The NHL’s 2026-27 schedule release handed the Vancouver Canucks and Seattle Kraken a few clear markers to circle, starting right out of the gate with division games on the road.
Vancouver opens at Edmonton on Sept. 29, while Seattle starts in Calgary on Oct. 1.
The home openers come just as quickly: the Canucks host Edmonton on Oct. 1, and the Kraken welcome Calgary on Oct. 4.
There’s also a Finland trip on the calendar for Seattle. The Kraken will face the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes in Helsinki on Nov. 12 and 14.
Vancouver gets Carolina at home on Oct. 20.
Under the NHL’s expanded 84-game format, each team will play its seven division rivals four times, which means the Canucks and Kraken will meet four times as well. Their matchups are set for Nov. 19 and Jan. 3 in Seattle, then Dec. 30 and Jan. 14 in Vancouver.
Last season, Seattle took three of the four games between the clubs. The teams split the first two, and both of those went to a shootout. The final two came after the Olympic break and turned into Kraken routs, 5-1 and 5-2.
The schedule also gives both teams some defined stretches of heavy lifting. Vancouver’s longest homestand runs seven games from Feb. 1-21, while Seattle’s longest home stay is five games from Jan.
31-Feb. 17.
On the road, the Canucks have a seven-game trip from Jan. 18-30, and the Kraken’s longest is six games from Jan. 19-28.
Back-to-backs are part of the grind too. Vancouver has 11, while Seattle has 13.
One more wrinkle: this will be the first NHL season in history with regular-season games in North America before the calendar flips to October. The league will get there after a shortened preseason of four games per team.
Before Vancouver’s opener against Edmonton on Sept. 29, the season itself begins a few hours earlier in Raleigh, where the Panthers and Hurricanes meet in a showdown between the last two champions.
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