Is The NHL Global Series Regular Season?

The schedule includes two preseason games in Australia. The 4 regular season games will then be played from November 16 - 19 in Sweden.

The 2023 preseason games held in Australia as a part of the Global Series marked the first time the NHL has gone to the Southern Hemisphere.

The Coyotes emerged victorious against the Kings with a final tally of 5-3 at the game played on the Rod Laver Arena on September 23. They are scheduled to play one more preseason game on September 24.

The NHL regular season will begin on October 10 with the tripleheader. The Nashville Predators will play against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Chicago Blackhawks against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Seattle Krakens against the Vegas Golden Knights.

The first regular season game of the NHL played outside of North America was in Japan. In the 1997 games held in Tokyo, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Vancouver Canucks played a couple of games, winning apiece.

The first time the NHL regular season games were played in Europe was in 2007 when the Anaheim Ducks and the LA Kings won a game each.

The complete schedule of the 2023 NHL Global Series is given below.

NHL Global Series History

NHL announced its Global Series event in 2017. Ottawa Senators and Colorado Avalanche played at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden.

The last time the National Hockey League held regular season games outside of North America was in 2011. It was named the Premiere Series. 

Following the success of the 2017 event, the NHL held the Global Series three more times in Venues across Europe in 2018, 2019, and 2022. 

The 2018 Global Series had one game played in Gothenburg, Sweden, and two games played in Helsinki, Finland. On 6th October 2018, the Edmonton Oilers and New Jersey Devils played against each other with the New Jersey Devils as the winners.

The Florida Panthers and the Winnipeg Jets played a couple of games against each other on November 1st and 2nd with one win each.

In the 2019 Global Series, the Flyers emerged victorious against the Chicago Blackhawks in the game held on Oct 4 in Prague, Czech Republic. 

The Tampa Bay Lightning played the Buffalo Sabres on November 8 and 9 in Stockholm. Tampa Bay clinched dazzling victories in both games.

The 2022 NHL Global Series which was announced after 2 years was the first time that the Series did not play at least one game in Sweden.

The Predators won both of the games they played on October 7 & 8 against the San Jose Sharks at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. 

On November 4 & 5 the Colombus Blue Jackets and the Colorado Avalanche played 2 regular season games with the Avs winning them both.

Afronbladet and Viaplay are the official media partners of the Global Series. NHL Australia games are available on NHL Network and ESPN+.

The Melbourne Series is available for Australian Fans on 9Go & 9Now and on ESPN & ESPN app. Canadian hockey fans can find the games on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

Viaplay, the media giant of the Nordic Region has reached an agreement with the NHL to broadcast the fixtures across their platforms. 

Viaplay is available on various platforms like Apple TV, Google Chromecast, IOS & Android Apps, and Viaplay.com in the UK, the US, and Canada. They are also available in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, and the Netherlands.

Aftonbladet, one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic region was established in 1830. It has been operational ever since despite the ups and downs it faced over the years is another media partner of the NHL for the NHL Global Series in Sweden.

Aftonbladet is also one of the organizations that took to the internet early on. They have been publishing on the net since August 25, 1994.

Sportsnet has been the Canadian broadcasting partner of the NHL for the last decade. The NHL also has licensing agreements with CBC Television and TVA Sports to broadcast select games.

ESPN and Warner Bros Discovery Sports (TNT) are the official American broadcasting partners for the NHL as part of the 7-year agreement announced by the NHL in 2021.

The games are broadcast on various ESPN Networks with the Network scheduled to broadcast 100 exclusive games this season. TNT network will broadcast 62 exclusive games this season.

NHL Global Series 2023 is scheduled to take place from Nov 16-19 at the Avicii Arena with official partners CCM, Fastenal, SAP, and UpperDeck.

The four teams participating in the Global Series 2023 are the Detroit Red Wings, Minnesota Wild, Ottawa Senators, and Toronto Maple Leafs. They will be playing two games each in the series. 

The Red Wings will play against the Senators on November 16 kicking off the international fixtures of the regular season of the NHL. The Wings will play one more game on November 17 against the Toronto Maple Leafs at 2 PM Eastern Time. 

The Ottawa Senators will play their second international regular season game against the Minnesota Wild on November 18. It will also be the Wild's first game in the 2023 Global Series. 

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Minnesota Wild will then close out the Global Series in Sweden on November 19 playing their second game.

Aside from the action-packed games, the 2023 Global Series will also include various events like watch parties, fan tours, coaching and officiating clinics.

This will be the fourth time the Global Series will be heading to Sweden and the third time the event is being held in the city of Stockholm. 12 out of 32 NHL games played in Europe have been played in Sweden. 

The event will be held at the Avicii Arena referred to as Globen by the Swedish was known previously as the Ericsson Globe and before that known as the Stockholm Globe Arena. 

According to Statista, Sweden is the third-highest in the list of countries with active players in the NHL with 238 active players. Canada has 1026 active players and the United States of America has 616 active players in the NHL.