The NHL schedule will look a little different in 2026-27. The past ways of an endless slog of a preseason is getting cut short, the Penguins announced their four-game exhibition schedule for September.
From the team:
The Penguins will play four preseason games prior to the start of the 2026.27 season – two at home at PPG Paints Arena and two on the road.
Pittsburgh opens the preseason at home with a back-to-back against Buffalo on September 21
and Detroit on September 22.
The team will then head to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets on September 24 and will wrap up the preseason on September 26 against the Sabres in Buffalo.
Broadcast information will be released at a later date.
In addition, the Penguins will participate in the 2026 Prospect Tournament held from Sept. 11-14 in Detroit, Michigan. A full roster and schedule will be released at a later date.
The preseason is shortened due to the regular season getting a little bit longer. The NHL is going from 82 to 84 games next season, and starting a little earlier too on September 29th. Last year, Pittsburgh started on October 7th (it was October 9th in 2024) as the league starts to thankfully gradually bump up the timing of their season by a few days.
Going from 82 to 84 games means that every division team will play each other four times – in previous recent years there was a rotation of each team playing a division foe only three times on occasion. Thanks to the expanded schedule, that gets evened out now.
The Pens also announced today they will be headed to Detroit for their pre-preseason prospect tournament in mid-September. That’s a departure from the norm where the Pens had been going to Buffalo to participate in a similar event.
