NHL unveils full 2026-27 regular season schedule
Summer might be in full force, but it won’t be long before we turn our attention to the ice.
On Thursday, the National Hockey League revealed the complete schedule for the 2026-27 season, with all 32 teams competing in an 84-game season.
This will be the first time in over three decades that the league will play more than 82 games. In the 1992-93 and 1993-94 campaigns, the NHL had 84-game seasons to accommodate the additions of the San Jose Sharks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Ottawa Senators, Florida Panthers and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.
The expanded schedule is part of the new collective bargaining agreement, which extends the regular season and reduces the preseason to just four games. It could certainly lead to some interesting matchups and an even longer grind in the final months leading to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The 2026-27 campaign kicks off with a five-game slate on Tuesday, Sept. 29, featuring the Carolina Hurricanes raising the franchise’s second Stanley Cup banner prior to facing the team that lifted Lord Stanley in the two years previous, the Panthers. It will mark just the second time the NHL will begin its regular season in September, and the first since the 2007-08 season, when the Ducks and Los Angeles Kings played in London, England.
Among the notable games on the schedule, there are also some exciting events on tap. On Oct. 25, the Winnipeg Jets will host the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL Heritage Classic, playing at Princess Auto Stadium, home of the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers. There will also be two editions of the Global Series. The Hurricanes will face the Seattle Kraken in Helsinki, Finland, on Nov. 12 and 14, while the Senators and Chicago Blackhawks will meet in Düsseldorf, Germany, on Dec. 18 and 20.
The NHL Winter Classic will take place on New Year’s Eve this year, with the Utah Mammoth taking on the Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles Stadium on the campus of the University of Utah. The Stadium Series heads to the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys on Feb. 20, with the Dallas Stars taking on the Vegas Golden Knights at AT&T Stadium.