Boston Bruins and NHL fans have been eagerly waiting to know when hockey will return to their lives following the finish of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, and Gary Bettman gave that answer Wednesday.
The NHL commissioner gave his traditional news conference before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena. Bettman announced the 2022-23 NHL season will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 11, per NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti.
The plan is to conduct a normal season schedule — it would be the first normal schedule for the NHL since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“After two-and-a-half years, things are actually feeling normal,” Bettman said. “We’re only a couple of weeks later than usual on the calendar.”
Bettman also announced record revenues this season, and he said the salary cap will have normal increases in the next two-to-three years.
The NHL previously announced the Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks would play two regular-season games in the 2022 NHL Global Series at O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic on Oct. 7 and 8; Those will be NHL’s first games in Europe since 2019.
The full schedule is expected to be announced in early July.
The Bruins know one game on their schedule, the Winter Classic against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Fenway Park on Jan. 2.
In the meantime, the Bruins will figure out their offseason moves, including who their next head coach will be.
