{"id":565757,"date":"2026-03-28T03:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/565757\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T03:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:38:09","slug":"nhl-announces-major-schedule-change-that-will-reshape-the-canadiens-2026-27-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/565757\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL announces major schedule change that will reshape the Canadiens\u2019 2026\u201327 season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t  &#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/654635.webp.webp\" style=\"width:100%;\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky (20) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period at the Bell Centre.\" title=\"Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky (20) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period at the Bell Centre.\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>The NHL is preparing a major schedule change, including an earlier start and more games, which will directly impact the Montreal Canadiens next season.<\/p>\n<p>Soon, the National Hockey League will move up the start of its regular season to September 29, beginning with the 2026\u20132027 season.<\/p>\n<p>Journalist Renaud Lavoie reported this significant change to the NHL&#8217;s usual schedule.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The next NHL season will start much earlier than usual, on September 29.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Renaud Lavoie<\/p>\n<p>For his part, insider Pierre LeBrun added details about this new structure currently being prepared.<\/p>\n<p>At present, league executives are actively working on a major project aimed at increasing the number of games.<\/p>\n<p>Each organization would now play 84 games per year instead of the usual 82-game format we know.<\/p>\n<p>According to circulating information, this extended season would officially end on April 10 for all teams.<\/p>\n<p>For the Montreal Canadiens, this situation means two additional matchups on the schedule.<\/p>\n<p>Why the NHL is pushing for an 84-game schedule and earlier season start<\/p>\n<p>Replacing preseason games with real official matchups would primarily help maximize gate revenue.<\/p>\n<p>Training camp often drags on unnecessarily with games that have absolutely no real impact on the standings.<\/p>\n<p>Reducing this long evaluation period would quickly deliver meaningful, high-quality hockey to fans.<\/p>\n<p>Adding more game nights will require flawless physical preparation from all players, especially to avoid injuries.<\/p>\n<p>Preventing the Stanley Cup Final from extending into July also remains a top priority.<\/p>\n<p>Are you in favor of an 84-game regular-season schedule in the National Hockey League?<\/p>\n<p>Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics<\/p>\n<p>POLL<\/p>\n<p>3 HOURS AGO|131 ANSWERS<\/p>\n<p>NHL announces major schedule change that will reshape the Canadiens\u2019 2026\u201327 season<\/p>\n<p>Are you in favor of an 84-game regular-season schedule in the National Hockey League?<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; &#13; Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images The NHL is preparing a major schedule change, including an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[218077,49,48,10100,743,448,10099,69394,13883,82],"class_list":["post-565757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-2026-2027-nhl-season","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cole-caufield","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nhl","tag-nick-suzuki","tag-pierre-lebrun","tag-renaud-lavoie","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}