NHL Season Opens Sept. 29 with Hurricanes Hosting Panthers

The NHL will drop the puck on its 2026-27 season Sept. 29, with the Carolina Hurricanes hosting the Florida Panthers at 5 p.m. ET in the first of five games that night.

Carolina will raise its second Stanley Cup championship banner before facing a Panthers team that won back-to-back titles in 2024 and 2025. The game will air on ESPN, according to espn.com and the Hurricanes' official site.

The league announced home openers for all 32 clubs Wednesday. Montreal and Toronto renew their rivalry at 7 p.m. ET, followed by Boston hosting the Rangers at 8 p.m. ET. Out west, Edmonton welcomes Vancouver at 10 p.m. ET, and Vegas hosts Chicago at 10:30 p.m. ET to close the night.

It marks just the second time the NHL has started its regular season before October. The league previously opened in September 2007, when Anaheim and Los Angeles played in London.

The early start comes as part of the new collective bargaining agreement. The preseason shrinks to four games, while the regular season expands to 84 games, the longest since 1993-94. The full schedule will be released Thursday at 1 p.m. ET, according to dailyfaceoff.com.

Two more games follow Sept. 30, with Philadelphia hosting Pittsburgh and Colorado welcoming Los Angeles. The remaining teams will hold their home openers in October, with Florida not hosting until Oct. 10 against Minnesota.