Utah Hockey Club debuts on October 8 against Chicago, the same evening the Panthers raise the Stanley Cup flag

The Utah Hockey Club will play its first regular season game on October 8 against Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks, marking the NHL debut in Salt Lake City following the team’s relocation from Arizona.

That same evening, the Florida Panthers will raise their first Stanley Cup banner in Sunrise, Florida, before facing the Boston Bruins.

The NHL released the list of home games for its 32 teams on Monday. The full 1,312-game regular season schedule is expected this week.

Utah, which is expected a permanent name in time for the 2025-26 season, play will begin at the Delta Center, home of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, an arena being renovated to provide more unobstructed views for NHL games. Capacity for the inaugural season is 16,200 spectators, not all of whom will be seated directly on the ice, but demand is high, with 30,000 season ticket deposits.

“We are thrilled to play the first regular season game in franchise history at home in front of our amazing fans,” said Chris Armstrong, president of hockey operations. “The eyes of the hockey world will be on Utah as we host the Blackhawks on this historic night, and we look forward to rising to the challenge.”

The second day of the season is rivalry night with the New York Rangers in Pittsburgh, Toronto in Montreal and Colorado in Vegas. Avalanche-Golden Knights is a duel between the Cup winners of 2022 and 2023.

Trading time

In the middle of a Free agent rush While teams across the league signed contracts worth nearly a billion dollars, some teams from the Eastern Conference filled important gaps with transfers.

The Rangers acquired winger Reilly Smith from the Penguins for a 2027 second-round pick and a conditional 2025 fifth-round pick. Pittsburgh retained 25% of Smith’s salary, meaning New York gets him for $3.75 million next season. Smith has now traded twice in just over a year since he helped Vegas win the Cup.

Washington implemented general manager Brian MacLellan’s plan to change the composition of the defense by signing Jakob Chychrun from Ottawa for Nick Jensen and a 2026 third-round pick.

“Jakob is a 26-year-old offensive defenseman with nearly 500 NHL games under his belt,” MacLellan said. “His unique skills and experience will undoubtedly strengthen our defense and greatly increase our offensive capabilities.”

Extension season

The Nashville Predators, who spent more than $110 million to sign free agents Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Brady Skjei and Scott Wedgewood, paid another high price for to keep their franchise goalkeeper for long-term use.

The team agreed to an eight-year contract extension with Juuse Saros on Monday worth $61.92 million – an annual salary cap hit of $7.74 million, a nod to his jersey number 74 and his status as one of the best at the position.

“We have long envisioned Juuse spending his NHL career with the Predators and this is the next step in that process,” said GM Barry Trotz. “His competitiveness and work ethic will help him build on the success he has already had as our starting goaltender.”

Toronto also extended the contract of its current and future goalie with Joseph Woll, who signed a three-year, $11 million contract through 2028. Woll is expected to share the goal with Anthony Stolarz, who will be a substitute for Sergei Bobrovsky on Florida’s Cup run after a regular season with a 2.03 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage, the best results of his career.

Philadelphia has extended the contract of combative winger Garnet Hathaway for $4.8 million through 2026/27. Hathaway, who counts $2.4 million against the salary cap during this contract, has fit well into the team since signing with the Flyers as a free agent a year ago.

“Garnet is a great addition to our team and we are very excited to extend his contract for the next few seasons,” said General Manager Danny Briere. “His style of play and level of professionalism had a huge impact on our group last season and he embodies the standard our team has strived to build both on and off the ice.”

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