The Penguins’ 2026-27 schedule is going to send them all over the map, but the weird part is that all that travel should work in their favor.
For the first time since the 1993-94 season, the NHL is rolling out an 84-game schedule, and that extra pair of games brings a cleaner setup inside the division. Pittsburgh will now play each of its seven division rivals four times, with two at home and two on the road. That wipes out the old imbalance that left two division opponents with only three meetings.
That matters for matchups, but it also helps explain why the Penguins’ travel load looks so manageable. They are projected to log about 31,800 miles over the season, which is one of the lowest totals in the league.
Seattle sits at the other end of the scale at approximately 51,335 miles, a gap of 19,535 miles. The article compares that difference to a multi-city route from Pittsburgh to Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Honolulu, and back to Pittsburgh, which would cover 19,533 miles.
The Penguins’ schedule still comes with plenty of movement, though. They have the most back-to-back sets in the NHL at 15, while Calgary and Vegas are tied for the fewest with eight. That’s the tradeoff for being based in the East, where a lot of trips are short hops to places like Columbus, Buffalo, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington instead of long western swings.
That geography also helps explain why Pittsburgh remains near the top of the league in road trips. Last season, the Penguins led the NHL with 22 separate road trips. This year they’ll have 19, which again puts them near the top.
The longest trip on the slate comes after the All-Star break, when the Penguins go through Edmonton, Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Minnesota. That stretch covers about 4,800 miles.
Their second-longest trip comes in November, when they head to Los Angeles, Anaheim, and San Jose. That one is about 4,700 miles, and it includes their longest flight of the season: the 2,240-mile return from San Jose to Pittsburgh.
The league’s schedule-building process is more intricate than it looks. The 84 games are split into 28 divisional games, 24 games against other teams in the conference, and 32 non-conference games against every team in the opposite conference, with one home and one road game against each. It used to be done by hand until around the mid-2000s.
Then come the layers of travel rules and CBA requirements. This season includes a holiday break from Dec. 23-25, an All-Star break from Feb. 4-7, and a staggered multi-day bye for every team sometime between late January and mid-February.
Teams can also make requests, and Pittsburgh usually asks for home dates the night before Thanksgiving and during Saint Patrick’s Day weekend. Those aren’t guaranteed, but the league tries to work them in.
This year, the Penguins got both. They’ll host Calgary at PPG Paints Arena the night before Thanksgiving and welcome the Capitals and Red Wings on Saint Patrick’s weekend.
The NHL also has to juggle arena availability, national TV windows, competitive balance, and travel reduction while building the calendar. In Pittsburgh’s case, the result is a schedule that looks pretty favorable: low mileage, no international games, and only a handful of Western Conference trips.
One more wrinkle works in the Penguins’ favor. After they return home from their six-game road trip in February, they won’t have to leave the Eastern Time Zone again. Four of their five trips outside that time zone come before New Year’s, so the final six-plus weeks of the season stay close to home.
So yes, the Penguins will be miles behind the competition. In this case, that’s exactly the point.
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