RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes opened the new season with the old one hanging overhead, lifting their 2026 Stanley Cup banner before Tuesday’s nationally televised matchup with the Florida Panthers at a packed Lenovo Center.
A second championship banner reaches the rafters
Carolina’s newest banner took its place alongside the franchise’s 2006 championship marker after a 15-minute pregame ceremony that brought the Stanley Cup back before the home crowd. The Hurricanes secured last spring’s title by defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in six games, closing the Final with a 3-0 road win in Game 6 at T-Mobile Arena.
The Cup had not been displayed publicly at Lenovo Center since that championship clincher. Carolina’s playoff run was a commanding one: 16 wins in 19 games and a plus-27 goal differential.
- Coach Rod Brind’Amour received one of the first sustained standing ovations when he was introduced.
- Players emerged one at a time from the Zamboni entrance.
- Alternate captain Sebastian Aho, goaltender Brandon Bussi and captain Jordan Staal drew the biggest reactions.
- Bussi stepped in during the Final after Frederik Andersen was injured.
- Staal won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason’s most valuable player.
Staal carried the Cup onto the ice above his head, circling the rink before setting it down at center ice. The Hurricanes gathered around the trophy and performed their Storm Surge, the celebration that has become a staple following major wins in Raleigh.
He then moved the Cup to a stand positioned between the faceoff circles as playoff highlights played overhead. Dressed in black, the Carolina players watched from in front of their bench as the video revisited the title run and the parade that followed.
When the building broke into a “Let’s Go Canes” chant, the club formed a line along the blue line and tapped sticks while the white banner, marked in red, started rising. It paused briefly for the team photo before continuing to its permanent spot in the rafters.
Staal balances celebration with opening-night work
The banner ceremony came immediately before a heavyweight opener against Florida, a club with recent history in Raleigh. The Panthers had won the Cup in each of the two seasons before Carolina’s championship, though Florida missed last season’s playoffs. The Hurricanes also fell to the Panthers in a hard-fought 2025 Eastern Conference Final.
Florida’s players left their room early and watched the entire presentation from their bench.
Staal said Monday that the occasion would carry both pride and urgency, with the regular season beginning almost as soon as the celebration ended.
“I’m excited to close that chapter and move forward a little,” Staal said. “It’s difficult because you go straight into a new season with puck drop only a few minutes later, so there will be mixed emotions.”
The captain said it would be tough not to reflect while sharing the Cup with the fans in Carolina’s building, but he also recognized that the Panthers presented an immediate test.
“It will be a challenge, but it’s a really cool moment,” he said.
A champion’s roster returns largely intact
Carolina entered Tuesday with rare continuity for a reigning Cup winner. Of the 22 players who dressed during the 2026 postseason, 20 are still with the organization.
- Andersen departed in free agency, signing with the Edmonton Oilers.
- Defenseman Alexander Nikishin remains an unsigned restricted free agent.
- Eighteen members of last spring’s playoff group were in Tuesday’s lineup.
- Forward Seth Jarvis was unavailable while recovering from shoulder surgery.
- Defenseman Mike Reilly was a healthy scratch.
- Rookie defenseman Charles Alexis Legault took Reilly’s place after appearing in 12 regular-season games for Carolina last year.
The building had been buzzing hours before the ceremony. Fans arrived in the early afternoon, and by 3 p.m. ET the parking lots were full of tailgates, barbecue smoke and the familiar sound of Scorpions’ “Rock You Like a Hurricane.” By the time the banner began its climb, Raleigh was ready to celebrate one more time — then get back to hockey.
