Yes, we are at this point in the hockey season where any little bit of news about the new season is welcomed with open arms.
As Bob Wage covered last week, the Hurricanes announced that they have officially sold out of all of their season ticket packages for the 2026-27 season, and yet they also announced that some games will go on sale to the general public on August 20th.
If you’re sold out of season tickets, how can you still have tickets available to sell to the general public? The answer is that
you willingly set aside tickets just to be sold indivudally. There are multiple reasons to do this—the biggest one is that you want to allow for fans that can’t commit to even eleven games to have a chance to buy one directly from the team. It allows you to set aside tickets to be given away—whether as community give aways, prizes, and so forth. It also allows you to create mini-packages where games that may not be the best-attended will draw a bigger crowd.
Oh, and it also allows you to sell some individual games at a premium because you give them something with it.
That’s exactly what the Canes revealed on Monday. With the announcement of the themed night schedule:
The other thing announced were the dates of particular nights were unique-themed Hurricanes Merchandise would be bundled with a ticket. Think of the Bobblehead nights or the College-theme nights where to get the item, you have to buy the ticket through the link on the promotions page—not just buy a ticket to the event and get there when the doors open. Doing it this way allows for people to arrive with a reserved item and not have to stress the event staff for people waiting in line to get the first however many of these items made.
The list this year is intriguing:
- 10/8—Football Jerseys (Vancouver)
- 10/27—Sports Girls Club (Boston)
- 10/29—Grateful Dead (Columbus) (see what they did there with the Halloween Celebration)
- 12/3—Fourth Wing (Columbus)
- 12/8—Chanukah (New York Rangers)
- 1/5—Star Wars (St. Louis)
- 1/15—Mystery Bag (Philadelphia)
- 2/9—Snoopy (Colorado)
- 3/7—Challenge Coin (Utah)
- 3/12—Margaritaville (Calgary)
To my recollection this is the first time the Canes have done something Peanuts-related as a giveaway, so it’ll be fun to see what the product is that goes along with that package. The football jersey is also intriguing, and appropriate as both football seasons will be in full swing by that point. As for the Mystery Bag, clearly some sort of merch is going to be given away and likely some sort of premium prize will go to someone.
The themed night without ticket packet merch everyone will circle is the Islanders on January 28th. That is the annual Whalers Night, and it will be a return to a matchup between two teams from the Northeast. If the team doesn’t change out their sweaters this year and keep the white, then it may end up being a chance for the Islanders to wear their Hometown Remix jersey.
The good news for fans is that we basically a month away from actual hockey happening. Again as Bob mentioned last week, the Prospects Showcase will be in Raleigh one month from Friday, and the same day as the Showcase starting is the sold out Canes 5k. This means the start of camp is just around the corner, as is jersey news—and perhaps player movement.
In the meantime, enjoy the last few weeks of the offseason as the Stanley Cup continues to travel around the world. The sound of skates on the ice will be heard soon enough.
