NEW YORK — The most expansive season in NHL history will begin in September, not October, and limit most teams to four preseason games.The league’s first 84-game season since 1993-94 opens Sept. 29 as 32 teams will combine to play a total of 1,344 games. The season runs through Saturday, April 10, before the playoffs begin the following week.The increase from an 82-game slate, which had been the standard since the mid-’90s, was agreed upon by team owners and players in the last round of talks on a collective bargaining agreement. The intent is to provide more space between the end of the Stanley Cup Final and the draft in late June before free agency commences July 1.When the Panthers and Oilers went the distance in ’24, there were just three days between Game 7 on June 24 in South Florida and the first round of the draft on June 28 in Las Vegas.After defeating Vegas to win the Stanley Cup, the Carolina Hurricanes will raise their second championship banner on Sept. 29 against Florida.That opening night, featuring five games, matches the earliest start date in NHL history and is the first time the regular season begins in North America before October. The Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings played games in London on Sept. 29 and 30, 2007.The most recent — and only other — September hockey outside of exhibitions came during the pandemic …
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