Florida Panthers dominate the NHL with back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2024 and 2025, led by Paul Maurice and Sergei Bobrovsky’s late-season brilliance. They loom as the legitimate favorite in 2026 markets, but the trophy chase remains wide open as multiple teams eye a reset in the Sunshine State’s wake.

Edmonton, Carolina, Vegas and a handful of challengers are framed as the primary threats. Edmonton’s talent and near-misses in finals keep them in the conversation, while Carolina’s regular-season dominance clashes with playoff heartbreak. Vegas, the 2023 champion, is positioned to disrupt again, and the sport’s history-laden Islanders provide a reminder of how hard it is to win three straight. Fantasy managers should lean into Panthers’ core, with Bobrovsky as a potential anchor, while staying alert to league-wide value across contenders.

Cody Laskosky signed with the Tahoe Knight Monsters for the 2025-26 season, starting his professional chapter after concluding his college career at Wisconsin where he logged 11 points in 21 games last year. The Alberta-born forward previously spent four seasons at Rochester Institute of Technology, posting 84 points with a career-best 41-point season in 2023-24, and his junior hockey roots stretch across the Alberta Junior Hockey League with four different schools. The Knight Monsters sit in the Vegas Golden Knights ecosystem as an ECHL affiliate, linked to Henderson’s AHL setup, and this addition signals a measured push toward adding scoring depth and North American experience to the Knights’ development funnel.

The move underscores a familiar path: Alberta junior hockey, NCAA play, then a pro leap into the Knights’ farm system. Laskosky’s production history—especially the 41-point mark at RIT—suggests he can contribute secondary scoring and versatility as he adapts to the professional game. Vegas’ pipeline through Henderson provides a structured bridge to higher levels should he accelerate his progression, making this signing a noteworthy development for fantasy depth in leagues tracking prospect paths.

Gerard Gallant is named head coach of the Kontinental Hockey League’s Shanghai Dragons, a bold move for a club relocating from Beijing’s Kunlun Red Star and set to base in St. Petersburg until its Shanghai home is ready. Gallant’s NHL pedigree is marquee: back-to-back 100-point seasons with the New York Rangers, a 369-262-70 coaching record, and a Jack Adams Award in 2017-18 with Vegas Golden Knights. At 61, the Summerside, Prince Edward Island native brings a proven, pressure-tested blueprint to a franchise rebuilding in a new league and city. The Dragons’ lineage ties to Olympic-era Chinese hockey and a fresh branding, signaling a high-stakes, high-expectation era as the coach mounts his first major post-NHL assignment.

The move casts Gallant into a different hockey ecosystem while leveraging a resume built on rapid team-wide adaptation, player development, and offensive tempo. His career spans coaching stints with Columbus, Florida, Vegas and New York, punctuated by sharp-dialed systems and a knack for maximizing scoring around his top talent. The news, published August 13, 2025, places a high-profile NHL veteran behind Shanghai’s bench as the club transitions from Kunlun Red Star into a South Russian–Shanghai hybrid footprint, aiming to accelerate on-ice success while the team nests into a new home environment.