasons aside from a broken finger late last year.
Niko Mikkola and Seth Jones form another pairing that clicked quickly in the 2025 playoffs. They bring size, speed and the ability to move the puck up ice.
Around the league, that might look like a top pair. In Florida, it is more of a second pair, with the Panthers able to shuffle things depending on the matchup.
Radko Gudas and Dmitry Kulikov give the blue line a familiar feel. Gudas is back with the Panthers, and pairing him with Kulikov brings together two longtime favorites.
There is also some roster juggling to sort through, since Florida is likely to rotate there with Uvis Balinskis and Donovan Sebrango returning. Balinskis is expected to make the team out of camp, and the Panthers may carry only 13 forwards so they do not expose Sebrango to waivers.
In goal, the backup spot belongs to Akira Schmid. Florida addressed its goaltending situation in a span of about 12 hours before free agency, making separate trades for Schmid, from Vegas, and Markstrom, not from Vegas. That gives the Panthers a more balanced setup behind Sergei Bobrovsky, with the possibility of leaning more on the hot hand than on a rigid schedule.
There is still some belief required with Markstrom, who is being counted on to rebound after a few down years. He had nine shutouts four seasons ago, posted a plus-26.1 goals saved above average in 2021-22, then dropped to minus-18.4 the next season.
Last year, fewer than half of his starts were quality ones, and he finished at minus-13.7 GSAA. Still, Florida feels good about the fit in front of its defense and with Robb Tallas again, and the organization is leaning on a goalie department led by Roberto Luongo that has earned plenty of trust.
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Jesper Boqvist is back with New Jersey, and for Panthers fans, the part that stings is easy to see. The Devils did not just bring in a familiar face, they added a player whose game has grown into the kind that can quietly matter in the bottom six, with enough two-way value and playoff seasoning to make him more than a depth afterthought.
Boqvists path has already included a Stanley Cup run with Florida, and now he returns to a team that knows exactly what it is getting from him. The Devils believe that familiarity, along with his recent development, can help shape their 2026-27 outlook, and the only real mystery left is how he described the move in a recent interview before the conversation cut off. [Read more 🡒]