NHL Announces Opening Night Without Maple Leafs, Full Schedule Timeline Confirmed
Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
The NHL announced when the opening night slate of games are going to take place, with the Maple Leafs surprisingly not one of the teams who kick off 2025-26.
With a lot of anticipation surrounding the 2025-26 NHL season, the question of who gets to kick off opening night is one that's up for debate, although thanks to Gary Bettman; we know it's not going to be the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Per Terry Koshan of The Toronto Sun, the NHL opening night schedule is set to have three games slated: Chicago vs. Florida, Pittsburgh vs. New York (Rangers) and Colorado vs. Los Angeles.
The full schedule is set to release at 1:00pm on Wednesday.
NHL Opening Night starts off with a small bang
It's not too shocking to see the reigning Stanley Cup Champions get some prime time play, and will look to continue their dominance and try for a three-peat.
Pittsburgh and New York will be a Metropolitan Division battle where both squads are looking to get themselves started off on the right foot after a disappointing 2024-25 season for both teams.
Colorado heads to Los Angeles with a brand new lease on life and a full season with Gabriel Landeskog ahead, meanwhile the Kings adjust to life after losing some key free agents as well as a change in the front office.
Though one could argue the Florida game is a premium affair, none of the games have that immediate punch like a Panthers vs. Leafs, Edmonton vs. Calgary or even Chicago vs. Boston; an Original Six clash.
However, according to The Hockey News' Karine Hains, the Maple Leafs will face off against the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 8th:
As is often the case, the Canadiens will kick off their season on the road, starting with an Original Six back-to-back against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings on October 8th and 9th, followed by a Saturday night game in Chicago against the Blackhawks.
Toronto gets left behind by Bettman, but what else is new?
Toronto's first game is unknown, and though we can speculate that it will be against one of their divisional rivals like Montreal or Ottawa, the league could give us a surprise first opponent.
However, we do have a bit of an inkling about one game's placement in the schedule. Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy let the cat out of the bag and revealed that his team will face Toronto in the early stages of the season.
That game is as highly anticipated as ever, given it will be Mitch Marner's return after a bitter end to his Maple Leafs career.
But it's a problem that the NHL's most prominent and profitable franchise doesn't get to kick off the season, and it shows a lack of awareness on Gary Bettman's behalf, though he may be doing it intentionally.
We've seen him schedule things oddly in the past, and Toronto beared the brunt of those decisions.
While we will have a better idea on Wednesday of when Toronto plays, we know they won't be kicking the season off, which is a real shame.
It seems the theme this summer is patience, with the schedule just the latest part of the waiting game.
More details to come.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 14|1387 ANSWERS NHL Announces Opening Night Without Maple Leafs, Full Schedule Timeline Confirmed Do you think the Maple Leafs got snubbed on opening night? | ||
| Yes | 823 | 59.3 % |
| No | 564 | 40.7 % |
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