The Blackhawks Are Headed For NHL’s Next Global Showcase

Given that they’re the most popular franchise in the entire NHL, it makes sense that the league is looking to feature the Blackhawks in as many “special events” as possible every year. They’ve been involved in two Stadium Series games (2014 and 2016) and a league-leading five NHL Winter Classics, the most recent being an embarrassing 5-0 loss in 2025 to the Blues at Wrigley Field. 

This week, the Blackhawks may have revealed that they’ll once again be featured on a national (and even international) stage. As a reminder, the 2026-27 season will be the first with 84 games played under the league and NHLPA’s new collective bargaining agreement. But when the team sent out season ticket membership information on Tuesday, they wrote that “the Blackhawks have invoiced for 41 home games as the team has been selected to participate in a yet-to-be-announced League special event.”

Next year’s Winter Classic will be held in Salt Lake City and the Stadium Series will be held at AT&T Stadium near Dallas, so the Blackhawks will be playing somewhere else. As a reminder, the NHL went global earlier this season for a pair of games in Sweden between the Penguins and Predators in November. In 2024, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said, “I think we want to go back to London,” and that “Germany and Switzerland are both prime candidates for regular-season games in the future.” 

The league hasn’t been to London for a regular-season game since the opening of the 2007-08 season, and based on Daly’s comments and the situation, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the Blackhawks playing a game there next season. 

Of course, nothing has been announced yet, and the NHL wouldn’t want to make an announcement to upstage the Olympics this week. But with speculation already rampant and teams and fans alike needing to make arrangements, the news should drop any day now. Could they open the season in London? We’ll see.