Meanwhile, the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) season is taking off in Russia this week, a number of weeks ahead of the NHL regular season on September 5.
The KHL 19th season will get 6 games on the first day instead of one Opening Cup game traditionally played in the previous season. On the first day of the round there are such games as Ak Bars vs. Sibir, Avtomobilist vs. Dynamo Moscow, Lokomotiv vs. Traktor, SKA vs. Lada, Spartak Moscow vs. Torpedo and Severstal vs. Salavat Yulaev.
There are 68 regular-season games each year to play and the regular-season concludes March 20, 2027. Also, the games have been redistributed to make the KHL’s schedule more balanced with an average of 4.11 games/playing day. The playoffs will be held starting March 23, and the Gagarin Cup Final could last through May 23.
It provides an important early-season glimpse for hockey fans before the NHL gets its blockbusters underway. Preseason action will start to kick off on Sept. 19 with an abbreviated 65-game period ending on Sept. 26 that will include all of these touch/learn scenarios. The regular season begins in the United States with a visit from three teams on Opening Night, Sept. 29, in the NHL.
This means fans can enjoy a season’s worth of serious hockey action in the KHL throughout most of September, during the time when NHL teams are readying their rosters and conducting training camp and preliminary matches.
Hockey fans have a lot to do going into the weeks ahead, between the onset of Russian play and the end of the summer NHL restart. After a series of big schedule overhauls in both leagues for the upcoming campaign, it looks like there are going to be many storylines for the first game of the 2026-27 season and beyond
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