NHL Looking to Further International Reach

The National Hockey League will continue expanding its international footprint after playing a preseason game in Germany, two regular-season games in Czechia and two regular-season games in Finland this season, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said this week in Europe.

The season begins October 4, when the Buffalo Sabres play the New Jersey Devils in the 2024 NHL Global Series at O2 Arena in Prague, Czechia. The Global Series will include the  Sabres and Devils in regular-season games on October 4 and October 5 in Prague before the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers will play games in Tampere, Finland, on November 1 and November 2.

After this season, the NHL will have played 20 regular-season games in Europe since 2017: nine in Sweden, six in Finland and five in Czechia. It will have played 13 preseason games in Europe, Asia and Australia in that period, including three in Switzerland and three in Germany.

“I think we have a list of places we’d like to bring teams and play games and develop markets,” Daly said. “And to the extent we’ve kind of seemed to have settled into a Finland, (Sweden), Czechia rotation, I wouldn’t get too comfortable with that, because I think it will change up probably in the short term.”

The NHL has never played a regular-season game in Switzerland and has not played regular-season games in Germany since 2011 and England in 2007.

“Tverybody probably has in their minds, kind of the priority markets,” Daly said. “I think we want to go back to London. I think the players and (NHL) Players’ Association want to go back to London and have a game there. I think Germany and Switzerland are both prime candidates for regular-season games in the future, so probably in the not-too-distant future.”

Daly also expects the NHL to return to Australia for preseason games. The NHL traveled to the Southern Hemisphere for the first time when the Arizona Coyotes and Los Angeles Kings played two preseason games on a temporary ice sheet inside Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on September 23–24, 2023. NHL players also are scheduled to participate in the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Italy, but nothing is finalized.

“We haven’t finalized everything with the IOC or the NHLPA and the IIHF,” Daly said. “That’s still kind of a work in progress, but I don’t anticipate any issues.”