Nhl Reveals Maple Leafs' Season Opener For 2026-27 Season

It's still over two months away until the 2026-27 NHL regular season kicks off. However, the NHL has revealed that the Toronto Maple Leafs will be in action on the first day of the campaign.

Their season opener will be on Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. ET, the second game of the day. Toronto will be hosting longtime rival Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena, with the broadcast on Sportsnet.

The Maple Leafs' season opener, which is also their home opener, comes after the Florida Panthers visit the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Carolina Hurricanes, at 5 p.m.

This is the first time an NHL regular season will begin in September since the 2007-08 campaign. That's because the 84-game schedule is being brought back for this upcoming season, which hasn't happened since 1993-94.

The Leafs and Habs come as no surprise as the season opener for both these Original Six teams. Both teams have played their season openers against each other for the past six years, making the 2026-27 fixture the seventh straight time the two historic franchises have met on the first day of the year.

This is the first time in the post-COVID-19 era that the Maple Leafs will play on the first day of the NHL regular season.

Toronto's season opener this past year came on the second day of the season, when they defeated Montreal at Scotiabank Arena by a 5-2 score. Bobby McMann, Calle Jarnkrok, Morgan Rielly, William Nylander and Auston Matthews were the five unique goal scorers that day on Oct. 8, 2025.

In their last six season openers, the Maple Leafs have a 4-2-0 record, all against the Canadiens, as mentioned. In that span, Nylander has the most goals with six, while Matthews comes second with four goals to his name. In fact, Matthews registered a hat trick in the season opener of the 2023-24 campaign, scoring a late equalizer with 1:07 remaining in the game, allowing his team to later win in the shootout.

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