The Florida Panthers are gearing up for another electrifying season as the reigning Stanley Cup champions, and the spotlight is burning brighter than ever in Sunrise. With Brad Marchand now firmly entrenched in the Panthers’ lineup after his blockbuster move from the Boston Bruins, the franchise is making bold roster moves and facing tough decisions as the 2025-26 NHL season approaches. Fans are buzzing, and for good reason—this team is loaded with storylines, from gold medal reunions to preseason heroics, and even high-profile recruitment drama involving some of the league’s biggest names.
On September 29, 2025, the Panthers made headlines with a key roster update: goaltender Evan Cormier, a 27-year-old veteran who’s been knocking on the NHL door for years, was officially released from his professional tryout contract. He’ll report to the Charlotte Checkers, Florida’s AHL affiliate, instead of making his long-awaited NHL debut with the Panthers. As the team announced on NHL.com, “Goaltender Evan Cormier has been released from his professional tryout (PTO) and will report to the Charlotte Checkers.”
Cormier’s hockey journey is a fascinating one. Selected in the fourth round by the New Jersey Devils back in 2016, he’s built a solid reputation in the minors but has yet to see action in the NHL. Despite this, his connection to the Panthers runs deep—he was once a teammate of Sam Reinhart on Team Canada’s gold medal-winning squad at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship. That tournament was a launching pad for several future NHL stars, and it’s a story that still resonates in the Florida locker room today.
Reinhart, who finished as the leading goal scorer in that 2015 World Juniors with five goals and tied for the most points at eleven, has become a cornerstone for the Panthers. Cormier, meanwhile, played three games during the tournament but was benched in the final, watching as Canada edged Russia 5-4 in a thrilling gold medal match. That final featured future NHL standouts—Russia’s net was guarded by Ilya Sorokin and Igor Shesterkin, both now household names. On Canada’s side, Reinhart shared top billing with Connor McDavid and Nic Petan, while Gustav Forsling, now a core member of the Panthers’ blue line, earned a spot on the tournament’s All-Star team.
Fast forward a decade, and the Florida Panthers are a team with championship pedigree and a roster stacked with talent and potential. But that doesn’t mean the path to another Cup is without obstacles. Injuries have hit hard, with captain Aleksander Barkov, star winger Matthew Tkachuk, and fourth-line center Tomas Nosek all sidelined long-term. That’s left the door open for hungry players on the bubble to make their mark during preseason—and no one has seized that opportunity quite like Jack Studnicka.
On September 29, Studnicka delivered a statement performance in a 4-3 preseason victory over the Carolina Hurricanes at Amerant Bank Arena. The 24-year-old forward wasted no time, opening the scoring just 56 seconds into regulation and then capping the night with a power-play overtime winner 28 seconds into the extra frame. "It’s cool," Studnicka said of his game-winning goal. "I don’t know if I have one of those on an NHL ice sheet. Preseason or not, it’s cool."
Studnicka’s name is now firmly in the mix for one of the two remaining forward spots on the Panthers’ roster. With twelve spots virtually locked in—featuring names like Sam Reinhart, Brad Marchand, Anton Lundell, and Eetu Luostarinen—competition is fierce. Studnicka, a second-round pick by the Bruins in 2017 who’s played 107 NHL games (with 16 points) but spent last season in the AHL, has made a compelling case, tallying three goals and four points in just three preseason contests. Panthers coach Paul Maurice weighed in, saying, "If you’re applying for a job and you get a couple of goals in the game, it feels good. It’s confidence more than anything else."
Marchand, who overlapped with Studnicka in Boston, offered his own praise: "He’s a great kid. I’ve seen him really kind of grow and mature. His first year in camp, I thought he was gonna make the team at 18, 19 years old. He was incredible. His speed and just his touch around the net is really impressive. ... He’s flying around, and sometimes those are the guys that you just need that break." Studnicka himself is embracing the moment: "Regardless of injuries or not, my plan was to come into camp and try to at least put my name in the conversation. I think my game really fits the system that they’re trying to play really well. I like to play fast with my stick out to try and break up plays. Goal scoring aside, I think it’s been good so far."
But the intrigue around the Panthers doesn’t stop on the ice. Off the ice, Brad Marchand has been at the center of a tug-of-war between franchises. After being traded from the Bruins to Florida at the 2025 NHL trade deadline—a move that helped the Panthers capture their second straight Stanley Cup—Marchand became the subject of intense recruitment efforts. It was revealed on September 29 that Brandon Carlo, now with the Toronto Maple Leafs and a former Bruins teammate, tried to convince Marchand to join him in Toronto. "I had talked to him, and there had been conversations there, and I felt like he definitely had that interest to come here. Ultimately, it didn’t end up that way. But that would have been fantastic. Now we’re just gonna have to compete against him and hopefully beat him here soon," Carlo shared.
Despite the Maple Leafs’ best efforts, Marchand chose to stay put in Florida, opting to chase more championships with the Panthers rather than fill the void left by Mitch Marner in Toronto. The decision left Toronto scrambling for a proven top-six winger, while Florida fans breathed a sigh of relief—Marchand’s leadership and clutch play are seen as vital to the team’s hopes of building a dynasty.
As the Panthers finalize their roster and the preseason winds down, the sense of anticipation is palpable. With a mix of established stars, rising prospects, and a few surprise storylines, Florida is once again positioned as a serious contender. The journey to a potential third consecutive Stanley Cup will be anything but easy, but with Marchand’s championship mentality, Reinhart’s scoring prowess, and new faces like Studnicka making waves, the Panthers are ready to embrace the challenge head-on.
The puck drops soon, and all eyes will be on Sunrise to see if the Panthers can continue their remarkable run. For now, the competition is fierce, the stakes are high, and the drama is just getting started.
