2025-26 NHL season to begin Oct. 7
Opening day is officially just a few months away.
On Monday, the National Hockey League announced that the 2025-26 season will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 7, with a plethora of great matchups featuring a couple of rivals.
The @NHL announced today the 2025-26 regular season will open on Tuesday, Oct. 7 with an opening night tripleheader broadcast exclusively on @ESPN in the U.S., and on @Sportsnet and @TVASports in Canada.
Details: https://t.co/WLxxY9oQtW pic.twitter.com/shEgb4FX9t
The new year will kick off at 5 p.m. ET with the Florida Panthers, for the second year in a row, raising a banner to commemorate winning the Stanley Cup. The Panthers will begin a quest to become the first team to win three consecutive championships since the New York Islanders won four in a row from 1980 to 1983.
The Cats will be tasked with taking on the Chicago Blackhawks and third-year star Connor Bedard. It has been a rough few years for the Blackhawks, to say the least, finishing at the bottom of the Central Division again last season, hoping for some improvement under new head coach Jeff Blashill.
The second game, starting a little after 8 p.m. ET, will see the Pittsburgh Penguins take on the New York Rangers in a battle of Metropolitan Division rivals. Both teams will have new faces behind the bench, as new Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan will go up against his former team, now headed by first-year head coach Dan Muse. Both teams are hoping to rebound after disappointing performances in 2024-25.
The finale of the opening night will see the Los Angeles Kings meet the Colorado Avalanche at 10:30 p.m. ET. Each team was bounced from the first round of last year’s playoffs, looking to improve their stock with a win in Game 1 of the regular season.
All three games will be broadcast by Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada, as well as ESPN in the United States.
The full 2025-26 schedule will be released on Wednesday.