The Dallas Stars will spend plenty of time in the national spotlight in 2026-27, landing 13 games on ESPN, TNT, ABC and the league’s streaming partners after the NHL released its broadcast schedule on Aug. 26.
That slate opens in a big way. Dallas begins the season at home against the St.
Louis Blues on Friday, Oct. 2, with puck drop set for 8 p.m. CT on TNT.
It’s also the start of the league’s first 84-game regular season since 1993-94.
The Stars’ next stretch on national TV comes fast. Eleven days after opening night, they’ll host the Colorado Avalanche on Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN before heading to Denver for a rematch on Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m. on TNT.
The Oct. 14 start time was originally listed at 8:30 p.m. when the schedule came out July 16, according to the full schedule published by WFAA. Colorado won the Central Division last season.
Dallas finished second at 50-20-12 and lost to the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the playoffs.
Vegas shows up three times on the national calendar, more than any other opponent on the Stars’ schedule. Dallas visits the Golden Knights on Nov. 17 at 9 p.m. on TNT, then again on Nov. 19 at 9 p.m. on ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu.
The third matchup is the 2027 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series on Saturday, Feb. 20, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, with puck drop at 7 p.m. CT on ABC.
Vegas reached the Stanley Cup Final last season and lost to the Carolina Hurricanes. For Dallas, the Stadium Series will be the second outdoor game in franchise history after the Stars beat the Nashville Predators 4-2 in the 2020 Winter Classic at the Cotton Bowl.
The rest of the national schedule stretches from October through the end of February. Boston comes to Dallas on Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
Washington visits on Dec. 15 at 8:30 p.m. on TNT. Philadelphia is in town on Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. on ESPN, two nights before the Stadium Series.
Dallas closes its national TV slate on Feb. 28 at St. Louis at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
Two more games are streaming exclusives: Dec. 3 at Seattle at 9 p.m. and Jan. 19 at New Jersey at 6 p.m. That Devils game is the fourth stop on a five-game road trip from Jan. 14-20, the longest trip of the season. The Stars finish that swing the following night in Chicago, where they play the Blackhawks on Jan. 20 at 6:30 p.m. on TNT.
The league also shifted the start times of seven Dallas games. Four of those are national broadcasts: the Oct. 14 game at Colorado, the Dec. 3 game at Seattle, the Jan. 20 game at Chicago, and the Feb. 18 game against Philadelphia. The other three altered dates are the March 10 home game against Anaheim, the April 7 road game at Utah Mammoth, and the April 10 road game at Nashville.
For fans following the rest of the schedule, the Stars’ regional broadcasts will carry the other 71 games. On Sept. 2, the team announced that Prime Video will stream every non-national game for viewers in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas, with no subscription beyond an Amazon Prime membership.
Dallas is one of six NHL teams moving local streaming to Prime Video this season, along with Carolina, Columbus, Minnesota, St. Louis and Anaheim.
Josh Bogorad and Daryl Reaugh will return on the broadcast, with Brien Rea and Brent Severyn handling the pregame, intermission and postgame shows.
Seventeen regional games will also air on FOX 4 and FOX 4+, according to the station, beginning with the Oct. 22 matchup against Winnipeg at 7 p.m.
The regular season pauses Feb. 5-7 for NHL All-Star Weekend at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York. The April 10 game at Nashville comes on the back end of one of 13 back-to-back sets, following an April 9 home game against Utah.
In Other News...
Jim Nill Finally Addressed The Thomas Harley Trade Drama
Trade chatter around Thomas Harley had been hanging over the Stars for much of the summer, and Jim Nill finally acknowledged he reached out to the young defenseman once Harleys name started circulating. Nill said the two have a meeting coming when Harley gets back to Dallas, a useful reset for a player who has become one of the organizations more important blue-line pieces after signing his contract in 2025 and following a strong recent stretch.
The bigger issue for the Stars is how quickly rumors can take on a life of their own when a player of Harleys profile is involved. Dallas had already been linked to a deal that would have sent Harley as the centerpiece in a swap for Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski, and the fallout from that kind of speculation can linger even after the phone stops ringing. Nills comments at least show the Stars are trying to keep the situation from becoming a distraction, even if the full story behind the talks was never going to stay quiet for long. [Read more 🡒]