2026 NHL Season: Complete Preview and Team Guide
The 2026-27 campaign brings several major changes, including an expanded regular season, while questions around new arrivals, emerging stars and the race for the Stanley Cup will shape the months ahead.
Each season brings fresh storylines as trades reshape rosters and established stars shoulder new expectations. The 2026-27 campaign is particularly notable because every NHL team will play 84 regular-season games for the first time since 1993-94.
The path from the opening face-off to the Stanley Cup is long and unpredictable, with the regular season running through April before the postseason begins.
When Does The NHL 2026 Start?
The 2026-27 NHL regular season began on Tuesday 29th September 2026. Opening night featured a tripleheader on ESPN in the US and a doubleheader on Sportsnet in Canada, with the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes hosting the Florida Panthers in the first game. The New York Rangers then visited the Boston Bruins, while the Chicago Blackhawks faced the Vegas Golden Knights.
For UK viewers, the North American start times mean many NHL games take place during the evening or overnight in Britain.
The league has also introduced more weekday games aimed at European prime-time audiences during the 2026-27 season. The regular season will run through Saturday 10th April 2027, when all 32 teams are scheduled to be in action.
How Does The NHL Season Work?
The NHL season is divided into the regular season and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. For 2026-27, each of the 32 teams plays 84 regular-season games, consisting of 42 home games and 42 away games. The expanded schedule adds two divisional games per team compared with the previous 82-game format.
Teams earn two points for a win and one point for an overtime or shootout loss, while a regulation loss earns no points. At the end of the regular season, 16 teams qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs: the top three teams in each division plus two wild-card teams from each conference.
The playoffs consist of four rounds, all played as best-of-seven series: the first round, second round, Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final. The first two rounds use the division-based playoff bracket, while home-ice advantage in the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final goes to the team with the better regular-season record.
This format makes consistency important over the long regular season, while the best-of-seven playoff structure gives teams time to adjust tactics and line combinations from one game to the next.
How Many NHL Teams Are There?
The NHL has 32 teams, divided equally between the Eastern and Western Conferences. The league’s current team list includes the Utah Mammoth, who replaced the Arizona Coyotes following the franchise’s relocation to Utah.
The full list and home cities are:
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
- Boston Bruins — Boston, Massachusetts
- Buffalo Sabres — Buffalo, New York
- Detroit Red Wings — Detroit, Michigan
- Florida Panthers — Sunrise, Florida
- Montreal Canadiens — Montreal, Quebec
- Ottawa Senators — Ottawa, Ontario
- Tampa Bay Lightning — Tampa, Florida
- Toronto Maple Leafs — Toronto, Ontario
Metropolitan Division
- Carolina Hurricanes — Raleigh, North Carolina
- Columbus Blue Jackets — Columbus, Ohio
- New Jersey Devils — Newark, New Jersey
- New York Islanders — Elmont, New York
- New York Rangers — New York, New York
- Philadelphia Flyers — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Pittsburgh Penguins — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Washington Capitals — Washington, D.C.
Western Conference
Central Division
- Chicago Blackhawks — Chicago, Illinois
- Colorado Avalanche — Denver, Colorado
- Dallas Stars — Dallas, Texas
- Minnesota Wild — Saint Paul, Minnesota
- Nashville Predators — Nashville, Tennessee
- St. Louis Blues — St. Louis, Missouri
- Utah Mammoth — Salt Lake City, Utah
- Winnipeg Jets — Winnipeg, Manitoba
Pacific Division
- Anaheim Ducks — Anaheim, California
- Calgary Flames — Calgary, Alberta
- Edmonton Oilers — Edmonton, Alberta
- Los Angeles Kings — Los Angeles, California
- San Jose Sharks — San Jose, California
- Seattle Kraken — Seattle, Washington
- Vancouver Canucks — Vancouver, British Columbia
- Vegas Golden Knights — Paradise, Nevada
The 32 teams are divided into four divisions of eight teams each: the Atlantic and Metropolitan Divisions in the Eastern Conference, and the Central and Pacific Divisions in the Western Conference.
How Many Games In An NHL Season?
Each NHL team plays 84 regular-season games during the 2026-27 campaign, producing 1,344 games across the league. The schedule runs from 29th September 2026 through 10th April 2027. It is the first time in more than three decades that every NHL team has played an 84-game regular season.
The schedule consists of 28 divisional games, 24 games against other teams in the same conference and 32 games against teams from the opposite conference. Every team therefore plays each of the other 31 franchises at least twice, once at home and once away.
The longer calendar creates another test of roster management, particularly with teams travelling across several time zones and playing games on consecutive nights. Coaches must balance player workloads while maintaining effective line combinations and special-teams units throughout the campaign.
The 2026-27 schedule also includes several notable events. The NHL All-Star Skills competition takes place on 5th February, followed by the All-Star Game on 6th February at UBS Arena. Outdoor games include the Heritage Classic in Winnipeg on 25th October, the Winter Classic in Utah on 31st December and the Stadium Series in Arlington, Texas, on 20th February 2027.
With the regular season running into April, the final weeks will determine which 16 teams advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
When Do The Stanley Cup Playoffs Start?
The 2027 Stanley Cup Playoffs are scheduled to begin in April 2027 after the regular season concludes on Saturday 10th April. As of the start of the 2026-27 season, the NHL has not published the complete 2027 postseason schedule with a confirmed opening date. NHL information currently describes the playoffs as beginning in early April.
Sixteen clubs will qualify and compete in best-of-seven series. The first round consists of eight series, with division winners and wild-card teams placed into the league’s established playoff bracket. Each series requires four victories to advance.
Play-off hockey often places a greater emphasis on defensive structure, special teams and goaltending. Because every series can last up to seven games, coaches have opportunities to adjust match-ups, line combinations and tactics as the series develops.
The first two rounds are played within each conference’s division-based bracket before the Conference Finals determine the two teams that will compete for the Stanley Cup.
When Is The Stanley Cup Final?
The 2027 Stanley Cup Final will follow the Conference Finals, but an exact opening date had not been confirmed by the NHL at the beginning of the 2026-27 regular season. The Final will be a best-of-seven series, with the first team to win four games becoming Stanley Cup champion.
The NHL has confirmed that TNT Sports will carry the 2027 Stanley Cup Final in the United States, while Sportsnet is the Canadian national broadcast partner.
The final stage of the season will again bring together the Eastern and Western Conference champions. Home-ice advantage is determined by regular-season record rather than simply conference or division seeding, with the team holding the better record receiving home ice in Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 if necessary.
For fans following from Britain, the timing of games means many Stanley Cup Playoff contests will take place during the evening or overnight UK time. The exact schedule will be confirmed once the regular season and preceding playoff rounds have determined the match-ups.
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