Guide To The 2026-26 NHL Season And Milan Olympics: How To Watch

The NHL season begins Tuesday night with a tripleheader that includes the Florida Panthers raising a Stanley Cup banner for a 2nd consecutive year and Mike Sullivan making his New York Rangers coaching launching against the Pittsburgh Penguins group he spent much of the past decade with.


This is the last 82-game season before the schedule expands to 84 apiece for each of the league's 32 groups starting in 2026-27. It's also anticipated to be the final October start before training school and exhibit play shrink and opening night gets moved up to late September.


The league will take a two-week break in February so players can complete at the Olympics in Milan.


The Panthers are aiming to end up being the first NHL team to threepeat because the New york city Islanders won four champions in a row from 1980-83. They likely will not have captain and leading center Aleksander Barkov all season after surgery to repair broken ligaments in his ideal knee from a noncontact injury during training camp.


NHL gamers are back in the Olympics for the very first time because 2014 when Canada won its second successive gold medal. It's the very first full-fledged global tournament featuring the world's best because the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The 4 Nations Face-Off with the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland supplied a taste of the type of quality and rate that can be anticipated.


Connor McDavid, extensively thought about the video game's best player, is still chasing the Stanley Cup in his 11th season in the league. After his future was the talk of the sport, McDavid signed an agreement extension with the Edmonton Oilers on the eve of the season at a deal rate of $12.5 million yearly 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 restoring 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 special games in between ESPN, ABC, ESPN+ and Hulu, consisting of all 3 on opening night and the Stadium Series when Tampa Bay hosts Boston outdoors at the home of the NFL's Buccaneers. ESPN also has the Stanley Cup Final in June.


TNT has 72 games, including Washington's season opener with Alex Ovechkin at 897 objectives 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 games will take between October and Feb. 4, including Pittsburgh and Nashville playing two times in Sweden in November. The league will then pause for the Olympic break.


The men's hockey tournament in Milan begins Feb. 11 with Finland vs. Slovakia and Sweden against host Italy. The gold-medal game is set for Feb. 22.


NHL play resumes on Feb. 25. The trade deadline is March 6 and the last day of the regular season is April 16. The playoffs begin April 18 and the last possible day for the Stanley Cup Final is June 21. Free firm starts July 1.


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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl