The NHL’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement that goes into effect in September 2026 features a couple of slight alterations in the schedule.
The regular season will increase from 82 games to 84 games and the season will start in September instead of early October.
“It (84-game schedule) should allow us to start the season earlier so we’re not extending the overall schedule,” Daly told Friedman and Bukauskas. “The 2026–27 season may be shorter (in days). We’ll see how that plays out.”
Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said last month that an 84-game season “makes perfect sense.”
“I think it’ll give more balance to divisional games,” Yzerman said. “I’m not exactly sure what the matrix is going to be as far as divisional games and whatnot, but it seemed to make sense to us.”
The two additional games will allow teams to play every division opponent four times (they currently play two clubs only three times each) in addition to facing teams in the other division of the same conference three times and teams in the other conference home and home.
The preseason, which the Red Wings always maximize by scheduling eight games, will be reduced to possibly as few as four games.
“I think the four preseason games … it’s a bit of a challenge,” Yzerman said. “You’re always weighing how many games your veteran players need to play. The guys that are really knocking on the door, the guys that you can consider call-ups and then those players that are here trying to push to make the team. It’s going to be hard to get everybody in a reasonable number of games with four. That’s the downside to it, but we’ll manage it.”
The NHL had 84-game schedules in 1992-93 and 1993-94, when every team played two neutral site games, before settling on an 82-game season.
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