NHL 2021-22 Season Opener

NHL 2021-22 Season Opener

The 2021–22 NHL season will be the 105th season of operation (104th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league expanded to 32 teams with the addition of the Seattle Kraken. The league plans to return to its normal October-to-April scheduling and a full 82-game regular season, with October 12 scheduled for opening night.

The league will return to the previous alignment with East and West conferences.[3] As planned before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seattle Kraken will be placed in the Pacific Division and the Arizona Coyotes will be moved to the Central Division.[4] If the cross-border travel restrictions had continued for another year, the league would have been forced to use a temporary alignment with an all-Canadian division for a second year.

This will be the final season for the Arizona Coyotes at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, as the city of Glendale announced on August 19, 2021 that it would not be renewing its year-to-year lease with the Coyotes following the season, effectively evicting the team.