What do we want as hockey fans? To have as much NHL action as possible, of course! In light of that common goal, it’s understandable that fans wait eagerly for the schedule of the new season to be unveiled. This year, when the league announced its 1,312-game calendar, two dates stood apart from the rest. On October 11 and 28 – all 32 teams were slated to hit the ice simultaneously and all across the US. But while that oddity was definitely a source of glee initially, fans are now realizing what the North American hockey apex body had to trade off to make it happen.

Oilers Daily took to X on October 10 to vent their frustration over the NHL‘s weekend plans. “Whoever is in charge of the NHL scheduling needs to be fired,” fumed the Edmonton fan-account. Why, you ask? Well, it seems like the NHL’s gutsy move to play all the franchises on the same date is taking away the chances of an exciting Friday night, something some fans could have done without.

“Sure, all 32 teams playing on Saturday is going to be great, but having not a single game on the first Friday night of the season is absurd,” you can almost envision the person behind the social media update rolling their eyes. Well, there is some fathomable reasoning behind the annoyance. The NHL has been off for almost four months, and fans just want to submerge themselves in as much action as possible.

That excitement has been showing already. On the opening weekend, the Florida Panthers saw a sold-out Amerant Bank Arena, highlighting just how much the fans have been craving the new season. With the preseason games setting the stage perfectly, they were looking forward to a busy schedule. But cramming 16 games into one day and leaving out the rest of the weekend without much activity wasn’t something they were too hot about.

But it’s not like Saturday’s games aren’t going to be full of thrills and high stakes. From Mike Sullivan returning to Pittsburgh for the first time since taking up his new job with the Rangers to the bad blood between St. Louis and Calgary getting revived (The Blues and the Flames were tied for the second wild-card entry to the Western Conference last season, but thanks to one more regulation win, the Blues were granted the entry), there will be something for every NHL fan on October 11.

And yet, the matches all being scheduled for a single day instead of spanning over the weekend was what baffled the fans. While most fans were clamoring over how they’d have to spend a quiet start to the weekend, others were even more agitated over how there wouldn’t be a lot of hockey on the day before they got back to work. “Then only 1 game again on Sunday. F—–g weird scheduling,” one fan was definitely feeling the lack of action already.

Fans take digs at the NHL for confusing scheduling

Back in July, even before the full schedule was released by the NHL, Florida loyalists noted their displeasure over how their opening games didn’t have prime-time slots. And now, with the second weekend of the 2025-26 season around the corner, it seems like that frustration has spread to other camps as well. “No games on Friday of opening week, and just one on Sunday. This is ridiculous — it’s opening week, not preseason!” One fan grumbled. “NHL has worst scheduling out of major sports,” another fan posited that Gary Bettman & Co. should take a page out of their peers’ books.

Last season, ESPN’s remote coverage of the NHL games brought a lot of flak from the fans due to how stale things sometimes felt. This year, with the second Friday of the new season being slated to pass by without any hockey action, some fans once again claimed that it was ESPN’s ignorance of the sport that was making the scheduling so disappointing. “I will give you the reason. ESPN. Who only care about College Football and NFL.They don’t care about NHL,” one fan vented how hockey still remains unloved by the network.

“Everyone is just getting home off work for the Weekend, and now ya tell me there’s no hockey on?” Yet another fan wasn’t happy about how the start to the weekend suddenly felt so dull. Are you feeling the same kind of irate? Or are you okay with the NHL not having to cater to your needs every single night? Weigh in on the debate!