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This content was machine-translated from the French version.
The curtain will rise earlier than ever before. On Wednesday and Thursday, the NHL unveiled its full fixture list for the 2026–27 season, and the change in format is historic: each team will play 84 regular-season matches, a first since the 1993–94 season. As a direct result, the season will kick off on Tuesday 29 September 2026 — the earliest start date in the league’s history on North American soil, excluding the COVID bubble period.
The season will kick off with a clash of the champions. The Carolina Hurricanes, fresh from winning their first Stanley Cup, will host the Florida Panthers in a match that is already shaping up to be a cracker – a rematch of the most recent conference finals. Opening night will feature a total of five matches, including a tantalising Toronto v Montreal clash that will delight Canadian fans, and an Edmonton v Winnipeg fixture that will kick off the Oilers’ campaign in the very first week.
This expansion of the schedule is no whim: it stems directly from the new collective bargaining agreement signed between the league and the players’ association.
Why 84 matches?
This expansion of the schedule is no whim: it stems directly from the new collective bargaining agreement signed between the league and the players’ association. The agreement adds two extra divisional fixtures per team, bringing the total to 1,344 regular-season matches — an all-time record. In return, the number of pre-season matches has been reduced, and several rest periods have been built into the season to limit player fatigue.
The previous 84-match format dates back more than thirty years. Between 1992 and 1994, the league briefly trialled this format before reverting to 82 matches, deeming the schedule too gruelling for the players. The return to this schedule reflects both the league’s expansion – now to 32 teams – and the desire to balance the divisional fixture list by doubling up on certain historic rivalries. The franchises also see this as a welcome financial windfall, provided they can manage fatigue and injuries.
The key fixtures
Beyond the opening night, every franchise now knows its schedule. Pittsburgh will kick off the season in Philadelphia on 30 September for a rematch of the first round of the last play-offs – a fixture already marked in the calendars of all the league’s fans. Washington, Boston, Edmonton and Colorado will also discover their full schedules, including their traditional overseas fixtures: the NHL has confirmed several fixtures in Scandinavia and a return to Australia for two regular-season matches.
The regular season will conclude on Saturday 10 April 2027 with all 32 teams on the ice. A six-and-a-half-month marathon that promises its fair share of surprises, with favourites looking to prove themselves, underdogs searching for their identity and rookies set to make their mark. As for the Hurricanes, they’ll have one more target on their backs: that of the defending champions, a title they’ve had no time to savour for more than a few weeks.
For the Hurricanes, the stakes are clear: to defend a Stanley Cup coveted by a league that has never seemed so wide open. The Rod Brind’Amour–Martin Necas duo, whose contracts were extended this summer, will have to cope with the weight of that responsibility. The first real test: that fateful 29 September clash against the Panthers, an opponent they have come to hate over recent seasons. If the opening night sets the tone, the NHL has its marathon: all that remains is to get the arenas buzzing.