The NHL is stretching out in a big way in 2026-27, and the league is making room for it from the jump. The first 84-game season since 1993-94 will start Sept. 29, giving fans an opening night in September for the first time in North America and setting up a schedule that runs through Saturday, April 10 before the playoffs begin the following week.
That expanded slate means 32 teams will combine for 1,344 games, with most clubs limited to four preseason games. The move from 82 games was part of the last collective bargaining agreement talks between owners and players, with the goal of creating more breathing room between the end of the Stanley Cup Final and the draft in late June, before free agency opens July 1.
The timing matters. When Florida and Edmonton went to Game 7 in 2024, only three days separated the Cup Final’s end on June 24 in South Florida and the first round of the draft on June 28 in Las Vegas.
Carolina will be right in the middle of the league’s new calendar, and the Hurricanes will begin the season in banner-raising fashion. Fresh off defeating Vegas for the Stanley Cup, they open at home against Florida on Sept. 29, when they’ll raise their second championship banner.
The opening night slate includes five games and matches the earliest start date in NHL history. It’s also the first time the regular season begins in North America before October.
The only previous September games outside exhibitions came in 2020 during the pandemic playoff bubble, when Tampa Bay lifted the Cup in Edmonton on Sept. 28.
There are plenty of dates on the new calendar that jump off the page. Brady Tkachuk’s first game back in Ottawa as a member of the Panthers comes Oct. 21, a reunion that follows a messy breakup in Canada’s capital after the former Senators captain was traded to Florida to join his brother, Matthew. The Heritage Classic returns Oct. 25, when Montreal visits Winnipeg for the first outdoor game in Canada since 2023.
The marquee matchups keep coming through the winter. Carolina heads back to Vegas on Dec. 21 for a Stanley Cup Final rematch, then hosts the Golden Knights again in Raleigh on Jan.
- Utah gets the Winter Classic spotlight on Dec. 31 against Colorado in Salt Lake City, and the Stars will host Vegas at the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Feb.
April brings one more heavyweight matchup worth circling. Washington hosts Pittsburgh on April 4, which could be the final regular-season meeting between Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins if Ovechkin’s 22nd NHL season ends at age 41 - though the source notes it may not be his last if he keeps chasing 1,000 career goals.
Carolina’s schedule is loaded from the start, with Washington, Philadelphia, Montreal, Vancouver and Chicago all showing up early. The Hurricanes also head to Finland in November for two games against Seattle, and their calendar includes a long stretch of heavyweight opponents in December and January before the All-Star Weekend lands Feb. 5-6 on Long Island, New York.
The Hurricanes’ full slate runs from that Sept. 20 preseason opener at Florida through the April 10 regular-season finale at Florida, with the defending champions facing a schedule that is longer, earlier and packed with the kind of games the league clearly wants front and center.
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Carolinas fate still depended on more than one result, but the bigger frustration was how close the door had been to opening. Had the Hurricanes found their way in, the first-round matchup would have been Washington, a team that had handled them well all season and would have posed a difficult test for a club already fighting uphill. Instead, the rule change and the standings combined to make one of those late-season collapses feel even harsher, because the Hurricanes were not just chasing a spot, they were chasing the right kind of win under a system that no longer gave them much room to breathe. [Read more 🡒]
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There are also a few stretches on the calendar that will draw attention well before puck drop, including a demanding five-game trip in October that runs through Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton and St. Louis. Later in the season, the schedule stacks up with the kind of holiday matchups that tend to define a teams winter, with visits from clubs like Ottawa, Boston, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Nashville sprinkled around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. And tucked into the full release is one wrinkle that stands out from the rest, a trip that takes Carolina far beyond its usual footprint and gives the schedule a far different feel than most fans expected. [Read more 🡒]
Hurricanes Goalie Search Just Hit A Concerning Hellebuyck Twist
The Hurricanes search for a long-term answer in net has taken an intriguing turn, with NHL insider Chris Johnston reporting that Carolina has interest in Winnipegs Connor Hellebuyck. On paper, it is the kind of swing that would instantly change the conversation around the crease, but Johnstons read suggests the path from curiosity to actual deal is far from simple.
Hellebuyck is drawing attention well beyond Raleigh, with the Buffalo Sabres also said to be in the mix, and that kind of competition only adds to the difficulty for Carolina. Trade talks are still ongoing, but with no agreement in sight, the Hurricanes are left watching a high-end goalie market that is getting more crowded by the day. [Read more 🡒]