NEW YORK (AP) — The most expansive season in NHL history will begin in September, not October, and limit most teams to four preseason games.
The league's first 84-game season since 1993-94 opens Sept. 29 as 32 teams will combine to play a total of 1,344 games. The season runs through Saturday, April 10, before the playoffs begin the following week.
The increase from an 82-game slate, which had been the standard since the mid-’90s, was agreed upon by team owners and players in the last round of talks on a collective bargaining agreement. The intent is to provide more space between the end of the Stanley Cup Final and the draft in late June before free agency commences July 1.
When the Panthers and Oilers went the distance in ’24, there were just three days between Game 7 on June 24 in South Florida and the first round of the draft on June 28 in Las Vegas.
After defeating Vegas to win the Stanley Cup, the Carolina Hurricanes will raise their second championship banner on Sept. 29 against Florida.
That opening night, featuring five games, matches the earliest start date in NHL history and is the first time the regular season begins in North America before October. The Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings played games in London on Sept. 29 and 30, 2007.
The most recent — and only other — September hockey outside of exhibitions came during the pandemic playoff bubble in 2020, culminating when Tampa Bay hoisted the Cup in an empty arena in Edmonton on Sept. 28.
Oct. 21: New Florida Panther Brady Tkachuk returns to Ottawa. The former Senators captain plays his first game against his old team since getting traded to Florida to play with his brother, Matthew. It did not end well in Canada's capital, from Brady bristling at his name being in rumors to asking out and then the team offering to take Tkachuk No. 7 jerseys fans wished to exchange.
Oct 25: Heritage Classic. The Montreal Canadiens visit the Winnipeg Jets in the return of outdoor hockey to Canada for the first time since 2023.
Dec. 21: Stanley Cup Final rematch: The Hurricanes return to the scene of their championship triumph to face the Golden Knights in Las Vegas. The two teams meet again in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Jan. 17.
Dec. 31: Winter Classic: Utah takes center stage outside, hosting the Colorado Avalanche in the Winter Classic in Salt Lake City.
Feb. 20: Jerry World hockey: The Dallas Stars host Vegas in at the Dallas Cowboys' stadium in Arlington, Texas.
April 4: Washington hosts Pittsburgh. Alex Ovechkin is back for a 22nd NHL season with the Capitals. If this is it for him at age 41 — and it very well may not be if he wants to shoot for 1,000 career goals — this would be the last regular-season game against Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins.
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FILE - Carolina Hurricanes right wing Seth Jarvis, left, tries to know a the puck out of the air as Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart defends during the third period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final series June 9, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Candice Ward, File)
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level in nearly a year, driving up borrowing costs for prospective homebuyers.
The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.55% from 6.49% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the average rate was 6.75%.
Higher mortgage rates can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, limiting homebuyers’ purchasing power at a time when affordability challenges continue to sideline many aspiring homeowners.
Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.
Rates have been mostly rising this year as the war with Iran has driven crude oil prices sharply higher, stoking expectations of hotter inflation. That's pushed up long-term bond yields relative to where they were before the conflict began in late February, causing mortgage rates to trend higher.
The 10-year Treasury yield was 4.57% at midday Thursday on the bond market, up from 4.54% a week ago. It was just 3.97% in late February, before the war broke out.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage is now the highest it's been since Aug. 28, when it was at 6.56%. As recently as late February, the average rate dropped slightly below 6% for the first time since late 2022.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, often sought by borrowers refinancing a home loan, also rose this week. That average rate increased to 5.93% from 5.82% last week. A year ago, it was at 5.92%, Freddie Mac said.
A report this week showing prices paid by consumers for gas, clothes and other goods cooled last month could help take pressure off the Federal Reserve, which is considering raising interest rates.
The central bank doesn’t set mortgage rates, but its decisions to raise or lower its short-term rate are watched closely by bond investors and can ultimately affect the yield on 10-year Treasurys.
That cooler inflation reading “is a step in the right direction, but until mortgage rates actually follow suit, buyers will keep feeling the pinch of stubbornly high borrowing costs even as other conditions improve,” said Hannah Jones, senior economist at Realtor.com.
While average long-term mortgage rates remain lower than they were at this time last year, their upward trajectory has weighed on home sales this year.
And the latest monthly tally of home purchase transactions that have yet to be finalized points to potentially more sluggish home sales this summer.
Pending U.S. home sales fell 5.4% in June from the previous months and were down 0.3% from June last year, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. There’s usually a month or two lag between a contract signing and when the sale is finalized, which makes pending home sales a near-term bellwether for the housing market.
Data on mortgage applications also signal that the upward trend in mortgage rates has given some would-be homebuyers reason to pause.
Mortgage applications, which include loans to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage, fell 2.7% last week from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The pullback was driven mainly by a 7% drop in applications to buy a home.
FILE - A sign is posted for a new home for sale in Ambler, Pa., Oct. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
