Opening night of the NHL regular season is upon us, and it’s appropriate for the two-time defending champion Panthers to kick off our slate. Florida’s quest for the rare three-peat starts with a matchup against the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks. It’ll be another banner-raising opening night for Florida.
The Panthers open as -285 favorites on the moneyline on the DraftKings Sportsbook. Chicago is a +230 underdog on the moneyline, with the total set at 5.5 goals. Let’s get into a preview, prediction, and pick for this opening night matchup between the Blackhawks and Panthers.
Blackhawks vs. Panthers Preview
It was a potentially huge offseason for the Panthers. The sheer number of free agents threatened to break up their championship core. But they held it together, re-signing key players like Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett, and Aaron Ekblad. Unfortunately, they did suffer a key loss during the offseason, unrelated to the salary cap.
How the Panthers decide to replace Barkov for this year is unclear. They managed to keep some cap space open and could look to the trade market or hope that internal development can fill some of the gap. Either way, there’s no replacing their two-way superstar and captain on the ice.
But that’s less of a concern against the Blackhawks. Only the San Jose Sharks had a worse point total last season than Chicago. Little was done in the offseason to address that issue; depth additions like Sam Lafferty, Andre Burakovsky, and Matt Grzelcyk won’t fix this overnight.
It’s clear they aren’t looking for an overnight fix. Connor Bedard is the leader of the rebuild. Artyom Levshunov should lead the blueline eventually, and they’ll have third overall pick Anton Frondell join the team at some point later in the year as he continues to play for Djurgardens. But it’ll be another season of patient rebuilding, internal development, and selling pieces at the deadline. At least they have stuff like this to look forward to.
Blackhawks vs. Panthers Prediction, Pick
There’s not much doubt as to who will win this one. Even without Barkov, the Panthers are rightfully nearly three-to-one favorites. But there’s still value to be found here.
The smart money is on the Panthers to pull off the regulation win. Their cohesion and two-way excellence is too much for Chicago to handle.
