Florida Panthers team preview: Depth chart, line combinations and more for 2024/25 NHL season

Last season, the Florida Panthers shocked the world and won their first Stanley Cup title in franchise history. Immediately after the cup win, the team stood alone as betting favorites on most major sportsbooks to win the 2024-25 Stanley Cup.

Since then, however, the team has undergone a bit of a roster overhaul, losing a number of key players this offseason. Although GM Bill Zito was able to fill in many of the gaps left by outgoing players, the team is second on most major US sportsbooks when it comes to 2024-25 Stanley Cup betting odds.

The team has two more preseason games before they begin the regular season. Given that, coach Paul Maurice still has time to make final cuts to the Panthers' roster before the regular season starts.

With that in mind, however, the team's current lines are as follows:

Note: * indicates a player is injured

Forwards

• L1: Carter Verhaeghe - Aleksander Barkov - Sam Reinhart
• L2: Evan Rodrigues - Sam Bennett - Matthew Tkachuk
• L3: Eetu Luostarinen - Anton Lundell - Mackie Samoskevich*
• L4: AJ Greer - Patrick Giles - Jesper Boqvist

Defense

• L1: Gustav Forsling - Aaron Ekblad
• L2: Niko Mikkola - Dmitry Kulikov
• L3: Nate Schmidt - Adam Boqvist

Goalies

• Sergei Bobrovsky
• Spencer Knight

Looking at the Florida Panthers' offseason transactions leading up to the 2024-25 season

In the offseason, the Florida Panthers lost key players who contributed valuable minutes to their championship run.

Most notably, the Panthers, who proved to be one of the best defensive teams last season, suffered setbacks on defense with the departures of Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

In addition, the team also lost Vladimir Tarasenko, who signed with the Senators this summer, Kyle Okposo, who retired, and Anthony Stolarz, who signed a two-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In addition, the team also lost Nick Cousins, who signed with Ottawa, Kevin Stenlund who signed with Utah, Ryan Lomberg, who returned to Calgary, Josh Mahura, who signed with the Kraken, and Steven Lorentz who is on a PTO with the Maple Leafs.

On the flip side, the team acquired AJ Greer, Chris Driedger, Jaycob Megna, Adam Boqvist, Mackenzie Entwistle, Nate Schmidt, Tomas Nosek and Jesper Boqvist in hopes of filling some of the gaps left by outgoing players.

While many of their offseason acquisitions will fill in the lower lines, the team remains one of the betting favorites to win it all this season, even if they are no longer first in Stanley Cup betting odds.

After going 3-3 in the preseason, it will be interesting to see how the Panthers' season plays out as the team looks to go back-to-back.