1 – HAIL THE CHAMPIONS: It’s been quite a week for the Florida Panthers. On Monday the team announced the cancellation of its public Stanley Cup Ring ceremony out of an abundance of caution with Hurricane Milton approaching. Panthers President Matt Caldwell explained they’d planned to have heavy involvement of First Responders in the ceremony however they didn’t want to over-commit emergency personnel in the event they were needed in the community. The club opted instead for a private ceremony at the Fort Lauderdale War Memorial. The team and staff received their jewelry Monday evening, with each ring containing 617 gemstones, mostly diamonds, weighing 15.6 karats, set in yellow gold.
2 – BANNER-RAISING: On Tuesday night, a sellout crowd of 19,813 turned out to Amerant Bank Arena for the 2024 home-opener against the Boston Bruins. Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov brought the Stanley Cup onto the ice pregame, and everyone watched as the 2024 Stanley Cup Championship banner was raised to the rafters to stand till the end of time. It was a quick, yet tasteful, ceremony.
3 – 1-0: Once the puck dropped, Florida quickly picked up where they left off last season. The Cats jumped out to a prompt 4-1 lead in the first period, torching Boston goalie Joonas Korpisalo, and upped their lead to 5-1 in the second period. The Panthers led 5-2 after 40 minutes, and held on for a slightly harrowing 6-4 victory. Sam Bennett scored twice for Florida with singles coming from Evan Rodrigues, Sam Reinhart, Eetu Luostarinen and Jonah Gadjovich; all returning vets. In goal, Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves to notch the win.
4 – SWAGGY: Just when you thought things couldn’t get anymore positive for the Cats, General Manager Bill Zito and veteran forward Carter Verhaeghe made the surprise announcement after the game that the 29-year old veteran forward has agreed to an 8-year extension which will kick in next year. “It’s everything,” Verhaeghe shrugged. “Growing up you’re just trying to make the NHL, and find a place. To be a part of the Panthers for this long is a huge honor for me and to extend it longer, I’m just so grateful for the organization to believe in me.”
5 – “WE WANT SWAYMAN”: The sellout crowd launched into that chant on multiple occasions on Tuesday evening, referring to the beleagured Boston netminder who agreed to an 8-year, $66-million deal on the weekend after a brief training camp stalemate. Swayman was inexplicably on the bench for the season-opener which is a head-scratcher. One Bruins fan offered that perhaps Boston was saving Swayman for the club’s home-opener on Thursday versus Montreal, which makes no sense after giving him all that dough? It smacks of the Bruins being a bit behind in their salary cap budgeting. For instance, the extension for Carter Verhaeghe shows that Bill Zito already has a jump on the salary cap for next year.
6 – KNIGHT TIME?: Speaking of goaltenders, we’ve been tracking the crease crunch for the Panthers through the preseason between veterans Spencer Knight and Chris Driedger. Despite a solid showing by Knight in the Cats’ 2-1 OT preseason win at Tampa Bay last Wednesday, it was Driedger who backed up Bobrovsky on opening night. The local pundits say the crease carousel has to do with salary cap considerations which frankly, I don’t really understand. But the Panthers have more than earned the right to not be second-guessed, with pretty much anything.
7 – GO BOLTS: Of course we cover the cross-state Tampa Bay Lightning too, but the Bolts don’t get their 2024-25 season underway until Friday when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes. After a 2-3-1 preseason, the Lightning’s schedule has been thrown into flux by the impending Hurricane Milton which is expected to slam into Florida’s west coast midweek. The team has headed to North Carolina already and will be practicing there all week. The status of Saturday’s home-opener against Carolina remains in doubt due to the storm. “This is not ideal,” said Lightning GM Julien Brisebois.
8 – AND THEY’RE OFF: The 2024-25 NHL season officially got underway on the weekend with the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres playing a pair of games in Prague, CZR as part of the NHL’s Global Series. The Devils swept the games by scores of 4-1 and 3-1, which already has Sabres fans writing off the season. (Buffalo currently has the NHL’s longest active playoff drought at 13 seasons). The season got underway in North America on Tuesday evening with a nationally-televised tripleheader.
9 – STORYLINES: I’d hoped to provide a Top 10 NHL Storylines piece heading into the new season but Hurricane Milton and all the positive Panther news muscled that out of the way. Perhaps we’ll do it next week in this space? But the most buzz in the league right now is being generated out of Salt Lake City where the city is entering its first season in the NHL after the Arizona Coyotes relocated to the Utah capital this summer. Will the Utah Hockey Club (it still doesn’t have a name) make the playoffs this season? That’s doubtful, but their inaugural season got off to a great start courtesy of a 5-2 home victory over Chicago on Tuesday evening.
10 – BEDARD: One of the other top stories comes out of Chicago where reigning Calder Trophy winner – NHL Rookie of the Year – Connor Bedard enters his sophomore season in the Windy City. The #1 NHL draft pick in 2023 has the over/under for his point total for this season set at 82.5 by the sportsbooks. The North Vancouver, BC product had 61 points in 68 games in his rookie season, which was shortened by a broken jaw with the last-place Blackhawks. I’ll take the over! The longtime friend of mine notched two assists in Tuesday’s loss at Utah. That puts Connor on pace for 164 points!
See you at the rink …
(Rod Pedersen covers the NHL for the South Florida Tribune. He also hosts the award-winning weekly Cats N Bolts Podcast and daily The Rod Pedersen Show on Game+TV, WQEE Radio & YouTube)
