Hey, I tried to warn you.
With the release of the 2026-27 NHL schedule, there were a lot of quirks and oddities that popped up. None bigger than the start time of the first game of the season:
Why ESPN
feels the need to have a triple header or a 5 PM game is honestly mind boggling. Based on the teams scheduled, it looks like it’s a way to make sure they have a place to leave smaller market teams at a time that people won’t want to watch cause they are driving home, and then goose the numbers for big market teams—even if those teams aren’t expected to do much. Either way, fans that were planning to celebrate and tailgate the whole day will just have to go into the building a little earlier, and on the bright side the earlier start means getting home at a much more reasonable time.
Following that announcement, the NHL released the rest of the schedule on Thursday. Walt Ruff and Peter Dewar have a great break down on the Canes site. Bob Wage posted the schedule in easy form here but you’d be smart not to save it as it’ll later be changed to reflect all the different jerseys the Canes will wear.
A big change/quirk to start—with the NHL now going to an 84 team schedule, for the first time the regular season is starting in September. That also means that for the first time…ever?…the Canes aren’t playing a home game or two and then immediately bolting on their State Fair Road trip. Carolina will actually play four home games—Florida on 9/29, Washington on 10/2, Vancouver on 10/8, and Washington on 10/13—before the North Carolina State Fair begins on October 15th. That road trip will see them play Vancouver, meaning the season series will be done with them before the month of October is even over. We’ll get to another Western team where they get their series over even faster in a bit.
This year also sees the return of a more “traditional” schedule without a Four Nations Cup or the Olympics interrupting things in February. That means all teams in the league get a full week off either before or after the the All-Star Break to rest and recover. For Carolina, the break hits in the middle of their longest home stretch of the season by the calendar. From January 28th to February 13th, the Canes will not play a game on the road. They’ll play two before the break and three after.
There are also oddities abound in start times. Carolina’s October 13th game against Washington is part of the NHL’s Frozen Frenzy where all 32 teams will play and start times are spaced out by 15 minutes, trying to recreate the feel of an NFL Red Zone day. That means Carolina and the Caps will begin at 6:45 PM—or rather that’s when they are scheduled since almost all teams start eight minutes after the listed start time. The other odd home start times are Boston on October 27th, and Chicago on November 7th both start at 8 PM. Of course, when the national TV schedule comes out it’s possible times will get shifted around.
The beginning of April also sees a bit of an oddity with start times. The game on Saturday, April 3rd against the Devils faces off at 5 PM, and the game on Monday, April 5th against Philadelphia starts at 2 PM. The 5 PM start is likely meant to help the team adjust toward the earlier face off on Monday, by why 2 PM on a Monday? The answer is Europe. As the NHL has brought the game over to Europe—more on that in a second—they are taking a page out of the World Cup scheduling and playing a steady stream of Monday games throughout the year that will actually be on at primetime across Europe. As that weekend is also the Final Four, it probably doesn’t hurt that schedule the Canes’ games at these times will have them done before local times likely hit the court should they make it there.
Sunday games are also going to be different start times this season. Only one game—Sunday, January 17th against Veags—will start in the early evening slot like fans had grown accustomed to, this time 6 PM. The other four—November 1st against Winnipeg, December 13th against Boston, February 21st against the Rangers, and March 7th against Utah—face off at 1 PM. It’s possible that the move is to make these games more family-friendly, as they would conclude around 4 PM eastern and with the sun still out, even in late winter.
Of course a big quirk is the whole “You’re going to Finland” part of the schedule in November. There are accommodations in the schedule to assist. First off, the Canes won’t play hockey for four days before their first event in Finland, nor will they play for four days after the Saturday tilt. In addition, their last game before the trip is the Chicago home game, and when they come back they’ll play Montreal and Edmonton at home before playing two on the road.
You also have a very weird quirk of playing the same team to start the season—Florida—and to end the season. With the way the season has gone for both teams, there’s a serious chance that last game was scheduled as a preview of the playoffs but will turn into a battle of AHL callups.
There are also some odd spacings with two Metro foes—the Capitals and the Penguins. As noted, Carolina will get their two home games against Ovechkin and the Caps over with before they even hit the road for the State Fair. The other two games in DC won’t be played until 2027. Pittsburgh is perhaps the oddest one, though, as their first game against the Crosby Crew won’t be until Saturday, December 26th. Yet, the two teams will play three times in the span of two weeks. The first game is at home, and the third game on January 7th is at home.
The back part of the schedule has perhaps the worst grind of the season. The Canes start their last West Coast trip on March 16th with the California swing, stop by Dallas on the 23rd, ask if Dallas wants to ride their charter back to Raleigh to play the Stars again on the 25th, then hop right back on the road for a Pittsburgh, Devils, Islander, Red Wing swing before getting three at home to almost wrap up the season.
Finally, looking for when you may want to travel to see the team but not to Finland? The NHL may have done you a real solid. The Canes will play four games away from Lenovo in the ten days before Christmas, and the last three are Utah on December 17th, Colorado on December 18th, and the first rematch of the Stanley Cup Final versus Las Vegas on December 21st.
If you’re wondering about TV, last year those games weren’t announced until late August right before training camp began. Presumably all of the TV partners want to study the matchups to figure out which ones they want to use for their windows. Thus, it’s possible that some times will change to accommodate those choices. As for how to watch the games locally, we still don’t have an answer yet but one is coming soon. Once again Joe Ovies addressed what he’s heard on his business podcast. That portion is behind the paywall but it’s worth the $5 to hear someone that’s this connected to both the team and local media.
Speaking as someone who still subscribes to cable—hey it comes with my apartment—as long as there’s a way to watch it on that service I’m good.
