Key Dates From the Maple Leafs’ 2026-27 Season Schedule

Happy Friday, Leafs fans, and happy belated Schedule Release Day to all who celebrate! After a summer of management changes, coaching changes, and player changes, we finally have NHL games written in ink that we can look forward to. Whether you felt hope this summer or frustration, experienced clarity or confusion, there’s nothing really to base it on until we see it all unfold on the ice.

With the schedule now being 84 games, here is a quick breakdown of how everything will play out:

1. Each team will play each divisional opponent four times. Two at home and two on the road. (28 games)
2. Each team will play their in-conference opponents (non-divisional) three times. Against four teams, they will play eight games at home and four on the road, and against the other four, they will play four games at home and eight on the road. (24 games)
3. Each team will play each team in the other conference twice. One at home and one on the road. (32 games)
4. All 32 teams will be in action on Tuesday, Oct. 13 and Saturday, Apr. 10.
5. Matinee games on Mondays are a new addition to the schedule, giving European fans a chance to watch the NHL in primetime.

With that out of the way, let’s get into the key moments of the 2026-27 schedule for your Toronto Maple Leafs.

2 Key Dates Against the Montreal Canadiens

No matter how good or bad these teams are, the lights are always bright when the Leafs take on the Montreal Canadiens. Out of the four times they will play each other, there are two dates that stick out.

The first, and perhaps most obvious, is the season (and home) opener at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday, Sept. 29. It doesn’t always go the way of the blue and white, but opening the season against the hated Canadiens is always a fun way to kick off a new campaign.

The second is a Boxing Day matchup on Saturday, Dec. 26 in Montreal. Boxing Day being on a Saturday this season will make it extra fun for hockey fans, both in the arena and on the couch, as 11 teams will be taking the ice.

The Leafs will aim to bounce back against the Canadiens after going 1-2-1 against the Habs last season.

3 Big Homestands Throughout the Season

The season will kick off with four straight games in Toronto against the Canadiens, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, and the Nashville Predators. The Leafs went a combined 2-5-0 against the Canadiens and the Senators last season. While it will obviously be early, starting well against those teams feels like an important test to see if this team is, in fact, different in 2026-27. For the Islanders and the Predators, both franchises have made improvements over the last calendar year and are entering the season with higher expectations than in seasons past.

Next, the Leafs will have a six-game homestand from Nov. 3 to Nov. 14 against the Utah Mammoth, Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild, and Edmonton Oilers. Much like the Canadiens, the Mammoth are a solid young team coming out of a rebuild, and anything short of a return to the playoffs will be a disappointment. That first game against Utah is coming on the heels of a four-game West Coast trip that wraps up on Oct. 31. After welcoming Sheldon Keefe back to Toronto, the Leafs will face three Western Conference teams who are all projected to be among the best teams in their division, wrapping it up with an always-anticipated Saturday night affair against the Oilers.

Toronto’s last lengthy homestand of the season will be from Jan. 9 to Jan. 18 against the Philadelphia Flyers, Winnipeg Jets, Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the St. Louis Blues. The Leafs will end a seven-game road trip in Philadelphia on Jan. 7 before hosting them two nights later, and that type of situation always seems to give teams problems. All five of those teams, minus maybe the Blackhawks, have hopes of either building on last year or improving, and by that time in the season, they will all have a lot to play for.

3 Tricky Road Trips

Last season, the Leafs didn’t go on their West Coast swing until late January. This season, they are going on three of them, two of which are in October.

The first one is from Oct. 8 to Oct. 13 against the Vegas Golden Knights, Avalanche, and the Mammoth, all of which will be tough opponents to play against with the time change this early in the season. The fact that there are days off between each game (three between Colorado and Utah) is certainly a blessing; it just feels early in the season to have a mini trip like this.

The Leafs will head out to Western Canada and Seattle, from Oct. 24 to Oct. 31, to take on the Oilers, Calgary Flames, Seattle Kraken, and the Vancouver Canucks. That game against the Oilers will be on a Saturday, as is their second meeting we touched on earlier, making both games featuring Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid on a Saturday night in Canada. Doesn’t get better than that. Good job, NHL.

The last trip I want to highlight, and perhaps the most difficult, is a seven-game trip that starts on Dec. 22 and ends Jan. 7, against the Detroit Red Wings, Canadiens, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, Washington Capitals, and the Sharks. The Leafs will be in Detroit on Dec. 22 and take a three-day break for Christmas before playing in Montreal on the 26th. They will then head to California for three games before wrapping up the trip in Washington and Philly. The travel this trip involves has me exhausted already, and I promise you I will not be going to any of those places, and it’s five months away. This will undoubtedly be an important part of the season as all of these teams will have hopes of making the playoffs, including the Leafs.

There is one more trip that I will give an honourable mention, and that is the New York-Quebec trip that starts on Mar. 18 and ends Mar. 25 against the New York Rangers, Devils, Canadiens, and Buffalo Sabres. What makes this interesting is that all four teams will presumably be competing for a playoff spot, or playoff seeding at the very least. Also, the Leafs will head home for two games before heading out to Florida to play the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. After that, they are home for two more and wrap up their season on the road against the Rangers, making seven of their last 11 games on the road.

Multiple Changes Make For Multiple Reunions

With all of the changes the Leafs have made, both on and off the ice, there will be many heartfelt reunions sprinkled throughout the season. Here’s a quick look at some of the key ones.

1. Sergei Bobrovsky will return to Florida on March 6 for the first time after winning the Stanley Cup twice in three trips to the Final.
2. Nick Paul and Darren Raddysh will be in Tampa Bay on February 20. Paul won the Cup with the Lightning, and Raddysh signed with Toronto after having the best offensive season of his career in Tampa Bay last season.
3. Jim Hiller will return to Los Angeles on Dec. 30 after coaching the Kings for parts of three seasons. The Kings went 93-58-24 in 175 games with Hiller behind the bench.
4. Ottawa legend Daniel Alfredsson is now behind the Maple Leafs’ bench after leaving the Senators’ coaching staff. He will be back in Ottawa on Jan. 30.
5. After being traded to Philly earlier this summer, Joseph Woll and Simon Benoit will return to Toronto as members of the Flyers on Nov. 30.
6. Newly signed Nick Robertson will return to Toronto as a member of the Penguins on Jan 16.

Back-to-Back Schedule Decent For Toronto

The Maple Leafs are middle of the pack when it comes to the amount of back-to-backs they will have to play this season. They will join the Ducks, Oilers, Rangers, Predators, and Canucks in playing 11. The Penguins play the most with 15, and the Flames and Golden Knights play the least with eight.

On the other side, it’s a little less favourable. They play only five games against teams who are on the second half of a back-to-back, which is last in the NHL. Montreal plays the most with 19.

Only 74 More Days Until Leafs Hockey

In some ways, it feels like the NHL season just ended. In other ways, it feels like it has been forever since we’ve watched some puck. Well, enjoy your summer because the Maple Leafs will hit the ice in just 74 days.