The 2026-27\u00a0NHL season is here, beginning with five games on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The first game of the season will see the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes host the Florida Panthers (5 p.m. ET, ESPN) after they raise their banner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And though we are just getting started, it\u2019s never too early to speculate about who will hoist the Cup at the end of this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To find out what the players think, NHL.com ran a poll with 35 NHL players, asking who they think will be this season\u2019s champion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The polls were conducted at the NHL\/NHLPA European Media Tour in Munich in August and the NHL\/NHLPA North American Player Media Tour in Vegas earlier this month.<\/p>\n
The Florida Panthers, according to the players, are the favorites, even though they did not make postseason in 2025-26 after winning the Cup in each of the previous two seasons and going to the Cup Final three straight seasons. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The Panthers get captain and first-line center Aleksander Barkov<\/a> back. The forward missed all of last season after injuring his right knee on the first day of training camp. Almost as importantly, the Panthers acquired forward Brady Tkachuk<\/a> in a trade with the Ottawa Senators on June 21. He joins forces with his brother, Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a result, 15 players said that the Panthers will win a third Cup in four seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think they’re just loaded,\u201d Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider<\/a>\u00a0said. \u201cThey’re ready to go. Everybody should be healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n Gabriel Landeskog<\/a>, the captain of the Colorado Avalanche, knows about championship-caliber teams. The Avalanche made it to the Western Conference Final last season and won the Cup in 2022. They will be among the favorites again, he knows.<\/p>\n Without discounting the chances of his team, Landeskog likes the look of the Panthers.<\/p>\n \u201cSasha Barkov is healthy, they bring in Brady Tkachuk,\u201d he said. \u201cThey lost (goalie Sergei) Bobrovsky but brought in (Jacob) Markstrom.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, listen, they\u2019re stacked. It doesn\u2019t automatically mean you\u2019re going to win, but if I had to give you a preseason favorite, that\u2019s probably it.\u201d<\/p>\n Logan Cooley<\/a> of the Utah Mammoth was singing a similar tune.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, obviously, they added Brady Tkachuk, that\u2019s a big part,\u201d he said. \u201cI think they\u2019ve got a lot of good pieces that allow them to win. I\u2019m sure Matthew (Tkachuk) is going to be a lot healthier this season. Barkov\u2019s back. So, I think they\u2019re going to make a deep run.\u201d<\/p>\n Brady, the former captain of the Senators, had 59 points (22 goals, 37 assists) in 60 games last season. The 27-year-old has 463 points (213 goals, 250 assists) in 572 NHL regular-season games. Matthew was limited to 31 games last season, but had 34 points (13 goals, 21 assists).<\/p>\n Bobrovsky, the goalie for each of the championships in Florida, left for the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent. Markstrom, who began his career with the Panthers in the 2010-11 season, was 23-19-1 with a .883 save percentage and 3.07 goals-against average with the New Jersey Devils last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think they\u2019re a pretty easy choice after getting Brady Tkachuk,\u201d Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele<\/a>\u00a0said. \u201cI think they’re right up there.\u201d<\/p>\n But they will have to go through the Hurricanes, who took advantage of Florida\u2019s playoff absence last season to win their first Cup in 20 seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n They have brought back almost their entire roster. In fact, goalie Frederik Andersen<\/a>\u00a0is the only significant subtraction, leaving as a free agent for the Edmonton Oilers. Andersen was 16-14-5 with a .874 save percentage and 3.05 GAA. \u00a0He played the first 16 games of the playoffs with a 13-2 record, a .910 save percentage and a 1.89 GAA.<\/p>\n Brandon Bussi<\/a>, in his first\u00a0NHL season, replaced an injured Andersen in Game 3 of the Cup Final and went 3-1 with a .931 save percentage and 1.60 GAA. \u00a0He will be the No. 1 for Carolina this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n “It has to be Carolina. Pretty much the whole team coming back, so it has to be them,\u201d Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jake Guentzel<\/a>\u00a0said.<\/p>\n The Hurricanes got six votes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Colorado and the Ottawa Senators each got two votes. Jake Sanderson<\/a> and Tim Stutzle<\/a>\u00a0of the Senators each picked their team, which lost to the Hurricanes in the first round.\u00a0<\/p>\n Five other teams received one vote: the Dallas Stars, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, the Golden Knights and the Washington Capitals.\u00a0<\/p>\n But, the final results will be earned across the 84-game regular season and the two months of the postseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n