Report: 2026-27 NHL season to begin in late September

With a new format to the National Hockey League season on the horizon, it looks like the season will start a little bit earlier.

According to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, the NHL is planning on beginning the 2026-27 campaign in late September to accommodate the expanded 84-game regular season.

The longer season comes from the new four-year collective bargaining agreement that was ratified by the league and the NHL Players’ Association in July. It shortens the preseason to just four games, with veterans being limited to two games prior to the regular season.

It would mark just the second time the NHL has ever started the season in September. The first occurrence was at the beginning of the 2007-08 campaign, when the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings kicked off the schedule in London, England.

Even with the earlier start to the season and two games added to the calendar, the Stanley Cup is still expected to be handed out in mid-June. That’s most likely the case to give teams more breaks within the regular season, as well as the proposed All-Star Break during the season.

The revamped schedule is just a part of the new CBA being instituted by the league, which also includes shortened lengths to maximum contracts, the period for drafted players to sign with their respective teams, and the elimination of mandated dress codes.

The new dress code rule is one of two parts of the CBA that are being rolled out for the 2024-25 campaign. The other big change to league operations is that teams will have to abide by the salary cap in the postseason for the first time. Teams will no longer be able to keep players on long-term injured reserve, only to activate them for the first game of the playoffs on a team with a high cap hit.