NHL 2025-26 Schedule: Full Season Revealed
The NHL has released the full schedule for the 2025-26 season, the last with 82 games before the new collective bargaining agreement increases the amount to 84.
The league’s 32 franchises will face off in 1,312 games between October 7 and April 16, with the playoffs scheduled to begin the following weekend and extend into much of June. Starting with the 2026-27 season, 1,344 games will be played, the most in NHL history.
Alex Ovechkin will begin his twenty-first season on October 8th, when the Washington Capitals host Boston. Ovechkin, with 897 career goals, will look to increase his tally at 40 years old, after breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record.
It’s even possible that Ovechkin will reach 900 goals in the same Long Island stadium where he scored his 895th goal to surpass Gretzky. The Capitals will visit the New York Islanders in their second game on October 11, before facing the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on October 12.
After raising their second consecutive Stanley Cup banner on opening night on October 7 against Chicago, the defending champions, the Florida Panthers, will continue their quest for a three-peat two days later, hosting Philadelphia.
Utah will play its first game as the Mammoth on October 9 in Colorado. During their first year in Salt Lake City, after moving from Arizona, they were known as the Utah Hockey Club.
For the first time in over a decade, the league will take a winter break to send players to the Olympics. Milan’s recess will extend from February 6 to 24, and the game will resume on February 25.
The NHL’s last participation in the Games was in 2014 in Sochi, although the new collective bargaining agreement provides for players to also participate in 2030, pending another agreement with the International Olympic Committee and the International Ice Hockey Federation.
