Panthers and Lightning Open a Shortened Preseason Before NHL's 84-Game Year

The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning open their exhibition schedules later this month under a format neither has seen before. Both clubs will play only four preseason games as the NHL transitions to an 84-game regular season under the collective bargaining agreement, and two of those four are against each other. The Lightning host the Panthers on Thursday, September 24, and travel to Sunrise for a Saturday, September 26 rematch.

What changes with an 84-game season

The NHL has played an 82-game regular season since 1995-96, and before that 80 games for most of the modern era. The move to 84 adds two games per club and removes games from the preseason to accommodate them.

The trade is deliberate. Preseason games generate less revenue than regular season games and carry injury risk without competitive reward. Compressing the exhibition schedule and adding meaningful games is a straightforward economic improvement for the league and for the players' association, which is why it emerged from collective bargaining rather than from a unilateral league decision.

The competitive consequences are real. Four preseason games give coaches fewer opportunities to evaluate players on the roster bubble, which advantages established teams and disadvantages prospects trying to make a jump. Training camp scrimmages and intrasquad work absorb some of that evaluation load, but game conditions cannot be fully replicated.

Two games against the state rival

Scheduling half of a four-game preseason against the same opponent is a function of geography. The Panthers play at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise and the Lightning at Amalie Arena in Tampa, roughly four hours apart by road, which makes the pairing the cheapest and least disruptive option available to both clubs.

The rivalry has substance behind it. Both franchises have won Stanley Cups in the 2020s, the Lightning consecutively in 2020 and 2021 and the Panthers more recently. Florida went from a state where hockey was an import to one producing two of the league's most successful organizations within a single decade.

Preseason meetings between rivals carry a different texture than exhibitions against distant opponents. Rosters are mixed, veterans play limited minutes, and the competitive edge is muted. The games still sell, and both clubs have preseason tickets on sale for the Sunrise date.

Roster moves heading into camp

Tampa Bay signed defenseman John Carlson to a two-year contract, addressing a need on the right side of its blue line. Right-shot defensemen capable of playing top-four minutes are among the scarcest commodities in the sport, and teams routinely overpay for them in free agency.

The Lightning's cap structure has been a constraint for several seasons, a consequence of committing significant money to a core that won championships. Organizations in that position fill depth positions with short-term deals and internal development rather than through the open market, which makes a signing of this type notable.

Florida faces a version of the same problem. Championship rosters get expensive because winning raises the market value of the players who produced it, and the salary cap does not expand to accommodate a single team's success. Both Florida clubs are managing that arithmetic.

Why Florida became a hockey state

The Lightning entered the league in 1992 and the Panthers in 1993, part of an expansion wave that pushed the NHL into Sun Belt markets that had no hockey tradition. The strategy was contested at the time and remains debated, but the Florida results are difficult to argue with.

Sustained winning is the primary driver. The Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2004 and again in 2020 and 2021, and the Panthers have built a consistent contender. Winning creates fans in a way that marketing cannot, and both franchises have converted playoff runs into durable local followings.

Youth hockey growth has followed. Florida now supports a substantial youth hockey infrastructure, with rinks across the Tampa Bay area, South Florida, Central Florida, and Jacksonville. Players developed in Florida programs have reached Division I college hockey and professional ranks, a pipeline that did not exist a generation ago.

Tax structure is a factor at the professional level that is often noted and sometimes overstated. Florida has no state income tax, which means a given salary figure delivers more take-home pay than the same figure in a state that taxes income. Players and agents account for it, and it forms part of why both Florida clubs have been able to retain talent.

What to watch in camp

Goaltending is the position that determines seasons in hockey more than any other, and both clubs will be evaluating their situations through a compressed exhibition window. Backup goaltending in an 84-game season carries more weight than in an 82-game season, since the additional games increase the starter's workload.

Special teams take time to build, and four preseason games provide limited reps. Power play units in particular depend on chemistry among five specific players, and coaches typically use exhibition games to test combinations. That testing now happens in the regular season.

Conditioning is the quiet variable. A shorter preseason means players enter the regular season with less game conditioning, and the early weeks of the schedule may show higher injury rates across the league as a result. Sports science staffs across all 32 clubs have been planning for this.

What it means for Florida fans

Two additional regular season games per team means two more nights of hockey at Amerant Bank Arena and Amalie Arena, or on the road. For season ticket holders, the package expands accordingly.

Both venues have become significant entertainment properties in their markets. Amalie Arena anchors the Channelside district in downtown Tampa, and the Lightning organization has been a major participant in that area's redevelopment. Amerant Bank Arena sits in Sunrise in western Broward County.

The shortened preseason reduces the number of low-cost opportunities for fans to see the teams live, since exhibition tickets typically price below regular season seats. Families using preseason games as an affordable entry point have fewer dates to choose from.

What else the new labor deal changed

The move to 84 games is the most visible element of the collective bargaining agreement, but it is not the only one. Labor agreements in professional hockey address salary cap structure, contract length limits, escrow arrangements that reconcile player compensation with actual revenue, and the terms governing international competition.

The schedule change carries a revenue logic that benefits both sides. Under the NHL's system, players receive a fixed share of hockey-related revenue, which means league revenue growth flows directly into the salary cap and into player compensation. Converting preseason dates into regular season dates increases revenue without extending the calendar.

Roster and injury implications were negotiated alongside. More games in the same calendar window means increased density, and schedule makers must accommodate that through more back-to-back sets or a slightly extended season. Player health is the constraint that shapes those decisions.

International participation has been the other recurring subject in NHL labor negotiations, given the league's players form the core of national teams in Olympic and World Cup competition. The 2026 Winter Olympics and subsequent international events have been part of that discussion.

Where the Florida clubs stand

Both Florida franchises enter the season carrying the specific burden of sustained success. Rosters that win championships become expensive, because performance raises market value and the salary cap does not expand to accommodate any single team's results.

The Lightning navigated that transition earlier, having won consecutive championships at the start of the decade and then managed a core whose contracts grew while the cap stayed relatively flat. The organization filled depth positions with short-term signings, entry-level contracts, and players acquired at reduced cost.

Florida faces a version of the same arithmetic. The signing of John Carlson by Tampa Bay, addressing the right side of the defense corps, illustrates the type of move available to a cap-constrained team: a veteran on a shorter term rather than a long-term commitment to a player entering his prime.

Goaltending contracts are the other major line item, and both clubs have significant investment in the position. Goaltending is simultaneously the highest-leverage position in hockey and the most volatile, which makes those commitments the riskiest on any roster.

What's next

Training camps open before the exhibition schedule begins, and both clubs will announce their camp rosters and schedules. The Panthers have announced a time change for their September 28 game against the Lightning.

The regular season follows in October. Both clubs have published their 2026-27 regular season schedules, and the expanded 84-game format will show up in the density of the calendar, particularly in back-to-back sets.

The Atlantic Division remains among the toughest in the league, and the Florida clubs share it with Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Detroit, and Buffalo. The division race will again run through the two Florida teams, which has been the case for several seasons now.

Two additional regular season games also mean two more results in a standings race that has been decided by narrow margins in recent years. In a division where playoff positioning has come down to the final week, the expanded schedule adds points that did not previously exist to fight over.

Preseason and regular season schedules for both clubs are published on their team sites, along with ticket information. The in-state meetings, in preseason and in the regular season, remain the dates that fill both buildings fastest.

Two Stanley Cup winners in a state that had no professional hockey 35 years ago is an outcome nobody predicted when the league expanded south. Both clubs now enter a season under rules neither has played before.

The first of their two exhibition meetings is September 24 in Tampa.