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A month after the Hurricanes claimed their first title in 20 years, the NHL has formally turned the page to the 2026–27 season, unveiling a new-look, 84-game schedule.
The league released the full schedule for the upcoming season midday Thursday, with the slate adding beyond the prior 82-game format. The 84-game schedule was a core part of the labor deal struck last year between the NHL and NHL Players’ Association, and extending to September 2030.
The schedule expansion will involve two additional divisional games for each team, but also allows an even spread of those intradivisional contests for the first time since the Kraken entered the league in 2021. That enlargement means an earlier-than-ever start to the season, with the first batch of games scheduled for Sept. 29.
The labor deal also halves the number of preseason games to four per team.
National Profile
The NHL will begin its season with a series of high-profile games on national networks, providing a sizable jolt of early buzz. ESPN will air a tripleheader of games on that Sept. 29 opening day, while Sportsnet will have a doubleheader of action.
In particular, ESPN will show a Panthers-Hurricanes game involving the last three winners of the Stanley Cup. Carolina will raise the banner on its 2025–26 championship, while Florida will look to begin its resurgence with newly acquired forward Brady Tkachuk.
Sportsnet, meanwhile, is beginning its coverage for the new season with a classic clash between the Canadiens and Maple Leafs, Canada’s two Original Six NHL teams. Toronto is also in the midst of a transition after recently bringing in John Chayka as GM and franchise icon Mats Sundin as a senior executive adviser.
The upcoming schedule also features a series of key dates for tentpole events, including the outdoor NHL Heritage Classic between the Canadiens and Jets on Oct. 24 in Winnipeg, the Global Series in November in Finland between the Hurricanes and Kraken and the following month in Germany involving the Senators and Blackhawks, the Dec. 31 NHL Winter Classic in Utah with the Mammoth and Avalanche, and a retooled All-Star Game weekend in February at New York’s UBS Arena.
All 32 teams will be in action on Sat., April 10, the final day of the regular season, as playoff positions could still be in question in both conferences.
Another notable element of this year’s schedule is the creation of additional Monday weekday matinees. Those games will air in primetime in Europe, providing a more consistent broadcast window to help develop international fandom.
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