{"id":526908,"date":"2026-03-28T03:25:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/526908\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T03:25:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:25:27","slug":"nhl-announces-major-schedule-change-that-will-reshape-the-canadiens-2026-27-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/526908\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL announces major schedule change that will reshape the Canadiens\u2019 2026\u201327 season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t  &#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/654635.webp.webp\" style=\"width:100%;\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky (20) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period at the Bell Centre.\" title=\"Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky (20) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period at the Bell Centre.\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>The NHL is preparing a major schedule change, including an earlier start and more games, which will directly impact the Montreal Canadiens next season.<\/p>\n<p>Soon, the National Hockey League will move up the start of its regular season to September 29, beginning with the 2026\u20132027 season.<\/p>\n<p>Journalist Renaud Lavoie reported this significant change to the NHL&#8217;s usual schedule.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The next NHL season will start much earlier than usual, on September 29.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Renaud Lavoie<\/p>\n<p>For his part, insider Pierre LeBrun added details about this new structure currently being prepared.<\/p>\n<p>At present, league executives are actively working on a major project aimed at increasing the number of games.<\/p>\n<p>Each organization would now play 84 games per year instead of the usual 82-game format we know.<\/p>\n<p>According to circulating information, this extended season would officially end on April 10 for all teams.<\/p>\n<p>For the Montreal Canadiens, this situation means two additional matchups on the schedule.<\/p>\n<p>Why the NHL is pushing for an 84-game schedule and earlier season start<\/p>\n<p>Replacing preseason games with real official matchups would primarily help maximize gate revenue.<\/p>\n<p>Training camp often drags on unnecessarily with games that have absolutely no real impact on the standings.<\/p>\n<p>Reducing this long evaluation period would quickly deliver meaningful, high-quality hockey to fans.<\/p>\n<p>Adding more game nights will require flawless physical preparation from all players, especially to avoid injuries.<\/p>\n<p>Preventing the Stanley Cup Final from extending into July also remains a top priority.<\/p>\n<p>Are you in favor of an 84-game regular-season schedule in the National Hockey League?<\/p>\n<p>Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics<\/p>\n<p>POLL<\/p>\n<p>3 HOURS AGO|125 ANSWERS<\/p>\n<p>NHL announces major schedule change that will reshape the Canadiens\u2019 2026\u201327 season<\/p>\n<p>Are you in favor of an 84-game regular-season schedule in the National Hockey League?<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; &#13; Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images The NHL is preparing a major schedule change, including an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5103],"tags":[60880,265,971,5,264,21,5147,4,975,6244,16204],"class_list":{"0":"post-526908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal-canadiens","8":"tag-2026-2027-nhl-season","9":"tag-canadiens","10":"tag-cole-caufield","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-montreal","13":"tag-montreal-canadiens","14":"tag-montrealcanadiens","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-nick-suzuki","17":"tag-pierre-lebrun","18":"tag-renaud-lavoie"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116304671002488433","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}