Any honest analysis of a National Hockey League schedule has to come with the very logical disclaimer that every team starts at the same place and ends at the same point, and every club plays the same 41 games home and away. But within the framework of each team’s 82-game master plan, there are quirks and stretches that stand out.
Here’s a look at eight things that jumped out after a thorough evaluation of the Vancouver Canucks 2025-26 calendar.
OPENING NIGHT ENCORE, BUT WITH A TWIST
For the second straight season, the Canucks will start at home against the Calgary Flames. Who knew at the time, but last season’s 6-5 overtime loss was one of the more dramatic and entertaining games of the season. The Canucks will once again see Calgary on opening night, October 9th, but it won’t be the first game of the season for the Flames.
Calgary opens with a Battle of Alberta the previous night in Edmonton. So, not only will the Canucks get an opponent coming off the emotion of a big rivalry matchup to start the season, the Canucks will also likely dodge Flames starter Dustin Wolf. In a league where every point matters, facing a second-stringer behind a tired team should, in theory, present the Canucks with an edge on night one.
TOUGH TRAVEL ON FIRST ROAD TRIP
The Canucks start at home against Calgary, then travel to Edmonton and return home to face St. Louis (in an unusual 4:30 pm PT puck drop on Thanksgiving Monday afternoon). Then the team packs its bags for the first true road trip of the season – and it’s a difficult one.
It begins with a set of back-to-back games in Dallas and Chicago. If you look at a map, you’ll see that those two cities are nowhere close to each other. In fact, a 2:30 flight is required to get from the Lone Star State to the Windy City. The third leg of the trip is to Washington for a 12:30 pm ET/9:30 am Sunday game. So the trip starts with three games in three and a half days. After that, it’s on to Pittsburgh and then to Nashville to conclude the five-game odyssey.
At the end of that five-game in an eighth-night stretch, the Canucks hustle home for a 4 pm PT faceoff against Montreal and a game the next night against Edmonton. So it’s seven games in 11 nights early in the season.
INTO THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE
It’s never a surprise to see Canucks games in Carolina, Tampa Bay, and Sunrise, FL lumped together. Geographically, that just makes sense. But what’s unique about this year’s visit to the Southeast is that it’s a standalone three-game, four-night road trip. Almost always, the Canucks have softened a trip of that distance with a start in Nashville or Minnesota to get to the Central time zone first. Those trips almost always ended with a stop like Nashville or Winnipeg on the way home, too. But not this year.
On Friday, November 14th, the Canucks will face the Hurricanes in Raleigh, NC. Then, after a Saturday off from game action, they’ll go back-to-back with the Lightning and the Panthers. The game in Tampa is scheduled to start at 2 pm PT, with the game against the defending champions at 4 pm PT.
The three in four nights isn’t a huge issue. The travel once in Carolina is relatively simple. It’s a short flight to Tampa and another south to Sunrise. It’s just a long haul to get to and from that road trip. The Canucks do benefit from an additional day between games, both before the contest in Carolina and after the showdown in Sunrise.
THANKSGIVING FEAST
The Canucks have an early 1 pm start in San Jose on Black Friday (November 28th), the day after the US Thanksgiving. It’s not a holiday in Canada, which means you’ll have to carve some time out of your midday schedule to watch the Canucks and the Sharks. The game is the middle outing of a three-game tour through California and the second game of a four-game road trip that includes a stop in Colorado.
While Americans head to the malls for Black Friday deals, the Canucks will be busy at the Shark Tank looking for two points in the standings. On paper, it will be the easiest game of the trip, which starts on the Wednesday in Anaheim and continues to Los Angeles the night after the stop against the Sharks.
HUGHES BOWL UP AGAINST NFL SUNDAY
The National Hockey League should really want to promote the Hughes brothers every time they step on the ice together. It only happens twice a season (if all three are healthy) right now. This year, the first match between the brothers takes place on Sunday, December 14th, at the Prudential Centre. It’s a 12:30 pm local start/9:30 am in Vancouver.
The Hughes Bowl goes up against Week 15 of the National Football League with the New York Giants at home to the Washington Commanders in an NFC East battle at nearby MetLife Stadium. Other early starts that Sunday include the Baltimore Ravens at the Cincinnati Bengals, the Los Angeles Chargers at the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills at the New England Patriots.
Canucks fans and Devils fans will watch the hockey game, but the rest of the sports world will have difficult decisions to make. The NHL should have found a better stage for three of its brightest stars, who all happen to share the same last name.
SIX PACK OUT EAST
The Canucks longest road trip of the season is a six-gamer in early January. That’s manageable enough, especially since all six games – at Buffalo, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Columbus – are in relative proximity and are all in the Eastern time zone. Also, all six games are 7 pm ET/4 pm PT starts, with the game in Montreal beginning at 7:30 pm ET/4:30 pm PT, so there are none of the usual and dreaded ‘early morning’ games back home at any point on the longest trip of the season.
Additionally, there’s only one set of back-to-backs, and it involves minimal travel between Montreal and Ottawa. The difficulty on that trip comes at the end with the Canucks having to haul home from Columbus to face Edmonton two nights later. That will essentially make it a seven-game road trip with a key divisional contest at the tail end.
HOME IS WHERE THE WINS ARE?
Starting with that game against Edmonton on January 17th, the Canucks will play a stretch of 19 of 24 at Rogers Arena. Essentially half of their home schedule next season will be conducted between January 17th and March 26th – with the Olympic break in there, too. Their five road games during that time are in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas prior to the league going dark for two weeks. Then after the break, they have a one-off trip to Seattle and a two-game trip to Chicago and Winnipeg.
All things considered, the travel in that portion of the schedule is manageable to say the least. And the Canucks – who struggled mightily on home ice last season, which was one of the main reasons they missed the playoffs – had better take advantage of so many games in their own rink and in front of their own fans, because the schedule concludes with an uphill climb to the finish line.
LAST CALL
The Canucks final 14 games are all against Western Conference foes. If they are in the playoff mix, that feels like it will be a make-or-break stretch – especially the final 11 games of which eight are on the road. In the final three weeks of the schedule, the Canucks will make visits to Calgary, Las Vegas, Colorado and Minnesota on a difficult four-game in six nights road trip. They also have three games in four nights during their run through the California teams. And then they finish off with Game 82 at Rogers Place against Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers. And wouldn’t it be something if that game had significant stakes for both teams?
In the end, every team has to run a few gauntlets in their schedules. It comes with the territory in professional sports, especially in a season with a condensed calendar due to Olympic participation. Adam Foote and the Canucks will certainly have their challenges. But now that the schedule has been released, the team can start to put in the preparation to alleviate some of the stresses, and nothing about their 82-game grind should catch them off guard.
