NHL schedule release: Here’s when the Carolina Hurricanes will play games in 2024-25

The Carolina Hurricanes will have an immediate chance to face a new frenemy to begin the 2024-25 NHL regular season.

Twenty-four hours after free agent frenzy kicked into high gear and sent players scattering to new teams — many to former rivals — the NHL unveiled the master schedule for next season.

The Carolina Hurricanes will see a former teammate at the opening puck drop when Tampa Bay skates into PNC Arena in Raleigh for the Canes’ home-opener on Oct. 11, ostensibly with Jake Guentzel manning one of the wings. Guentzel turned down a reported 8-year, $8 million offer from the Hurricanes this past weekend and chose instead to sign with the Lightning for $9 million for seven years.

As has become customary, the Canes will open at home, and then have a lengthy road trip while the North Carolina State Fair takes over the grounds surrounding PNC Arena and N.C. State’s Carter-Finley Stadium. It’s also a quirky start in that the Canes not only face Tampa Bay at home to open, but also immediately afterward in Tampa, giving Guentzel and his new mates the chance to be as equally cheered in Game 2 as they were booed in Game 1.

Carolina gets a second home game before the long opening trip, hosting New Jersey on Oct. 15.

Playing in the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, the Hurricanes schedule is of course packed with a regular dose of New York and New Jersey, along with traditional rivals Washington and Pittsburgh.

The games against New Jersey will be especially nostalgic for some of the Canes, with both defenseman Brett Pesce and forward Stefan Noesen signing with the Devils in free agency, joining Dougie Hamilton in Newark.

Some of the Canes’ more intriguing matchups will include a New Year’s Eve trip to Columbus, their first trip to Utah on Nov. 13, and “welcome home” games against Brett Pesce, Stefan Noesen and New Jersey on Oct. 15, against Teuvo Teravainen and Chicago on Jan. 30, and against Brady Skjei and Nashville on March 25.

The Hurricanes face Stanley Cup champion Florida at home on Black Friday, Nov. 29, in a 3 p.m. matinee, and again the next day in Florida.

The Hurricanes’ final game of the regular season is on Thursday, April 17, at Ottawa.

Full Carolina hurricanes schedule

Key dates in the NHL schedule

Teams in the NHL play 82 regular-season games each year, beginning in early October. Some years have odd breaks in the schedule to account for things like the All-Star Game, Stadium Series or Winter Classic Games, the Olympics, or other special events.

This season, there will be a one-week break in February for the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off, a mini-tournament involving teams of NHL players representing Sweden, Finland, the United States and Canada.

The 2024-25 season will start on Oct. 8 with a triple-header featuring the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers against Boston, the Utah Hockey Club against Chicago, and the Seattle Kraken against St. Louis.

This year’s Winter Classic is on Tuesday, Dec. 31, at Chicago’s Wrigley Field between the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues.

On March 1, the Columbus Blue Jackets will host a Stadium Series game against the Detroit Red Wings at the Horseshoe on the campus of Ohio State University.

How does the NHL schedule work?

Each team in the NHL plays 82 regular-season games, 41 at home and 41 on the road. Each of the league’s four divisions has eight teams.

Each team plays 26 games within their division, broken down like this:

5 teams x 2 home / 2 away (Subtotal 10 home / 10 away)

1 team x 2 home / 1 away (Subtotal 2 home / 1 away)

1 team x 1 home / 2 away (Subtotal 1 home / 2 away)

Each team plays 24 games against their eight non-divisional conference opponents:

4 teams x 2 home / 1 away (Subtotal 8 home / 4 away)

4 teams x 1 home / 2 away (Subtotal 4 home / 8 away)

Each team plays 32 games against teams in the opposite conference:

16 teams x 1 home / 1 away (Subtotal 16 home / 16 away)