#Florida Panthers

#Florida Panthers

The start of the National Hockey League is only hours away, as we look forward to yet another thrilling season of action and exciting results over the course of the year. The first game of this season in the NHL at 5pm sees the Chicago Blackhawks take on the current back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers, in what will be a tough game to start.

With its final choice of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft in Nashville, the Florida Panthers selected Belarusian forward Stepan Zvyagin in the seventh round (198th overall), a pick that originally belonged to the Arizona Coyotes, from the KHL's Dinamo Minsk organization. In 15 KHL games with Dinamo during his draft season, Zvyagin netted one goal. He was much more productive against his peer group, racking up 14 goals and 33 points in 37 games with Babruysk Dinamo-Shinnik of the MHL.

As the Pittsburgh Penguins approach a fork in the road between rebuilding or making one last run at the Stanley Cup with its current core, captain Sidney Crosby's future is being called into question. Crosby's agent, Pat Brisson, further ignited the debate with his borderline cryptic comments, saying "each year the team that he's playing for fails to make the playoffs, it creates a lot of speculation" and "he's not getting any younger." Meanwhile, Crosby hismelf has been generally tight-lipped, but he retains the position that while he understands how and why the rumors are created, he still sees himself in a Penguins jersey until the day he retires.

Jeff Petry is 37 and needs to be insulated, but there are reasons to believe he could have a renaissance year and significantly outperform his league-minimum base salary. First, there is the expected change in workload. Petry averaged nearly 19 minutes per game (fourth among Red Wings defensemen) and was saddled with a subpar partner in Ben Chiarot. In other words, he was thrust into a challenging role that he was no longer equipped to handle.

Sergei Bobrovsky is doing all the heavy lifting here, given that the Panthers are expected to have Daniil Tarasov as their backup. Tarasov played 20 games (19 starts) for the Columbus Blue Jackets last season and had a 3.54 GAA and .881 save percentage. That means it mostly comes down to the apparently never-aging Bobrovsky, who helped the Panthers to their second straight Stanley Cup win last season. Bobrovsky, who turns 37 on Sept. 20,

Marek Vilmanis showcased impressive offensive skills during his draft season, scoring 18 goals in 40 games and ranking third in points with 32, as an essential asset for Luleå HF's U20 team.

EA Sports has named Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk as the cover athlete for NHL 26, marking a significant recognition for the player and franchise.