The NHL already starts late on Tuesday night - and we're not even October yet. That's just over a week earlier than last year as the league expands by two games per team, from 82 to 84. With 32 teams in the league, that means a total of 1,344 regular season games before the final round on April 11. The top 16 teams advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which begin on April 14th and last until June 20th.
Premiere night
Reigning champion Carolina is up against 2024 and 2025 champion Florida. Match start 23.00 Swedish time. Other games (night vs. Wednesday): Toronto-Montreal, Boston-New York Rangers, Edmonton-Vancouver, Vegas-Chicago.
Swedish legends will lift classic clubs
Sundin, Sedin and Sedin. Should they be able to lift Toronto and Vancouver respectively?
The three WC and Olympic gold medalists are given leading roles in the teams where they were previously stars. Mats Sundin becomes a senior advisor to Toronto's new general manager John Chayka. The legendary Canadian club missed the playoffs last year and reshuffled the club management. Toronto, with William Nylander as one of the stars, has not won the Stanley Cup since 1967.
Twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin have worked in the Vancouver Canucks for the last few years - but are now being moved up and share the presidency of the sports operations. The Canucks were worst in the entire NHL last year and missed the playoffs the year before as well.
Do the Swedish super talents succeed immediately?
Ivar Stenberg, San Jose, Anton Frondell, Chicago, Viggo Björck, Winnipeg – all three in Tre Kronor's WC team this spring – and Victor Eklund, New York Islanders, are all newcomers to the NHL and are mentioned among the most exciting young players.
Frondell and Eklund played a few NHL games at the end of last season - but are counted as rookies this season as well.
The biggest focus is on former Frölunda forward Stenberg, 18 years old, who went second in the draft this summer. He is expected to have a big role on the young San Jose Sharks where he could become a chain mate with star Macklin Celebrini, 20.
The sawing of the legend
Former superstar Mark Messier, six-time Stanley Cup champion, saw his old club Edmonton's decision to bring in Mike Babcock as the new coach.
"I'm completely shocked that they took him after everything I've heard from very good and respected people about how they've been treated," Messier, an expert commentator for ESPN, said last week.
Babcock has been accused of bullying and ostracizing many players, including former Detroit star Johan Franzén, who called Babcock a "terrible person, the worst I've ever met" in an interview with Expressen.
Now, among other things, Babcock will lead superstar Connor McDavid.
Storm of criticism against Ovetchkin
Washington star Alexander Ovetchkin's support for Russian President Vladimir Putin has long gone relatively unnoticed in North America. But after the commercial for the Russian Duma elections, in which Ovechkin participated for Putin's United Russia party, criticism has grown against the NHL's best scorer in history.
The Hockey News columnist Adam Proteau writes: "It's time Ovetchkin is held accountable for what he's doing as a popular hockey player where he uses his platform to support an aggressive war. He can't both say he's just a hockey player and not a politician - while participating in political advertising. He can't claim to want peace and still support his president's senseless war. He can no longer hide in the hockey bubble."
Tv
New for this season is that Disney+ will broadcast 160 regular season games plus 20 playoff games. Other matches are broadcast on Viaplay, which this spring secured the NHL rights up to and including the 2030–2031 season.
