The NHL will play this month with the 2026–27 preseason kicking off Saturday, Sept. 19. The preseason schedule, announced by the league, is a shortened one of 65 games in 36 NHLean and neutral site dates through the 26th of September.
Leaping is linked to a large event in the calender the short preseason. The NHL teams in this season’s regular season will have an extra four divisional games added, a practice set to start with the regular 84-game season. The preseason reduction was part of the terms of the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA.
There’s a total of seven lineups on opening night, from Dallas vs. St. Louis, to Winnipeg vs. Edmonton, to Chicago vs. Minnesota and Vancouver vs. Seattle. Los Angeles will also get the opportunity to test out its ceiling in the neutral venue of Toyota Arena in California’s Ontario area against Vegas, with all of those games being preseason squads.
The most worthy of mention event is on September 21st, as the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators clash in Colisee Videotron in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec during the Kraft Hockeyville. So, other neutral-site competition includes Hershey andPhiladelphia vs. Washington and Carolina vs. Nashville in Greensboro.
September 26 is the last day of the preseason with 14 games remaining, and only three of these are out of the way before the start of the regular season on Sept. 29. The opening night will be a nationally televised tripleheader in the United States as Carolina hosts Florida who won their Stanley Cup last night.
The preseason is the first chance for fans to check out these new faces, prospects and combinations ahead of the 2026-27 season of the sport’s annual resurgence.
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