- The 2026-27 NHL preseason schedule runs eight days, Sept. 19-26, with 65 games across 36 venues
- It is the first shortened exhibition slate under the new CBA that pushed the regular season to 84 games
- Read below for the Kraft Hockeyville matchup, the neutral-site games and opening night
The NHL exhibition season just got a lot shorter.
NHL Public Relations released the 2026-27 preseason schedule on Thursday: 65 games packed into eight days across 36 NHL and neutral-site rinks. It opens Saturday, Sept. 19 and wraps Saturday, Sept. 26.
That squeeze is by design. The collective bargaining agreement between the league and the NHLPA trimmed the exhibition calendar to make room for the 84-game regular season, which hands every team two more divisional games.
Quebec gets the marquee stop. Montreal and Ottawa meet Monday, Sept. 21 at Colisée Vidéotron in Trois-Rivières for the Kraft Hockeyville game honoring Saint-Boniface, Que.
Saint-Boniface won $250,000 toward upgrades at its own rink plus $10,000 in youth equipment from NHLPA Goals & Dreams. Logistics pushed the actual game down the road to Trois-Rivières.
Three other matchups leave their home buildings. Los Angeles and Vegas open the whole thing in Ontario, Calif., Philadelphia and Washington play in Hershey, Pa., and Carolina and Nashville land in Greensboro, N.C.
- Sept. 19: Preseason opens with seven games, including Maple Leafs and Canadiens split squads
- Sept. 21: Kraft Hockeyville game in Trois-Rivières, plus Flyers and Capitals in Hershey
- Sept. 24: Hurricanes and Predators in Greensboro
- Sept. 26: Preseason closes with 14 games
- Sept. 29: Regular season opens with an ESPN tripleheader in the U.S.
Fourteen games on that final Saturday, then three days before the results start counting. Opening night is Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Camps are going to feel cramped. Coaches used to get roughly two weeks of exhibition hockey to sort out bottom-six jobs, third-pair defensemen and the backup goalie question. This September they get eight days.
