NHL PREVIEW OCTOBER 11, 2025 – CENTENNIAL CLUBS, CUP CONTENDERS PART OF HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA OPENER

Sportsnet’s first Hockey Night in Canada telecast of the 2025-26 regular season begins at 7 p.m. ET, featuring two head-to-head Original Six showdowns – including a Centennial Year home opener in Chicago – as well as the clubs that clashed in each of the past two Stanley Cup Final series.

• The Detroit Red Wings will once again don its Centennial uniform as they host the first half of a home-and-home against Toronto. Two high-scoring American stars will be against each other for the 17th time: Auston Matthews (Team USA) and Patrick Kane (an Olympic hopeful). Matthews needs 19 goals to become the only active player to hold the distinction of being the franchise record-holder in goals for an Original Six club – Kane (3rd w/ CHI) is the only other active player among the top three for one of those franchises. In addition to eyeing a spot as Matthews’ Olympic teammate in February, Kane needs eight goals for 500 and 31 points to become the highest-scoring U.S.-born player in NHL history.
• Another Original Six showdown will pit two of the NHL’s youngest clubs and the past two “Rookie of the Year” winners against each other when Connor Bedard (2023-24) leads the Blackhawks against Lane Hutson (2024-25) and the Canadiens, one of the League’s founding franchises. There have been only three instances in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) of Original Six franchises claiming the Calder Trophy in consecutive years: Bedard and Hutson were preceded by Artemi Panarin (2015-16 CHI) and Matthews (2016-17 TOR), as well as Ken Dryden (1971-72 MTL) and Steve Vickers (1972-73 NYR).
• While a head-to-head between Brady and Matthew Tkachuk – stars of FACEOFF: Inside the NHL and among nineteen sets of brothers in the NHL this season – is not in the cards tonight, Brady will captain his club against the reigning champion Panthers in search of the Senators’ first win in Sunrise since Dec. 14, 2021 (0-5-1 since; FLA: 6-0-0). Ottawa won 8-2 that night, tied for the Senators’ highest goal output in Brady’s tenure and a contest that pre-dates Florida’s acquisition of Matthew and eventual run to three straight Stanley Cup Final series.
• The Hockey Night in Canada nightcap pits 400-goal scorer Leon Draisaitl against milestone chaser Quinn Hughes, who needs one point to become Vancouver’s outright all-time scoring leader among defensemen.

FIRST SATURDAY OF SEASON STACKED WITH SEVENTH 16-GAME DAY IN NHL HISTORY

Twelve hours of continuous action will include a 2025 First Round rematch, two clubs celebrating silver anniversary seasons going head-to-head, a battle between clubs that needed a tiebreaker to determine the last Western Conference playoff spot in April and a head coach’s return to a city where he secured two Stanley Cups.

• Brent Burns is expected to skate in his 1,500th NHL game when the Avalanche and Stars clash for the first time since their historic Game 7 in May. Mikko Rantanen secured the first single-period hat trick in Game 7 history to rally the Stars past his former club. Including playoffs, Rantanen has 5-8—13 in eight career games against the Avalanche – including an assist in his lone regular-season contest against them (March 16) and at least three points in each of the last three games of the First Round series. Nathan MacKinnon, meanwhile, has a point in 13 consecutive regular-season home games against the Stars dating to 2017-18 (the longest home point streak vs. one opponent of his career).
• The Wild will host the 25th home opener in franchise history when they welcome the Blue Jackets, their expansion partners in 2000-01. Minnesota owns the League’s top points percentage in home openers (min. 10 GP), with a 17-3-1 record. The Wild also have found success against the Blue Jackets, claiming 22 of 35 home games (22-7-6) and a point in 11 straight meetings overall (9-0-2 since Jan. 19, 2019; CBJ: 2-6-3).
• The Flames were the closest non-playoff team to the postseason in 2024-25, falling just short after the Blues edged them with the regulation wins tiebreaker (STL: 32, CGY: 31). Calgary hosts St. Louis Saturday for their home opener – the Flames closed last season with points in each of their last five games at Scotiabank Saddledome (4-0-1). After a standout performance from Calder Trophy finalist Dustin Wolf in 2024-25, the Flames return with a pair of intriguing rookies in 2025-26: Forward Matvei Gridin, who became the fourth teenager in Flames history to score in his NHL debut Oct. 8, and high-scoring defenseman Zayne Parekh, who has yet to dress this season but made his NHL debut in 2024-25, scoring a goal in his lone Flames appearance after leading OHL defensemen in points for two straight seasons.
• For the second time in three games behind the Rangers’ bench, Mike Sullivan will face his former club as he returns to Pittsburgh for the first time after claiming back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017. Evgeni Malkin (0-5—5 in 2 GP) leads the League in assists through Pittsburgh’s first two games and can become just the second player in Penguins history to record three straight multi-assist outings to begin his team’s campaign (Kevin Stevens: 3 GP in 1990-91).
• Matthew Schaefer recorded an assist in his NHL debut against fellow No. 1 overall pick, Sidney Crosby, and will now face another first overall selection in Alex Ovechkin during his second career game. Ovechkin, who is three shy of the 900-goal milestone, is 22 years older than 18-year-old Schaefer, which will tie the largest age gap between two dueling first-overall-pick skaters (also Joe Thornton vs. Jack Hughes, Thornton vs. Alexis Lafrenière & Mike Modano vs. Taylor Hall).

HOCKEY FANS IN EUROPE WILL SEE JETS VS. KINGS IN PRIME TIME

Saturday’s action begins at 1:30 p.m. ET when the reigning Presidents’ Trophy-winning Jets host the Kings for the season debut of NHL Saturday – the first of 43 games that will air live in prime time for hockey fans in Europe.

• The Kings and Jets rosters feature 13 players born outside North America, including Kings captain Anze Kopitar – the League’s only Slovenian player – and three who already have secured a spot at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026: Nino Niederreiter (WPG) and Kevin Fiala (LAK) will skate together with Team Switzerland, while Adrian Kempe (LAK) has a spot with Team Sweden. Overall, 32% of players on opening-day rosters were born outside of North America (229 of 726).

RED WINGS ACTIVATE JAMES VAN RIEMSDYK FROM NON-ROSTER STATUS

The Detroit Red Wings today activated forward James van Riemsdyk from non-roster status. Additionally, the Red Wings have assigned defenseman Erik Gustafsson to the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins.