It’s been over 30 years since the Detroit Red Wings, or any other NHL club for that matter, has played more than 82 regular season games.
Following the lockout that wiped out half of the 1994-95 campaign, NHL regular seasons have been set to 82 games (aside from another lockout shortened year in 2012-13, along with the interrupted 2019-20 season at the onset of COVID-19).
Now, the NHL is reportedly not only going to return to an 84-game schedule, but will be pushing back the start of the season to late September.
As indicated by NHL Insider Pierre LeBrun, the 2026-27 NHL season will feature a return of an 84-game schedule and will begin weeks earlier than what has been a traditional early October starting dat
It will mark just the second time since the 2007-08 season (Detroit’s last Stanley Cup-winning season) that regular season play started in September; the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings faced one another at the 02 Arena in London, England to begin that campaign.
With the extra pair of games, the Red Wings will now face every one of their Atlantic Division opponents no less than four times a season.
Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features.
Another notable change is the preseason schedule being cut in half, reduced from eight games to just four.
The revised schedule and start dates are part of the NHL’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which takes effect next September.
During his media availability after Development Camp in early July, Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman expressed his support for the scheduling changes.
“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 what not, but it seemed to make sense to us.”
As for a potential downside to the reduced preseason schedule, Yzerman noted that it provides less time to evaluate the progression of younger players in NHL action.
“I think the four preseason games, it’s a bit of a challenge. You’re always weighing how many games your veteran players need to play,” Yzerman said. “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 last time the Red Wings played an 84-game schedule, in 1993–94, was still three seasons before their 1997 Stanley Cup victory.
Never miss a story by adding us to your Google News favorites!
