Carolina will raise its Stanley Cup banner and immediately face the club it expects to see deep in the spring again. The Hurricanes open the season Tuesday, Sept. 29, against the Florida Panthers at Lenovo Center, with puck drop set for 5 p.m. ET on ESPN.
The opener puts the NHL’s two most recent Cup winners on the same sheet of ice. Carolina is coming off a 16-3 playoff run, a mark surpassed in the modern four-round era only by the 1988 Edmonton Oilers, who went 16-2.
Jordan Martinook knows there will not be much time to linger over the ceremony. He said the game will quickly pull players out of the celebration and into the work required for a season opener.
Florida arrives as the popular early Cup pick. In a poll of 35 NHL players conducted at media events in Munich and Las Vegas, 15 selected the Panthers to win the championship, while six chose Carolina. No other team drew more than two votes.
After the horn
The clubs have plenty of recent history, although they did not meet during Carolina’s championship run. Florida swept the Hurricanes in the 2023 Eastern Conference Final and eliminated them in five games in the 2025 conference final. The Panthers went on to win the Cup in both 2024 and 2025.
Last season, Florida missed the playoffs amid major injury losses. Captain Aleksander Barkov was sidelined for the entire season after surgery on the ACL and MCL in his right knee. Matthew Tkachuk missed the first 47 games while recovering from procedures for a torn adductor and sports hernia.
The Panthers now enter the new campaign healthier and with another major addition. They acquired Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators on June 21, putting the Tkachuk brothers on the same NHL roster after they helped the United States win gold at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics.
Brady Tkachuk spent eight seasons in Ottawa, including five as captain, and has reached 30 goals three times. Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Florida was already a difficult opponent before adding another player of Tkachuk’s stature, calling the matchup an ideal early measuring stick.
Jaccob Slavin has played alongside both brothers with Team USA. He said their chemistry is obvious, but the greater issue for opponents is their combination of skill, intelligence and heavy, relentless play.
The brothers have made fast impressions in big games before. At the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal, Matthew Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel two seconds after the opening faceoff against Canada. Brady Tkachuk then fought Sam Bennett one second later. The Americans won that game 3-1.
Brady Tkachuk also dropped the gloves three seconds into Game 1 of Ottawa’s first-round series against Carolina last spring. Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal answered the challenge, took Tkachuk down, and Carolina won 2-0. The Hurricanes swept the Senators, with Tkachuk held without a point in the series.
Staal’s playoff work, including that moment, helped earn him the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP. He said Brady Tkachuk is the kind of physical player who makes every shift demanding, but Carolina intends to return that pressure.
Brind’Amour said his group is comfortable playing a game that turns physical or stays tactical, noting that the Hurricanes have built a team capable of adjusting to either style.
Carolina captain Staal called the opening assignment a full-speed entry into the season rather than a gentle start. General manager Eric Tulsky framed it as the point where last season’s championship becomes history and a 32-team race begins again.
Next puck drop
| Matchup | Date | Venue | Time | Broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida Panthers at Carolina Hurricanes | Tuesday, Sept. 29 | Lenovo Center, Raleigh, North Carolina | 5 p.m. ET | ESPN |
