"The expanded schedule will feature two more regular-season games while cutting the preseason slate down. Opening night will come in late September rather than the first or second week of October, while the Stanley Cup will be awarded in mid-June, potentially two weeks earlier than usual. For example, the Florida Panthers took Game 7 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final on June 24."
"Each team's two extra games are expected to come against divisional opponents, which would guarantee that rivals such as the New York Islanders and Rangers are guaranteed four meetings per season. This will be the second time in NHL history that an 84-game season is being established. The league experimented with that number of games for the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons, with every team adding two neutral-site games to their slate."
NHL regular seasons will expand to 84 games starting in 2026–27, adding two regular-season games while reducing preseason. Opening night will shift to late September and the Stanley Cup likely will be awarded in mid-June, potentially about two weeks earlier. The change was tentatively agreed as part of a broader collective bargaining extension securing labor peace through 2030, following negotiations begun after the Stanley Cup Final and cooperation during the 4 Nations Face-Off to ensure the World Cup of Hockey returns in 2028. The extra games are expected to be divisional, increasing rivalry meetings, and mirror a previous 84-game experiment in the early 1990s.
#nhl-schedule-expansion #84-game-season #collective-bargaining-agreement-cba-2030 #divisional-rivalries
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