The Vancouver Canucks will open their 2026-27 National Hockey League season with a doubleheader against the Edmonton Oilers. The Canucks will start the season on Tuesday, September 29th in the Alberta capital, followed by a rematch two nights later at Rogers Arena on October 1st. The league released home openers for all 32 teams on Wednesday morning. The Canucks and Oilers are two of 10 teams to take to the ice on the first night of the regular season.
The schedule begins with Carolina raising its Stanley Cup championship banner ahead of a game against the Florida Panthers. The Montreal Canadiens will visit Toronto in the second game of the day. That will be followed by the New York Rangers taking on the Bruins in Boston. The Chicago Blackhawks will venture to Vegas in the late game on opening night.
This season will feature 84 games for all NHL teams. The full schedule will be released on Thursday. That’s when we’ll find out when several former Canucks will make their first trips back to Vancouver. Among the highlighted games this season: the return of former captain Quinn Hughes with the Minnesota Wild, Tyler Myers as a Dallas Star, Conor Garland as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Marcus Pettersson in a New York Rangers uniform, and former head coach Adam Foote returning as an assistant coach with the Utah Mammoth.
For now, though, we know that Manny Malhotra will make his NHL head coaching debut in Edmonton on September 29th. It’s also quite likely the first time we’ll see veteran Brendan Gallagher and fellow newcomers Paul Cotter and Jamie Oleksiak in games that matter. ESPN has a four-game preseason, showing the Canucks playing in Seattle on Saturday, September 19th, and in Calgary on Tuesday, September 22nd, with home preseason contests against Edmonton on Thursday, September 24th, and against Seattle on Saturday, September 26th.
The Canucks are expected to announce a location for their 2026 training camp soon. They are also scheduled to host a pair of games between Canucks prospects and Seattle Kraken prospects in Abbotsford. Dates and times for those games have yet to be released.
