While we’re still waiting around for a while longer for the much anticipated drop of the NHL schedule, we now have an early opportunity to begin planning out their hockey related schedule, filling out their planners, and what have you. Everyone’s autumns are beginning to come into focus. That is, the Phantoms’ 2025-26 schedule is here!
After they wrap up their slate of preseason action in the first week of October (those game dates are yet to be announced), the Phantoms will open their season with a two-game homestand, with their opener against the Belleville Senators coming on Saturday the 11th (where we might see our old pal Olle Lycksell, if he doesn’t make Ottawa’s opening night roster), and then following that up with a Sunday matinee against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, for their first meeting since the Phantoms bounced them from the postseason in the play-in round last spring. And speaking of potential revenge game situations, the Phantoms will face the Hershey Bears for the first time since their own playoff elimination later in October, with a home-and-home series on the 25th and 26th.
For those looking to see some new teams in the mix this season — as we did last season with Grand Rapids, Rockford, and Milwaukee coming to town throughout the course of the year, and the Phantoms visiting their barns out West, in turn — we’re out of luck. The out of conference trips seem to rotate from year to year, and the Phantoms are out of that rotation for this season — it’ll just be Eastern Conference teams that they face off against throughout this regular season. For the folks that can’t be bothered to do all of that counting themselves, here’s the breakdown: the Phantoms will face Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a whopping 12 times, Hershey 10 times, and then eight times for Bridgeport and Charlotte, six times for Hartford and Springfield, four times for Cleveland, Providence, and Syracuse, and finally, two times for each of Belleville, Laval, Toronto, Rochester, and Utica (got all that?). If it’s familiarity that breeds contempt, there’s ample room for that this season.
Also notable is the trend away from the three-in-three weekends. Once a real staple of the league, they’re becoming fewer and somewhat farther in between, and for the second year in a row, the Phantoms will only see five of them across the whole of the season.
We’re still a ways away from the season kicking off, but the anticipation is already building — the Phantoms certainly left some unfinished business in their early playoff exit (relative to expectations), and with the further influx of young talent, it’s bound to be a season worth tuning in for.