NHL announces home openers for 2026-27 season

NEW YORK -- The National Hockey League (NHL) announced today that the 2026-27 regular season, expanded to 84 games with the addition of two more divisional games per team, will open on Tuesday, Sept. 29, with an opening-night tripleheader broadcast on ESPN in the U.S. and a doubleheader on Sportsnet in Canada.

At 5 p.m. ET on ESPN, the Florida Panthers will face off against the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes. Prior to the game, Carolina will raise its second championship banner at Lenovo Center.

At 7 p.m. ET on Sportsnet, the Montreal Canadiens visit the Toronto Maple Leafs in an Original Six contest at Scotiabank Arena.

Action continues on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET, when the New York Rangers face off against the Boston Bruins in another Original Six matchup at TD Garden.

At 10 p.m. ET on Sportsnet, the Vancouver Canucks clash with Pacific Division foes the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.

Then, on ESPN at 10:30 p.m. ET, the Chicago Blackhawks will visit the Vegas Golden Knights in a Western Conference matchup at T-Mobile Arena.

The first night of 2026-27 action on TNT will be the following night, Wednesday, Sept. 30, a doubleheader featuring the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Philadelphia Flyers at 7:30 p.m. ET and the Los Angeles Kings visiting the Colorado Avalanche at 10 p.m. ET.

In addition, the League announced each team’s home opener, listed below.

On Sunday, October 25, the Winnipeg Jets and Montreal Canadiens will hit the ice outdoors in the 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic™, at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg.

The 2026 NHL Global Series™ Finland will feature the defending Stanley Cup-champion Carolina Hurricanes and the Seattle Kraken facing off in a pair of games at Veikkaus Arena in Helsinki, November 12 and November 14.

The Ottawa Senators and Chicago Blackhawks will headline the 2026 NHL Global Series Germany with regular-season games December 18 and December 20 at PSD Bank Dome in Düsseldorf.

On New Year’s Eve, the University of Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium will host the Discover NHL Winter Classic®, as the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche battle outdoors in the shadow of the Greater Rockies.

The Honda NHL® All-Star Weekend returns February 5-6, at UBS Arena on Long Island. The event will include the 2027 NHL® All-Star Skills™ on February 5, with 10 young stars, ages 25 or younger, competing across eight events, and the 2027 Honda NHL All-Star Game February 6, featuring five teams of 11 players each — Canada,  Finland, Sweden, the United States and a “World” team comprised of international players from countries outside of the other four teams — competing in a three-on-three, round-robin exhibition tournament.  Rogers will be the presenting sponsor of NHL All-Star in Canada. The NHL today unveiled the official logo of the event.

The Dallas Stars and Vegas Golden Knights bring outdoor hockey back to Texas February 20, with the 2027 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series™, taking place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

The Stanley Cup Final will be telecast exclusively on TNT in the U.S. and on Sportsnet in Canada.

The complete 2026-27 NHL regular-season schedule is set to be announced on Thursday, July 16, at 1 p.m. ET. Also at 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, NHL Network will air a one-hour special edition of NHL Tonight covering the schedule release, which will be hosted by Jamison Coyle, Thomas Hickey and E.J. Hradek. The special edition programming will also stream on NHL.com. NHL Network will continue to break down the schedule during its regularly scheduled NHL Tonight show on Friday, July 17 at 6 p.m. ET.