- The 2026-27 NHL season opens Sept. 29 with the champion Hurricanes hosting the Panthers in Raleigh
- Carolina raises its Stanley Cup banner ahead of an ESPN opening-night tripleheader
- Read below for every marquee matchup and when the full schedule drops
The NHL circled Sept. 29. That is opening night for 2026-27, and it starts with the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes hosting the Florida Panthers in Raleigh.
Carolina will raise its championship banner first, then drop the puck against a Panthers team that won it all in 2024 and 2025. The league announced home openers for all 32 teams Wednesday. The full schedule lands Thursday.
The 5 p.m. ET opener in Raleigh headlines an ESPN tripleheader. Boston hosts the Rangers at 8. Vegas, the Western Conference champ, closes it out against Chicago at 10:30.
Here is the full opening-night rundown from ESPN:
Canada gets its own doubleheader that night on Sportsnet. Toronto hosts Montreal at 7, a game that could hand No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna his NHL debut. Edmonton and new coach Mike Babcock follow at 10 against Vancouver and new coach Manny Malhotra.
Puck Report broke down the first-night board and the home-opener slate:
TNT picks it up Sept. 30 with a doubleheader of its own. Sidney Crosby and the Penguins visit the Flyers at 7:30 in a rematch of a first-round series Philadelphia won in six. Then the Kings play at Nathan MacKinnon and the Avalanche at 10.
The Raleigh opener carries an extra hook. It is the Panthers debut of Brady Tkachuk, who Florida landed from Ottawa in June, lining him up alongside brother Matthew.
The season also stretches to 84 games this year, up from 82. Every team’s full slate arrives Thursday afternoon.
