NHL adopts 84-game regular season for first time since 1994; opens September 29

The NHL is adopting an 84-game regular season for the first time since 1994, with each of the 32 teams playing two additional games as part of a collective bargaining agreement in place through 2030, per Yahoo Sports. The 84-game season was previously in place in the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons, making this the second time in the league's 109-year history. In 1992-93, there were 24 teams and 1,008 total games; in 1993-94, the league added two teams and played 1,092 games. The current expansion creates a record 1,344 regular-season games spread over a 194-day span, with every team playing its finale on April 10 ahead of the playoffs.

Opening night is September 29, the soonest play is getting underway in North America and matches the earliest start date on the calendar worldwide from when Los Angeles and Anaheim took the ice in London in 2007, per Yahoo Sports. The season started October 7 each of the past two years and October 10 in 2023. With the exception of the holiday break and the All-Star break in early February, there are only two days without at least one game on the schedule.

The change meant shorter training camps and fewer exhibition games. The NHLPA limits the exhibition schedule to two games for anyone with 100-plus games of experience. NHLPA assistant executive director Ron Hainsey told Yahoo Sports: "The thought behind it is the workload is the same, if not a little less. Those exhibition games sometimes are more difficult than a regular-season game. You're out there with players, not necessarily NHL players, and things get a little haywire. Whereas, there's a lot of reasons that if you just flip two exhibition into two regular season games, it's a good thing."

Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said, per Yahoo Sports: "That will power some of our growth. That uplift is very subtle. People aren't realizing it, but that's an organic way to grow." ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro, who played when the schedule was 84 games, told Yahoo Sports: "Eighty-four games is a long, long road. I'm just interested to see what the new rhythm of the season will be like." Boston winger David Pastrnak told Yahoo Sports: "I'm excited that we're starting early. That's probably the biggest change or thing that I'm excited about is that you don't have to wait until Oct. 10, 11 when you're already in the town the whole September." Tampa Bay's Jake Guentzel told Yahoo Sports: "There's going be more time in between games. I think last year it was kind of condensed with the Olympic schedule, so I think the spread-out of games will help. ... You just got to take care of your bodies (because) it's obviously a war of attrition."

Rod Brind'Amour, coach of defending champion Carolina, told Yahoo Sports he would prefer 86 games with elimination of the preseason altogether because exhibitions lack value for fans. Pittsburgh has the most back-to-back sets with 15, while Vegas and Calgary are tied for the fewest with eight each.

The expansion affects individual record benchmarks. Grant Fuhr's single-season record of 79 goaltender appearances dates to 1996-97; the last time a goalie surpassed 70 appearances was Cam Talbot's 73 in 2016-17, per Yahoo Sports. Utah's Karel Vejmelka started 63 games last season and played in 64. Alex Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky's career goals record of 894 in April 2025 and is returning for a 22nd season sitting on 929 goals. Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby holds the record for the most point-a-game seasons with 21. Crosby told Yahoo Sports: "He knows how to score goals. You don't lose that. Maybe as you get older, you might have to adjust a little bit, but his shot is his shot and that's not going anywhere." Connor McDavid's 153 points are the most since the salary cap era began in 2005, per Yahoo Sports; Wayne Gretzky's NHL record remains 215 points set in 1985-86. Edmonton's McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov, and Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon have combined for the 11 highest-scoring seasons among active players, per Yahoo Sports.