Florida Panthers out to defend the Stanley Cup, and the core from the title team is intact

Last season: 52-24-6, won Stanley Cup.

COACH: Paul Maurice (869-736-99-144 over 26 seasons, 94-56-14 over two seasons with the Panthers, 1 Cup championship).

SEASON OPENER: Oct. 8 vs. Boston.

DEPARTURES: D Brandon Montour, D Oliver Ekman-Larsson, F Nick Cousins, F Ryan Lomberg, F Vladimir Tarasenko, F Kyle Okposo, G Anthony Stolarz.

ADDITIONS: D Nate Schmidt, D Jaycob Megna, G Chris Driedger, F Jesper Boqvist.

GOALIES: Sergei Bobrovsky (36-17-4-6, 2.37 goals-against average, 0.915 save percentage), Chris Driedger (1-1-0-0, 2.51, 0.917 with Seattle), Spencer Knight (spent last season in AHL).

BetMGM STANLEY CUP ODDS: 9-1.

The back-to-back Eastern Conference champions are trying now to become back-to-back Stanley Cup champions and bring back the core of the team that won it all last June - Sergei Bobrovsky, Sam Reinhart, Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, Anton Lundell, Gustav Forsling, Evan Rodrigues, Carter Verhaeghe and more. It’s going to take some time for the Panthers to figure out how to replace a couple of key pieces - Brandon Montour among them - and the power play is likely going to look a bit different. The Panthers play eight of their first 12 games - and 11 of their final 18 - on the road.

The good: Reinhart was an absolute goalscoring machine last season with 57 in the regular season - one of every four of his shots on goal went in, which is absurd - and he added 10 more in the playoffs, including the Cup clincher against Edmonton. Bobrovsky is as good as anyone when he’s on his best game, Barkov is still at his peak and Tkachuk might just be entering the start of his prime.

The not-so-good: History suggests that back-to-back playoff runs take a toll on a team’s health and the Panthers know that injuries and-or wear-and-tear will eventually be an issue. The depth will be tested, which happens. Florida rode defense to the Cup last season and might need to score a bit more in 2024-25. There’s enough firepower for certain, but it might not be realistic to expect 57 goals from Reinhart (or anyone else) this time around.

You know the big names: Barkov, Tkachuk, Bobrovsky and so on. Forsling and Lundell are both big parts of the team’s future. Both are absolute building blocks and will be that way for years to come. Rodrigues was so good in the Stanley Cup Final and could use that as a springboard to bigger things this year, and if one of the young kids - a Mackie Samoskevich, perhaps - gets rolling, the Panthers will be right in the mix once again.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL