The NHL's 84-Game Season Opens With Two All-Canadian Games
NHL 2026-27 schedule features Montreal at Toronto and Vancouver at Edmonton, marking the longest regular season since 1994 for Canadian clubs.
The NHL released its 2026-27 schedule on July 16, and the headline is a number the league has not used since Jean Chretien’s first year in office. Every team plays 84 games, the first time the regular season has run past 82 since 1993-94.
The extra two games are not filler. They exist because clubs complained that the old 82-game structure could not distribute divisional matchups evenly, and the new collective bargaining agreement, which takes effect Sept. 16, fixes the arithmetic rather than the complaint. The format now runs clean: two home and two road games against each of the seven division rivals, then two home and one road against four conference opponents and one home and two road against the other four, then one home and one road against all sixteen teams in the opposite conference. Every club plays 42 at home and 42 away. Nobody gets a soft draw by accident anymore.
Sept. 29 belongs to Canada
Opening night is Tuesday, Sept. 29, and Sportsnet gets a doubleheader that writes its own promo. Montreal visits Toronto, then Vancouver visits Edmonton. ESPN runs a tripleheader in the United States on the same night, starting at 5 p.m. ET with Carolina raising its Stanley Cup banner against Florida, followed by the Rangers in Boston at 8 and Chicago in Vegas at 10:30.
The rest of the Canadian home openers arrive in a tight cluster. Calgary hosts Seattle on Oct. 1, with Vancouver hosting Edmonton later the same night. Winnipeg opens at home against Boston on Oct. 2. Montreal welcomes the champion Hurricanes on Oct. 6. Ottawa closes out the Canadian slate on Oct. 8 against Philadelphia.
The outdoor game comes to Winnipeg
The 2026 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic lands on Sunday, Oct. 25, with the Jets hosting Montreal at Princess Auto Stadium. An October date in Winnipeg is a meaningfully different proposition than a February one, which is presumably the entire idea, and it puts two Canadian clubs outdoors in front of a national audience before Halloween.
The league’s other showcase dates skip Canada. Utah hosts Colorado in the Winter Classic on Dec. 31, and Dallas meets Vegas in the Stadium Series on Feb. 20. Ottawa is the lone Canadian club on the Global Series slate, playing Chicago in Dusseldorf on Dec. 18 and Dec. 20, while Carolina and Seattle take the Helsinki dates on Nov. 12 and Nov. 14.
An All-Star Game with a Canadian roster
With no Olympic break to build the calendar around this season, the NHL returns to All-Star Weekend and keeps the international framing that worked so well in February. UBS Arena on Long Island hosts the skills competition on Feb. 5 and a tournament-format All-Star Game on Feb. 6, played 3-on-3 between Canada, Finland, Sweden, the United States and a World team.
For Canadian teams the practical consequence of 84 games is depth. Two extra dates on a schedule that already runs from late September means two more back-to-backs to survive, two more nights a backup goaltender plays, and two more games in which a thin bottom six gets exposed. Every club in the league faces the same math. Not every club has spent the summer building for it.
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