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The NHL unveiled its full schedule for the upcoming season on Thursday. We put together a summary of the key dates on that schedule earlier today, but one aspect of the new schedule has raised eyebrows for many people.
Several teams will play games in the middle of the afternoon on certain Mondays.
This is reportedly a way to make the games accessible to people in Europe, a group the NHL hopes to add to its fan base.
NHL says it scheduled some more Monday afternoon games this season so they can be broadcast in Germany, as the Bundesliga has no Monday night games this year. Intended for a prime-time European audience, but Germany has been a focus.
— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) July 16, 2026
The target audience is primarily Germans. Germany's top soccer league, the Bundesliga, has no Monday night games on its schedule for the upcoming season, leaving the field open for the NHL.
The NHL's reasoning is understandable. Attracting new fans helps bring in more revenue.
The only problem is that the schedule wasn't designed with this in mind.
The Canadiens will be on the receiving end of this new plan twice during the season. Fortunately for Geoff Molson, both games—which will take place on Monday afternoons—will be played on the road. They'll be held on January 18 in Buffalo and February 22 in Philadelphia.
We say “fortunately for Molson” because tickets for a Monday afternoon game are likely to sell for much less than those for a Saturday night game.
The Senators will also play two games on Monday afternoons. This makes sense, considering they have one of the best German players in their ranks in Tim Stützle.
The Oilers, however, won't play any games during that time slot.
If the goal was to please German fans, why not give them the chance to see the best German player, Leon Draisaitl? It's a missed opportunity.
With all that, we're likely to see a lot of people calling in sick when the Canadiens play on those Monday afternoons.
In Brief
– CF Montréal tied the game.
The teams split the points at Stade Saputo.
Final score against Toronto FC. #CFMTL @airtransat pic.twitter.com/3PpZ0fpSET
— CF Montréal (@cfmontreal) July 17, 2026
– Adam Fantilli could be the target of a hostile offer.
Jeff Marek: I would imagine that between Adam Fantilli and Connor Bedard, the likelihood of an offer sheet lies mainly with the player in Columbus, not so much in Chicago – The Sheet (7/10)
— NHL Rumor Report (@NHLRumorReport) July 16, 2026
– Bizarre situation.
Alexander Nikishin told Sport-Express that he even tried to have the Stanley Cup brought to Turkey so his family could celebrate with him and the Cup. But apparently every option they looked into ended up being too complicated pic.twitter.com/PMmdmDs9Kb
— Uggg (@Uggg_uggg) July 16, 2026
– The Mets won the only game of the day.
Schwarber was once again on the losing end of a home run battlehttps://t.co/q8uHMQhvdf
— RDS (@RDSca) July 17, 2026
