The NHL has released its home opener info for all 32 NHL teams, with the season getting started on September 29th. The reigning Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes will take on the previous back-to-back champion Florida Panthers in Raleigh.
The @NHL announced today the 2026-27 regular season, expanded to 84 games with the addition of two more divisional contests per team, will open on Tuesday, Sept. 29. In addition, the League announced each team’s home opener.
— NHL Public Relations (@NHLPR) July 15, 2026
Details: https://t.co/jMxZCwXZU6 pic.twitter.com/wfrDekHQs1
The Blue Jackets will open their home schedule at Nationwide just two days later, as they host the Buffalo Sabres. We will have to wait until the full schedule releases tomorrow, to see if this also serves as their season opener.
At first glance, that appears to be the case; unless the league decides to stack up back-to-back starts to begin the season.
All 32 teams will play an 84-game schedule, which is new this year. This allows for 4 games against all divisional opponents, 3 games against every other opponent from the same conference, and 2 games against each opponent from the opposing conference.
To accommodate the additional games, the league is getting things under way a little bit earlier; starting the regular season in September. For comparison, the Blue Jackets began their campaign in Nashville on October 9th last season-8 days later than they will start this season.
I'm not sure why it took the league so long to figure out how to add two regular season games and balance out their calendar, but I'm glad they did. And, getting the season started earlier makes too much sense, with how compressed the schedule has gotten over the last few years.
To make room for the added regular season games, the league has limited the preseason to 4 games per team. This also makes a lot of sense, especially for season ticket holders who are required to buy those games within their package.
The Sabres will give the Blue Jackets a good first test.
The Buffalo Sabres are a team that should be a good challenge for the Blue Jackets to start the season. Last year, they finished with 50 wins and 109 points-good for 4th in the NHL. They won the Atlantic Division, then downed the Boston Bruins 4 games to 2 in the first round of the playoffs.
Ultimately, they bowed out in a scrappy series against the Montreal Canadiens in the second round, seeing their season end with a game 7 overtime winner from Alex Newhook.
That's the kind of leap we would love to see from the Blue Jackets this season. I think they're good enough to do it, so getting a win in this early barometer against the Sabres could be important.
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