From the international schedule, holiday matchups, potential NHL records, personal milestones, award favorites, and so much more, our guide to the 2026-2027 NHL season has it all.
Biggest headlines ahead of the 2026-2027 NHL season
Three major headlines are shaping the 2026-2027 season, and the first involves Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, who formally requested a trade this offseason.
The three-time Vezina Trophy winner was suspended indefinitely by the team recently after failing to report to training camp. He is currently in the third season of his seven-year, $59.5 million contract with the Jets that he originally signed in 2023.
However, under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, Hellebuyck won't see a dime of his $8.5 million owed this season as long as his suspension holds out. More details here.
The second biggest storyline heading into the 2026-2027 season surrounds now-former Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin.
After being the captain of the team for six straight seasons, the Red Wings officially took away the 'C' from his jersey after he formally requested a trade this offseason. However, unlike Hellebuyck, Larkin has shown up to camp and the press conference.
Detroit announced Shawn Horcoff as the interim general manager to handle both contracts and trade talks as the team prepares for the season. However, Larkin has given his three-team trade list that consists of the Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, and Minnesota Wild - all Stanley Cup contenders (more details here).
The Red Wings' 10-year playoff drought is currently the longest of any team in the NHL.
And lastly, Minnesota Wild's star Quinn Hughes and his contract situation.
Hughes had the opportunity to sign an eight-year deal with the Wild up until September 15th. Now, under the new CBA, the maximum number of years Hughes can sign for is seven.
Colorado Avalanche star Cale Makar signed an eight-year, $163.2 million deal this offseason, making him the highest-paid defenseman in NHL history and the only player ever to have a contract with an average annual value of at least $20 million.
Hughes, a former Norris Trophy winner and hailed as one of the top two-way defensemen in the modern era of hockey, will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2027. Both sides have until then to come to an agreement on a contract extension.
When does the 2026-2027 NHL regular season start?
The 2026 NHL regular season starts with a triple-header on ESPN (USA) and a double-header on Sportsnet (Canada) on September 29th.
In the first game on ESPN, the reigning Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes host the Florida Panthers at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.
Then the New York Rangers visit the Boston Bruins for the second game (8:00 p.m.) before the Chicago Blackhawks face the reigning Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights for the late game (10:30 p.m.).
Over on Sportsnet, the Toronto Maple Leafs' No. 1 overall draft pick Gavin McKenna will make his NHL debut as they host the Montreal Canadiens (7:00 p.m.).
The Vancouver Canucks visit the Edmonton Oilers for the late-night game (10:00 p.m.).
This year, teams will play an 84-game schedule after the NHL expanded the regular season schedule to include an extra pair of divisional games for every team in the league. Check out when every team is playing their home opener here.
Important dates
As always, the Stanley Cup Final will be played in June 2027, with exact dates announced closer to the series.
Before getting into big title games, the NHL will feature two specific dates where all 32 teams will be playing: October 13th and April 10, 2027 (final day of the regular season).
The first important date of the 2026-2027 season is October 25th, when the Jets will host the Canadiens for The Heritage Classic at the outdoor Princess Auto Stadium.
It'll be Montreal's third appearance and first since 2011. They have a 1-1 record at The Heritage Classic, with their last appearance ending in a 4-0 loss to the Calgary Flames.
This will be Winnipeg's second appearance after defeating the Flames 2-1 in 2019.
This season will also feature four international games for The Global Series.
As part of The Global Series, the Hurricanes will face the Seattle Kraken on November 12th (12:00 p.m. ET) and November 14th (1:00 p.m.) in Helsinki, Finland.
This year will mark the fourth time the series returns to Finland (2018, 2022, 2024) and the second time, specifically, in Helsinki. Meanwhile, it'll be the first appearance for both the Canes and Kraken.
Then a month later, the Blackhawks will face the Ottawa Senators on December 18th (1:00 p.m. ET) and December 20th (8:00 a.m. ET) in Dusseldorf, Germany, as part of The Global Series.
The Senators star forward and Germany native Tim Stutzle stated: "I think German hockey has been growing a lot, and there are a lot of great players from there. Hopefully it gets even more people to play hockey in Germany. It's really exciting news."
Local German teams have hosted NHL teams since the tradition started, but this will mark the first time in Global Series history that two NHL teams will face off in Germany.
Then, to close out 2026, the Utah Mammoth will host their first outdoor game against the Colorado Avalanche at the University of Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium for the Winter Classic.
The last time the Avs played outdoors was in 2021 at Lake Tahoe when they defeated the Golden Knights 3-2. However, this will mark their first Winter Classic appearance.
Heading into the 2027 calendar year, NHL All-Star Weekend is returning for the first time since 2024. It'll take place on Long Island (home of the New York Islanders) from February 5th (All-Star Skills Challenges) to February 6th (All-Star Game).
The All-Star Game takes on a new format this time around.
It will be a 3-on-3 round-robin tournament format that includes Team Canada, Team USA, Team Finland, Team Sweden, and a 'World' Team.
Then, for the final big event of the regular season, the Dallas Stars will host the Golden Knights at the Cowboys' AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on February 20th for the 2027 Stadium Series.
It'll mark the 17th matchup in the series tradition that started in 2014 and the first appearance for both teams.
Records & Milestones to watch
There could be a handful of NHL records broken this season, and Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin has the chance to break a couple of them.
The first one up is the most 20-goal seasons ever. He is currently tied with Gordie Howe at 21. For perspective, Ovechkin will be entering his 22nd year, and he's never once scored less than 20 goals in a season. The closest was the COVID season when the NHL played a limited 56 games - he still scored 24 that year (2020-2021).
Ovechkin also needs just 25 more even-strength goals to surpass Wayne Gretzky (617) for the most all-time. He has put up at least 25 in seven of the past nine seasons, including 27 last year.
Long-time veteran Brent Burns has the chance to surpass Phil Kessel (1,064) as the league's new official Iron Man. The 41-year-old Burns needs to play in 57 more consecutive games to set a new record.
Over in Pittsburgh, long-time captain Sidney Crosby needs 25 more assists to break Ray Bourque's record (1,111) for the most with a single franchise in NHL history. Entering his 22nd year, Crosby has only finished a single season with fewer than 30 assists - that was during the 2011-2012 season when he played in 22 games.
Crosby finished the past five seasons with at least 45. He also needs 39 points to reach 1,800 for his career, which would place him fifth all-time.
Continuing with points milestones, Artemi Panarin needs 46 to reach 1,000. David Pastrnak needs 67 to reach 1,000. Meanwhile, Connor McDavid, who has led the NHL in six of the 11 years he's been in the league, needs 80 more to hit the 1,300 mark for his career and just six more games for 800.
Winnipeg Jets star Mark Scheifele needs 39 more games to reach 1,000, 28 goals to reach 400, 65 assists to reach 600, and 93 points to reach 1,000.
Patrick Kane, now back with his original team in the Chicago Blackhawks, needs eight more assists to hit 900 and become the 22nd player ever to hit that mark. He also needs 31 more games to reach 1,400.
Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Sergei Bobrovsky needs four more wins to surpass Hall of Famer Henrik Lundqvist for sixth-most all time. If he puts up 34 wins this year, he'll move up to No. 4 on the list ahead of Roberto Luongo and Ed Belfour.
Sticking with goalies, Darcy Kuemper needs 11 more games to reach 500 for his career. He needs just one more shutout to reach 40 for his career and 32 more wins to hit 250.
Players across the league that can hit 1,000 career games include: Ian Cole (990, CHI), Taylor Hall (989, CAR), Reilly Smith (988, FA), Brandon Saad (984, FA), Casey Cizikas (978, NYI), Nathan MacKinnon (950, COL), and a handful of others.
2026-2027 NHL Awards favorites
Three-time Hart Trophy (MVP) recipient Connor McDavid (+250) is currently the favorite ahead of 2023-2024 winner Nathan MacKinnon (+370), Macklin Celebrini (+500), 2019-2020 winner Leon Draisaitl (+1100), reigning winner Nikita Kucherov (+1200), and Kirill Kaprizov (+15000).
McDavid (+225) is also the favorite to win the Art Ross Trophy (points leader) after winning it last season, with Kucherov (+280) and MacKinnon (+325) behind him. Over the past 10 years, McDavid and Kucherov have won the Art Ross nine times (McDavid - 6, Kucherov -3), with McDavid's teammate, Leon Draisaitl, being the outlier for 2019-2020.
As for the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy (goals leader), recent recipient MacKinnon (+450) leads the field, with Cole Caufield and Draisaitl both behind him at +800. The award has seen a different winner in each of the past four seasons. However, should MacKinnon win, he'll join Auston Matthews (2020-2021) and Ovechkin (2017-2019) as the only three players to win the award back-to-back this past decade.
Philadelphia's Porter Malone (+270) is the favorite to win the Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year). No. 1 overall pick Gavin McKenna (+310), Sharks' Ivar Stenberg (+550), Capitals' Cole Hutson (+900), and the Blackhawks' Anton Frondell (+1100) and Roman Kantserov (+1300) follow behind.
As for the Vezina Trophy, Hellebuyck (+500) remains the favorite to win despite being under current suspension from the Jets after refusing to show up to training camp.
Capitals' Logan Thompson (+600) is right behind him after finishing fourth in Vezina voting in back-to-back seasons.
Former Vezina winner Igor Shesterkin (2020-2021) enters the season at +900, while reigning Vezina winner Andrei Vasilevskiy is behind him at +950.
Last year's runner-up and NHL leader in shutouts (7) is Islanders' Ilya Sorokin at +1000, followed by the 2020-2021 runner-up Jacob Markstrom (Florida Panthers) at +1400.
Moving on to Norris Trophy (Defenseman of the Year) favorites, Cale Makar (+300) leads the pack with Quinn Hughes (+400) and reigning Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski (+750) to round out the top three.
Lane Hutson, Rasmus Dahlin, and Evan Brouchard round out the top five at +800. Unlike the first three mentioned, none of the three in this group have yet to win the Norris.
As for the Jack Adams (Coach of the Year), Ryan Warsofsky (Sharks) leads at +850, followed by Paul Maurice (Panthers) at +1100, Peter Laviolette (Kings) at +1500, Sheldon Keefe (Devils) at +1600, Jared Bednar (Avalanche) at +1700, and Spencer Carbery (Capitals) at +2000.
Carbery is the only one in the group to have previously won the Jack Adams (2024-2025).
Meanwhile, the Ted Lindsay Award (Most Outstanding Player) lacks public betting odds since it's voted on by the players. McDavid claimed his fifth last season over Kucherov and Celebrini, also his third in the current decade (2020s).
Top free agents available
There are still a handful of notable free agents who haven't signed to a team yet with the new season approaching.
The veteran right wing Vladimir Tarasenko (34) is coming off a 23-goal, 24-assist season with the Minnesota Wild. Tarasenko hasn't missed more than seven regular season games in each of the last three seasons and will be heading into year 15 if he signs with a new team.
He needs just three more goals to reach 330 in his career and 12 more assists to hit the 400 mark.
Logan Stanley is on the younger side compared to the rest of the group. The 6-foot-7 defenseman posted nine goals, 16 assists, and 110 hits (second-most in his career) between 59 games with the Jets and 17 with the Sabres.
If a team is looking for goalie depth, 32-year-old Matt Murray and 29-year-old Connor Ingram are the best bets. Murray posted a .922 save percentage and 2.21 GAA in five games last season, while Ingram posted a .899 save percentage and 2.60 GAA with a 16-10 record and two shutouts.
Other notable free agents include defensemen John Klingberg and Nick Blankenburg, along with veteran forwards Marcus Johansson, James van Riemsdyk, Michael Bunting, and Evander Kane.
