Let’s break the ice by beginning with preseason games which start later this month! The teams will take to the rinks to feel the ice in their veins again before the start of the competitive season. As well as games at home arenas in the United States and Canada, some NHL teams will travel to Europe for the first time since 2019 to take place in the Global Series Challenge. The Nashville Predators will play SC Bern on 3 October at Öffentlicher Eislauf PostFinance-Arena in Switzerland, then the San Jose Sharks take on Eisbären Berlin on 4 October at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Germany.
The Global Series then extends into the start of the regular season with the very first competitive games of the 2022/23 campaign in Prague, Czechia at the O2 Arena when the San Jose Sharks take on the Nashville Predators on 7 October and then again on 8 October. Puck-drops for the teams back in North America start from 11 October with some juicy matchups like New York Rangers v Tampa Bay Lightning and Montreal Canadiens v Toronto Maple Leafs headlining the first few days of the action.
Followers of the NHL will have already noted the first reunion of the 2022 Stanley Cup finalists, Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning on 9 February at the Amalie Arena and then an anything but loving Valentine’s Day rendezvous at the Ball Arena in Colorado on 14 February. However, each of the league’s 32 teams will hope to earn themselves a chance to compete for the sport’s ultimate prize in the Stanley Cup playoffs and then finals.
As with previous seasons, teams are split into 2 conferences (Eastern and Western) with 2 divisions including 8 teams under each. Teams from each conference play 28 games in their own division (4 against each of their 7 other divisional opponents) and 24 games against the 8 opponents in the other division in their conference (3 games against every team). All teams play every team in the other conference twice, at home and away.
There are plenty of standout events to look forward to this season with the outdoor games including the NHL Winter Classic seeing the Boston Bruins take on the Pittsburgh Penguins at the iconic Fenway Park on 2 January 2023. Tickets are on sale starting from USD $297.66. The NHL Stadium Series on 18 February will feature the Carolina Hurricanes against the Washington Capitals at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, North Carolina. Don’t miss the Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Weekend (11-14 November), the All-Star Weekend (3-4 February), not to mention the 2023 NHL Awards (26 June), and the NHL Draft (28-29 June).
Before we reach those events, we need to find out which teams will taste glory this season! Of the 32 regular season teams, 16 will qualify for the playoffs due to start in April or May and to consist of 4 rounds of best-of-seven series. The first 3 rounds see teams still competing within their conferences and the 4 teams to make it through to the third round – the Conference Finals – will play to win their respective conference. The 2 winners will then battle it out in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals to discover who will lift the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, the Stanley Cup.
Perhaps you’re new to ice hockey; well, the rules are simple! Each NHL regulation game is 60 minutes long: composed of 3 x 20-minute periods with an intermission between periods. At the end of regulation time, the team with the most goals wins the game. For those of you looking to learn some more colloquial terms to blag your way through a game, check out Snoop Dogg’s Hockey 101!