Guide To The 2026-26 NHL Season And Milan Olympics: How To Watch
The NHL season starts Tuesday night with a tripleheader that consists of the Florida Panthers raising a Stanley Cup banner for a second consecutive year and Mike Sullivan making his New york training debut versus the Pittsburgh Penguins group he spent much of the past years with.
This is the last 82-game season before the schedule expands to 84 apiece for each of the league's 32 teams beginning in 2026-27. It's likewise expected to be the last October start before training camp and exhibit play diminish and opening night gets moved up to late September.
The league will take a two-week break in February so gamers can compete at the Olympics in Milan.
The Panthers are wanting to become the first NHL team to threepeat since the New york city Islanders won 4 championships in a row from 1980-83. They likely will not have captain and top center Aleksander Barkov all season after surgery to repair split ligaments in his right knee from a noncontact injury throughout training camp.
NHL players are back in the Olympics for the very first time given that 2014 when Canada won its 2nd successive gold medal. It's the first full-fledged worldwide competition featuring the world's finest given that the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The 4 Nations Face-Off with the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland offered a taste of the type of quality and rate that can be anticipated.
Connor McDavid, extensively thought about the video game's finest gamer, is still going after the Stanley Cup in his 11th season in the league. After his future was the talk of the sport, McDavid signed a contract extension with the Edmonton Oilers on the eve of the season at a deal rate of $12.5 million every year over two years.
Lights illuminate the ice before an NHL hockey game in between the Seattle Kraken and the Calgary Flames, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Maddy Grassy)
Edmonton and Vegas are 8-1 co-favorites at BetMGM Sportsbook to hoist the Cup in June. Carolina and Colorado are 17-2, Dallas is 9-1 and Florida and Tampa Bay are each 14-1. The longest shots on the board are rebuilding Chicago and San Jose at 500-1.
ESPN and TNT air video games nationally in the U.S., with Sportsnet as the rightsholder in Canada.
There are 100 unique video games in between ESPN, ABC, ESPN+ and Hulu, including all 3 on opening night and the Stadium Series when Tampa Bay hosts Boston outdoors at the home of the NFL's Buccaneers. ESPN likewise has the Stanley Cup Final in June.
TNT has 72 video games, including Washington's season opener with Alex Ovechkin at 897 goals after breaking Wayne Gretzky's record, and the Winter Classic between the Panthers and Rangers on Jan. 2 at the home of Major League Baseball's Miami Marlins.
More than 900 video games will take location between October and Feb. 4, including Pittsburgh and Nashville playing two times in Sweden in November. The league will then stop briefly for the Olympic break.
The males's hockey tournament in Milan starts Feb. 11 with Finland vs. Slovakia and Sweden versus host Italy. The gold-medal video game is set for Feb. 22.
NHL play resumes on Feb. 25. The trade due date is March 6 and the last day of the regular season is April 16. The playoffs start April 18 and the last possible day for the Stanley Cup Final is June 21. Free agency begins July 1.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl