Flames announce 2026-27 regular season schedule

The National Hockey League announced the full schedule for the 2026-27 regular season on Thursday morning, unveiling the largest schedule in the league’s history.

It’s a historic season on a few fronts. For the first time since 1993-94, the NHL schedule will be 84 games. For the last time, the Calgary Flames will be playing their home games in the Scotiabank Saddledome, their home since 1983-84. They’ll move to Scotia Place for the 2027-28 season.

With the two additional games from the prior 82 game structure, the extra games have been used to add a couple divisional games. As a result, the schedule matrix is somewhat simplified this season.

Within the Pacific Division:

• 4 games (2 home, 2 away) against everybody

Within the Central Division:

• 3 games (2 home, 1 away) against Chicago, Nashville, Minnesota and Colorado
• 3 games (1 home, 2 away) against Winnipeg, St. Louis, Utah and Dallas

Within the Eastern Conference

• 2 games (1 home, 1 away) against everybody

Here are some home dates to circle on your calendar:

• The home-opener is Oct. 1 against Seattle.
• Blake Coleman returns to the Saddledome for the first time with Minnesota on Oct. 22.
• The Toronto Maple Leafs visit the Saddledome on Oct. 26.
• The Vancouver Canucks visit on Boxing Day.
• The traditional New Year’s Eve game is against Winnipeg.
• The Montreal Canadiens visit on Jan. 28.
• Rasmus Andersson returns to the Saddledome for the first time with Vegas on Feb. 1.
• The Edmonton Oilers visit the Saddledome for the last two times on Mar. 3 and Mar. 23.
• The final regular season game at the Saddledome will be Apr. 10 against Vancouver.

The Flames’ final game before the All-Star Break is on Feb. 3 (at home against Utah) and their first game back is on Feb. 12 (on the road against Utah).

The longest homestand is six games, running Jan. 5-16 (hosting Florida, the Islanders, Tampa Bay, Columbus, San Jose and Los Angeles). The longest road trip is also six games, running Dec. 10-22 (visiting the Islanders, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Tampa Bay, Florida and Dallas).

The Flames have eight sets of back-to-back games scheduled:

• Oct. 3 (at Vancouver) and Oct. 4 (at Seattle).
• Oct. 30 (vs. Seattle) and Oct. 31 (at Colorado).
• Nov. 14 (at Los Angeles) and Nov. 15 (at Anaheim).
• Nov. 27 (at New Jersey) and Nov. 28 (at NY Rangers).
• Dec. 10 (at NY Islanders) and Dec. 11 (at NY Islanders).
• Jan. 2 (at Winnipeg) and Jan. 3 (at St. Louis).
• Feb. 12 (at Utah) and Feb. 13 (at Vegas).
• Mar. 12 (at Carolina) and Mar. 13 (at Boston).

If you’re thinking of watching the Flames on the road in an interesting venue, we have a few suggestions:

• The Flames are in Vegas on Oct. 15 and Feb. 13. (The February game is the second half of a back-to-back.)
• The Flames are in Edmonton on Oct. 28 and Apr. 5.
• The Flames visiting the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 28. (That’s the second half of a back-to-back.)
• The Flames visit Montreal on Jan. 23 and Toronto on Jan. 26.
• The Flames are in Nashville on Apr. 3.

All-in-all, the schedule doesn’t seem all that bad! The travel schedule is a bit odd – the three New York metro area teams are split across two road trips, for example – but it seems a bit less onerous than in previous years.

What do you think of the upcoming schedule?