The puck drops on the NHL season Oct. 7 with a tripleheader that includes the Florida Panthers raising a Stanley Cup banner for a second consecutive year and Mike Sullivan making his New York Rangers coaching debut against the Pittsburgh Penguins team he spent much of the past decade with. This is the final 82-game season before the schedule expands to 84 apiece for each of the league's 32 teams beginning in 2026-27. It's also expected to be the final October start before training camp and exhibition play shrink and opening night gets moved up to late September.