2022-23 NHL Regular Season to Open on Oct. 11, per Commissioner Gary Bettman

The NHL has set Oct. 11 as the opening night of the 2022-23 season, commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday.

The date falls in line with the 2021-22 campaign, which opened Oct. 12, and seems to be setting a trend of the NHL opening its season during the second week of October. The league has regularly moved back and forth between the first and second weeks of the month.

If the calendar from this season holds, the NHL will announce its full schedule for the 2022-23 campaign next month. The league announced its schedule on July 22 of last year.

Next season is expected to be the first to fall under a normal schedule since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. This season had a brief pause in late December/early January amid an outbreak of COVID-19 cases, which caused a push back in the overall schedule.

Every team was able to play its full 82-game regular season despite the delay. It was the first time the league reached the 82-game mark since 2018-19.