The wait is over! NHL Opening Night is set to begin with a triple header tonight on ESPN. The first game will feature the defending cup champion Florida Panthers taking on the Chicago Blackhawks, followed by game two between the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins. The NHL Opening Night finale will have the Colorado Avalanche traveling to take on the Los Angeles Kings.
With the lack of movement over the summer post-free agency, everyone was craving for games to begin and now the puck is set to drop tonight in what’s supposed to be an exciting season. Here are a few storylines for teams and players set to take the ice in this trio of games to start 2025-26.
NHL Opening Night Preview
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Can the Panthers Three-Peat?
This is the most obvious question heading into the season but it must be asked. The Panthers come into the campaign as back-to-back defending Stanley Cup Champions after beating the Edmonton Oilers both times to do so. The Panthers are now trying to become the first team to three-peat since the New York Islanders won four consecutive from 1980-83.
There will be some challenges along the way, and they come via the injury front. Matthew Tkachuk had surgery to repair a torn abductor muscle and a sports hernia. He is expected to be back sometime in December/January, so Tkachuk will be back with plenty of time to spare, but they got way worse news on Aleksander Barkov. It was announced that the Panthers’ captain suffered a torn ACL and MCL in camp, which requires surgery and could potentially miss the entire season.
That’s a massive blow to a team that is striving to win a third consecutive cup. Even so, the Panthers still have the talent and depth all around the ice to make another run. They had one of the best offseasons in the league, being able to return a lot of their notable talent and still have a playoff riser in net with Sergei Bobrovsky. A team led by Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart, Brad Marchand, and Tkachuk, when he returns, should be enough to compete for history.
Anze Kopitar’s Last Hurrah
On September 18th, it was announced that longtime Kings forward Anze Kopitar would retire after the upcoming season. He’ll be entering his 20th NHL season, playing all with the Kings franchise. Kopitar heads into NHL Opening Night having played 1,454 career games and has scored 440 goals with 838 assists (1,278 points). He’s just 29 points behind Marcel Dionne as the Kings’ all-time points leader. The 38-year-old also brought home the first two Stanley Cups in Kings history in 2012 and 2014.
Kopitar has been nothing but a class act on and off the ice, winning three Lady Byng Trophies for his sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct and a Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award for his leadership skills. He’s had an impact on the Kings franchise in more ways than one, which few can say to the level of what Kopitar has for a single franchise. His goal to end his career is to bring a third Stanley Cup to the city of Los Angeles, and he will lay it all on the line to do so before he hangs up the skates on a spectacular career.
Crosby Staying in Pittsburgh
There was more talk than ever surrounding Sidney Crosby‘s status with the Penguins moving forward. Because of the state of the franchise right now, many thought that it was time to move on for Crosby. Well, he disagrees. In his recent comments, Crosby confirmed that he’s committed all the way to stay with the Penguins no matter the direction of the team. Crosby has no intention of leaving, even though it was made well aware of the timeline being uncertain on when Pittsburgh would be contenders again.
The Penguins haven’t reached the playoffs since 2022 and haven’t won a playoff series since 2018. Expectations aren’t high yet again even with the legendary trio of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang.
In 2024-25, Crosby set an NHL record with his 20th point-per-game season, which was amazingly the 20th season of his career. Wayne Gretzky held the previous record with 19. Crosby had 91 points last season (33 goals, 58 assists), which marked the 14th time he had 80 or more points, joining company with Gretzky. He will enter his age 38 season playing in 1,352 games and having 625 goals with 1,062 assists for 1,687 points ahead of NHL Opening Night.
It would he hard to imagine number 87 in another sweater other than a Penguins sweater and it looks like he could very well end his career in Pittsburgh, which speaks to the loyalty to the Penguins and the work ethic he puts forth to stay playing at a very high to elite level as long as he has.
New Head Coaches Behind the Bench
A total of nine teams have new coaches heading into this season, and three of them will be on display on NHL Opening Night. The coaches are Mike Sullivan with the Rangers, Jeff Blashill with the Blackhawks, and Dan Muse with the Penguins.
Two of those coaches will face each other to start the season when Sullivan’s Rangers take on Muse’s Penguins. Sullivan will be going against his former team as he coached the Penguins for ten seasons, going 409-255-89 and winning two Stanley Cups in his first two seasons in 2016 and 2017.
Muse will also be coaching against his former team in his first game. While he wasn’t a head coach with the Rangers, he was an assistant with them in 2023-24, handling the power play. This will be his first head coaching gig in the NHL, as he will have big shoes to fill as the Penguins’ 23rd bench boss in franchise history.
As for Blashill, this will be his second head-coaching job in the league, as he led the Detroit Red Wings from 2015 to 2022. Now he leads the Blackhawks after a three-year hiatus from behind the bench. Blashill will have, if all goes right, the pleasure of giving Connor Bedard his first long-term coach.
