2026–27 NHL season

2026–27 NHL season

The 2026–27 NHL season is the upcoming 110th season of operation (109th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). The season will feature an 84-game regular season schedule for the first time since 1993–94. The regular season is expected to begin in October 2026. The Stanley Cup playoffs are then planned to begin in April 2027, ending with the Stanley Cup Final in June.

League business

Collective bargaining agreement

On June 27, 2025, the league and the NHL Players' Association agreed on a new four-year collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that will take effect from the 2026–27 to 2029–30 seasons. Among the changes under the agreement, the 2026–27 regular season expands from 82 to 84 games, featuring two more divisional games.

Additionally, as part of the new CBA, the 2026–27 season will see the end of the use of amateur emergency back-up goaltenders (EBUGs) supplied by the home team for each game; instead, teams must hire their own emergency goaltender who will travel with the team and is permitted to have other non-player team duties. To prevent the hiring of "ringers", each team's new EBUG must fulfill the following conditions: they must not have played professional hockey at any level in the previous three season, cannot have ever played a single game in the NHL under a standard player contract, cannot have played more than 80 professional games in their careers, and are not on the reserve list or restricted free agent list of any NHL teams.

Entry draft

The 2026 NHL entry draft is scheduled for June 26–27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York.

Coaching changes

2026–27 NHL season

Off–season
Team	2025–26 coach	2026–27 coach	Notes
Los Angeles Kings	Jim Hiller D. J. Smith	TBA	Hiller was fired on March 1, 2026, after the Kings started the season 24–21–14, including a 2–5–1 record in his final eight games. In parts of three seasons with Los Angeles, Hiller posted a 93–58–24 record, reaching the playoffs in both of his completed seasons, but losing to the Edmonton Oilers in the first round both times. Smith, most recently an assistant coach for Los Angeles, and formerly head coach of the Ottawa Senators from 2019 to 2023, was named interim head coach the same day.

Front office changes

2026–27 NHL season

<table><thead><tr><th>Off–season</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Team</td><td>2025–26 general manager</td><td>2026–27 general manager</td><td>Notes</td></tr><tr><td>Nashville Predators</td><td>Barry Trotz</td><td>TBA</td><td>On February 2, 2026, Trotz announced his intention to retire as the Predators' general manager, instead serving as an advisor through the end of his contract; however, he stayed in the role until a successor was found.</td></tr><tr><td>Toronto Maple Leafs</td><td>Brad Treliving</td><td>TBA</td><td>Treliving was fired on March 30, 2026, after the Maple Leafs began the season 31–30–13. Treliving had served as the Maple Leafs' general manager since 2023, overseeing playoff berths in his two completed seasons.</td></tr></tbody></table>

Arena changes

2026–27 NHL season

• This is planned to be the last season that the Calgary Flames will play their home games at Scotiabank Saddledome, before the team moves to Scotia Place.

Regular season

2026–27 NHL season

The NHL is expected to release the regular season schedule in Summer 2026.

International games

The Seattle Kraken and Carolina Hurricanes are scheduled to play two games against each other on November 12 and 14, 2026 at Veikkaus Arena in Helsinki, Finland. The Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators are scheduled to play two games against each other on December 18 and 20, 2026 at PSD Bank Dome in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Outdoor games

The league has scheduled three outdoor games this season:

• The 2026 Heritage Classic is scheduled for October 25, at Princess Auto Stadium in Winnipeg, with the Winnipeg Jets hosting the Montreal Canadiens. • The 2027 NHL Winter Classic is planned to be played at Rice–Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, with the Utah Mammoth hosting the Colorado Avalanche; the game's exact date will be announced at a later time. • The 2027 NHL Stadium Series is scheduled for February 20, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with the Dallas Stars hosting the Vegas Golden Knights.

All-Star Game

The 2027 All-Star Game is scheduled for February 7, at UBS Arena at Elmont, the home of the New York Islanders. The All-Star Game would be played for the first time since (/wiki/2024NationalHockeyLeagueAll-StarGame). The league instead held the 4 Nations Face-Off in 2025, then the players participated in the 2026 Winter Olympics. The league originally planned to hold a 2026 All-Star Game at UBS Arena as a "send-off" to the Olympics, but then decided against it.

Media rights

Canada

This will be the first season of a new 12-year Canadian national broadcast rights deal with Sportsnet. As part of the new deal, the number of national games will increase, including 10 more Ottawa Senators games and 10 more Winnipeg Jets games.

• As of March 2026, Sportsnet has not yet renewed its sub-licensing agreement with CBC Television to continue airing Saturday Hockey Night in Canada games. • As of March 2026, Sportsnet has not yet renewed its sub-licensing agreement with TVA Sports for French-language broadcasts.

• Sportsnet+ will continue to stream games depending on the tier, with national games available on the Standard level, out-of-market games on the Premium tier, and via authenticated streaming on participating teams. • As of March 2026, Sportsnet has not yet renewed its sub-licensing agreement with Amazon Prime Video to stream Monday Night Hockey.

United States

This will be the sixth season of the league's seven-year U.S. national broadcast rights deals with the ESPN family of networks and TNT Sports.

• ESPN's schedule begins with opening night before airing games on select days throughout the regular season as its schedule permits. ABC then airs Hockey Saturday on select weekends between January and April. Games may also air on ESPN2. ESPN and ABC has the All-Star skills competition and the All-Star Game, respectively. The ESPN networks also have the rights to the Stadium Series. • TNT's schedule includes Wednesday nights throughout the regular season, select Sunday games, the Thanksgiving Showdown, and the Winter Classic. Some of TNT's games may be simulcast on TruTV. TBS may be used as an overflow channel. Not all of TNT Sports' regular season games will be exclusive broadcasts and are thus subject to blackout in local markets, As per the rotation, TNT holds the rights to the Stanley Cup Finals this season. • NHL Network will continue to televise games when the other national broadcasters are not airing games and will again primarily simulcast local coverage.

• The ESPN app will continue to stream games depending on the tier. ESPN+ (the ESPN app's Select plan) and Hulu will exclusive stream games on select days throughout the regular season. ESPN+ will also stream all of ABC's games and the NHL Power Play on ESPN+ out-of-market package. The live streaming of ESPN's other games will be on the ESPN app's higher Unlimited plan before their on-demand replays are made available on ESPN+. Disney+ may also stream select ESPN-produced games. • HBO Max ad-free tiers will stream all TNT Sports-produced games.

Radio

This will be the fourth season of the league's six-year deal with SiriusXM and SiriusXM Canada to simulcast all 32 teams' local regular season and postseason broadcasts.

Folding of FanDuel Sports Network

FanDuel Sports Network is expected to fold after the 2025–26 season. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman stated that the league is not interested in setting up a centralized hub like MLB Local Media.

• The Detroit Red Wings and MLB's Detroit Tigers will move to Detroit SportsNet, a new network in partnership with MLB Local Media; unlike the Tigers, the Red Wings will utilize an in-house production, but with MLB Local Media handling distribution. • The Los Angeles Kings and MLB's Los Angeles Angels will continue to air on the soon-to-be-formerly-named FanDuel Sports Network West after the Angels decided to acquire the network; the Kings renewed its rights through at least the 2026–27 season.

International

• The international streaming service NHL.TV will be available in around 200 countries on DAZN.