Florida's inaugural roster surprised the hockey world with a run to the 1996 Stanley Cup Final, just three years after the Panthers' 1993 expansion debut at the original Miami Arena. The club moved to its current Sunrise arena, now known as Amerant Bank Arena, in 1998. Decades later the Panthers broke through for a championship in 2024, capping a fan base built patiently around South Florida's growing youth hockey scene.
As of Nov 2, 2026, here are the most recently projected forward lines, defense pairings and power-play units for the Florida Panthers. On the top line, the Florida Panthers are currently projected to run left wing Brady Tkachuk, center Sam Bennett and right wing Matthew Tkachuk together, a trio expected to log the heaviest 5-on-5 minutes on the roster, though without last change on the road it does not always draw the other team's top shutdown pairing. On the blue line, the top pairing is Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad, who typically log the heaviest 5-on-5 minutes on the back end and face the toughest zone starts, though the team's primary penalty-kill pairing is not always the same duo. On the power play, the PP1 unit runs Brady Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, Seth Jones and Matthew Tkachuk, the unit most teams send out first on a power play, though a delayed-penalty scramble already in progress or a late matchup change can put a different five over the boards. These combinations reflect pre-game reporting rather than real-time tracking, and can change between games and even between periods, so check the today's lines tool for the most current deployment before puck drop.
| # | Player | Off | Def | PP | PK | OVR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthew Tkachuk | 75 | 40 | 96 | 0 | 96 |
| 2 | Sam Reinhart | 52 | 83 | 93 | 65 | 94 |
| 3 | Carter Verhaeghe | 71 | 43 | 58 | 0 | 90 |
| 4 | Sam Bennett | 71 | 29 | 59 | 74 | 88 |
| 5 | Gustav Forsling | 75 | 54 | 46 | 53 | 78 |
As of Nov 2, 2026, the most recently projected lineup for the Florida Panthers includes 4 forward lines, 3 defense pairings and 2 power-play units, updated whenever a new pre-game lineup is reported.
As of Nov 2, 2026, the top line projected for the Florida Panthers is left wing Brady Tkachuk, center Sam Bennett and right wing Matthew Tkachuk.
These projected lines are drawn from Daily Faceoff's pre-game reporting, typically beat writers covering morning skates and warmups before puck drop. They reflect the coaching staff's intended deployment rather than shift-by-shift tracking collected once a game is already underway, and can still shift between a morning skate and the opening faceoff.
Lines can change from game to game, and sometimes within a single game, as a coaching staff reacts to matchups, injuries, scoring droughts or chemistry. Check back before each Florida Panthers game for the latest projected combinations, or browse the historical lines archive to see how often this team's lines have shifted recently.
