​RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA – JUNE 20: A general view during the Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup Final Victory Parade at Lenovo Center on June 20, 2026 in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Josh Lavallee/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images We’ve had parades, the Stanley Cup has travelled around the globe—except for Russia, the rings have been handed out, and the banners are set to go. Later this afternoon the Hurricanes will celebrate they are the 2026 Stanley Cup Champions one more time. Then they’ll try to win it again. Carolina opens the season today against the team that had won the Stanley Cup the prior two seasons, and a team plenty think will be deep in the fight for it again—the Florida Panthers. That team has also been a huge nemesis for the Canes, and the two teams have managed to build up a semi-rivalry thanks to their shared success. The biggest question for tonight is simple: after months of celebrating that included getting their rings on Sunday—more on that in a second—and having a full barn watching a second banner be raised, can this Hurricanes team put it all behind them and attack the season with the same hunger in order to get Lord Stanley back for another round in Raleigh? The league didn’t do them any favors by scheduling a Panthers team that’s the healthiest they’ve been in a while, even without Brad Marchand. First, though, the rings. If by now you haven’t seen them they are amazing. Ryan Henkel of The Hockey News had an amazing post yesterday where he chatted with Jason Arasheben. Jason is the Jason of Beverly Hills, who last designed a ring for an NHL team in 2023 for the Vegas Golden Knights. Jason has a signature style, also seen in this year’s Super Bowl ring, and it’s absolutely worth a read as Ryan gets some insight into the process of getting the ring made, the deadlines they had, and how an NHL team actually selects who makes the ring. Ryan notes all the details about the rings in his post, but if you want to see it: View this post on InstagramIf you look at the numbers that circle the NC Flag—yes basically a Storm Surge homage—there are three numbers on there you may not instantly recognize. Those numbers belong to Charles-Alexis Legault, Joel Nystrom, and Bradly Nadeau. Those are players who played some significant minutes for the Canes during the regular season. They didn’t get their name on the Cup, but they did get permanently immortalized on the ring that every player will wear—including themselves. In fact, Ryan notes in his post that members of the support staff are getting rings and that members on down to security guards were being fitted. You can see from this post from Jorge Alves’ wife Amanda that the rings they got are just as massive as the ones from the players, and family members were even treated to gifts. That is the past, though, and now it’s time to talk about the present. Fans will tailgate on a brilliant early fall day, there’ll be so