The NHL released its 2026-27 schedule on Thursday, July 16.
There’s no midseason international tournament, but the All-Star Game will return and have an international theme.
There will be 84 games, not 82, to create a balanced division schedule, and the season will start on Sept. 29 instead of early October. There will be fewer preseason games, always a plus.
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The opening game will be a good one with the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes raising the banner before playing the 2024 and 2025 champion Florida Panthers.
Here are some of the winners and losers of the NHL’s 2026-27 schedule release:
WINNERS
Washington Capitals fans
The NHL has a nice sense of symmetry this year. The Capitals play their home opener against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins and their home finale against the same team. That’s two more times to watch the Alex Ovechkin-Sidney Crosby matchup if Ovechkin doesn’t play beyond this season. This is also the final year of Crosby‘s contract.
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The season finale
All 32 teams will play on the season finale on April 10 − the second 16-game day in 2026-27. It’s heavily division-oriented, so final playoff spots could be determined during the busy schedule.
European NHL fans
The NHL is increasing the number of Monday afternoon games so they can be watched in prime time in Europe and build the audience there. There will be two games in Finland (Hurricanes vs. Kraken) and Germany (Senators vs. Blackhawks). Finnish fans get to see countrymen Sebastian Aho and Kaapo Kakko, and German fans get to see Tim Stutzle.
Brady Tkachuk
The Florida Panthers offseason acquisition gets a great first test against the Hurricanes on opening night. Does he fight playoff MVP Jordan Staal as he did with the Ottawa Senators at the start of the playoffs? Plus, Tkachuk gets his return to Ottawa out of the way early with an Oct. 21 game.
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LOSERS
Chicago Blackhawks
The Blackhawks weren’t going to be a playoff team and even less so with Connor Bedard out for all of October and into November after shoulder surgery. But the schedule makers did them no favors. They face 12 playoff teams through the first week of November, including two meetings with the Hurricanes. Among the non-playoffs teams are two meetings with the recent champion Panthers.
Winter Classic timing
The Colorado Avalanche visiting the Utah Mammoth, good. Beautiful setting, good. New Year’s Eve, meh. At least the game starts at 4 p.m. local time, so the Wasatch mountains will be visible before the 5:09 p.m. sunset.
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Calgary Flames fans
Remember the symmetry for Capitals fans? NHL schedule makers didn’t do that in Calgary. This is the final season for the Saddledome. The final regular season opponent is the Vancouver Canucks, not the archrival Edmonton Oilers.
NHL shares the spotlight
There wasn’t much time to digest the NHL schedule before Major League Baseball said its 2027 season would start on March 24. That assuming, of course, that they get a collective bargaining agreement done in time.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NHL schedule winners, losers: Chicago Blackhawks get no favors
