RALEIGH — The start of the NHL season is still 2½ months away, but the league last week released the 2025-26 schedule that includes a three-week break for players to participate in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014.
But before we get to February in Italy — where Carolina Hurricanes players Sebastian Aho, Jaccob Slavin, Seth Jarvis, Frederik Andersen and newcomer Nikolaj Ehlers are all expected to play for their respective countries — more than two-thirds of the season will be in the books, a final 82-game slate before the league moves to 84 games in 2026-27 as part of the newly signed collective bargaining agreement.
Here’s a look at the highlights from the Hurricanes’ schedule, from the team’s typical early-season road trip to matchups with key opponents and reunions both home and away.
Dropping the puck
After finishing a six-game exhibition slate with games against Florida, Nashville and Tampa Bay, the Hurricanes get to open their season with two home games, both in the division. Carolina starts the campaign hosting the Devils, who were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Hurricanes in five games, on Oct. 9, then gets the Flyers — led by new coach Rick Tocchet — two days later.
Hitting the road
The North Carolina State Fair ships the Hurricanes out of town annually, and the schedule has them playing six games in 12 games as they travel through California and three other Western Conference cities. The trip started in the Golden State on Oct. 14 with games every other day in San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles before the trip turns into a murderers’ row of Stanley Cup contenders. Games in Vegas and Colorado — with former Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns — will provide an early test for the Hurricanes. The trip ends with the first matchup against Mikko Rantanen since he spurned Carolina and signed a long-term contract with the Stars following a deadline trade. It will also be Logan Stankoven’s first game back in Dallas. The six-game trip is the longest of the season for the Hurricanes, who will have three four-game road trips later in the year, including one to close to the season in mid-April.
Old stomping grounds
The first return trip to a former team for one of Carolina’s big offseason additions will come Nov. 4 when the Hurricanes travel to the Big Apple. Defenseman K’Andre Miller, signed to an eight-year, $60 million extension after the Rangers traded him to Carolina, will face his longtime team for the first time. Ehlers will get his reunion tour over quickly on consecutive Fridays in the same month, visiting Winnipeg Nov. 21 before the Jets come to Raleigh Nov. 28. Rantanen’s return to Raleigh — sure to be a jeer-filled event — is Jan. 6.
Home cooking
The visit from the Jets is the second game in a season-long seven-game home stand that starts the day before Thanksgiving and runs to Dec. 9. It should be a chance for Carolina to bank some points as only two of the teams — Winnipeg and Toronto — qualified for the playoffs last season.
Measuring up
The Hurricanes will face a watered-down version of the Stanley Cup champions twice in the preseason, but the first of three matchups against the Panthers — who beat Carolina in five games in the Eastern Conference final — will be Dec. 19 in Sunrise. Florida then visits Raleigh four days later before the season series ends Jan. 16 at Lenovo Center.
Home and home
The Olympics mean another year of condensed schedules, and Carolina will play 15 back-to-back games during the 2025-26 season. The most interesting of them is in mid-December when the Hurricanes and Flyers meet on consecutive nights, Dec. 13-14, in an old-school home-and-home. Carolina also plays consecutive games, albeit with a day off in between, against the Blue Jackets, playing in Columbus on March 31 before the rematch in Raleigh on April 2.
Final visit for Ovi?
The Hurricanes will play the Capitals three times this season, and the only one at Lenovo Center will be Nov. 11 in what could be the final NHL game for Alexander Ovechkin in the building where he was drafted first overall in 2004. Fellow 40-something Burns will come to Raleigh on Jan. 3 in perhaps his last visit to the arena where he played three of his 22 NHL seasons.
Road tested
Fifteen of the Hurricanes’ final 23 regular season games will be on the road, though only five of 15 will be against teams who made the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. After the Olympic break, Carolina will face just nine playoff teams in its final 25 games, and the April 5 game in Ottawa is the lone playoff opponent in the Hurricanes’ final nine games of the season.
