Deep into its offseason, the NHL has given fans something to look forward to this fall.

On Wednesday, the league unveiled dates for the home openers of all 32 teams, including five premier matchups to kick off the 2026-27 season on Sept. 29. Headlining opening night is the presumptive debut of recent No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna, whose Toronto Maple Leafs will host the Montreal Canadiens at 7 p.m. ET.

A few hours earlier, the Carolina Hurricanes will raise their 2026 Stanley Cup banner at home against an old playoff foe, the Florida Panthers. It also will mark Brady Tkachuk’s debut with the Panthers, who will get an early crack at revenge after the Hurricanes swept his former team this spring, before the winger engineered a trade to join brother Matthew in South Florida.

The rest of the five-game slate will see the Boston Bruins hosting the New York Rangers in a matchup of Original Six franchises; the Vancouver Canucks visiting the Edmonton Oilers in another battle of Canadian clubs; and the Chicago Blackhawks welcoming the Vegas Golden Knights.

The season chugs along from there, beginning with a pair of first-round playoff rematches on Sept. 30: An intrastate rivalry between the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins, with the former having eliminated the latter in six games, and the Colorado Avalanche’s home date with their recent sweep victims, the Los Angeles Kings.

Another fascinating home opener to watch: Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals will host Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 7. It remains to be seen if this NHL season will be, in fact, Ovechkin’s last. But at least it’ll start against a familiar foe.

Meanwhile, the last team to play its home opener will be the Panthers on Oct. 10, when the Tkachuks take on fellow Olympic gold medal-winner Quinn Hughes and the Minnesota Wild.

The @NHL announced today the 2026-27 regular season, expanded to 84 games with the addition of two more divisional contests per team, will open on Tuesday, Sept. 29. In addition, the League announced each team’s home opener.

Details: https://t.co/jMxZCwXZU6 pic.twitter.com/wfrDekHQs1

— NHL Public Relations (@NHLPR) July 15, 2026

Why is the regular season starting so early?

The Sept. 29 start date is a product of the league’s latest collective bargaining agreement, which kicks in for the start of training camp earlier that month. Among the most notable changes from the ratified document was the implementation of an 84-game schedule, increased from the previous 82. It will mark the NHL’s first 84-game season since 2003-04.

The NHL hasn’t started a normal regular season this soon since 2007-08, when the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings played a back-to-back in London, the league’s first-ever games to be held in Europe. This time, the schedule was bumped up to accommodate the extra two games per team.

What’s up with the preseason schedule?

While the regular season will be longer, training camps and preseason schedules are much shorter under the new CBA. NHL teams will now play just four exhibition games, half of the previous standard, and the length of their training camps will decrease from 21 to 13 days.

To further lighten the preseason workload, NHLers who’ve suited up for 100-plus career regular-season games can dress for up to just two exhibitions.

How about the Winter Classic and other tentpole events?

This year, the NHL is slated to stage three outdoor games. The 2026 Heritage Classic will be in Winnipeg in late October, pitting the Winnipeg Jets and Montreal Canadiens at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg. On New Year’s Eve, the 2027 Winter Classic will feature the Colorado Avalanche and the Utah Mammoth at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Utah. Finally, the Dallas Stars will host the Golden Knights at AT&T Stadium on Feb. 20 as part of the NHL’s Stadium Series.

In overseas action, the NHL will visit Germany for the first time for a two-game series on Dec. 18 and 20 between the Ottawa Senators and the Chicago Blackhawks, who will meet in Düsseldorf. A month earlier, the Hurricanes and the Seattle Kraken will travel to Helsinki for games on Nov. 12 and 14.

Finally, the revamped 2027 NHL All-Star weekend will be held Feb. 5-6 at UBS Arena on Long Island.

When will the rest of the schedule come out?

The NHL will unveil its full, 84-game team schedules on Thursday afternoon, at 1 p.m. ET, at which point we’ll know more about the season’s biggest days, spiciest revenge matchups and other noteworthy takeaways.

In the meantime, some teams, such as the Senators, are teasing creative ways of releasing their season schedule.