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NHL releases preseason schedule; Record six teams play games overseas

Stanley Cup Finals - Chicago Blackhawks v Philadelphia Flyers - Game Six

of the Chicago Blackhawks of the Philadelphia Flyers in Game Six of the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Final at the Wachovia Center on June 9, 2010 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Bruce Bennett

The NHL released its preseason schedule on Monday, so I thought I’d point out some of the highlights. First, here are a few of the things that the league pointed out.

An historic number of NHL clubs playing international games highlights the National Hockey League’s 2010-11 pre-season schedule, the dates and start times of which were announced today. Six clubs -- the Boston Bruins, Phoenix Coyotes, Minnesota Wild, Carolina Hurricanes, San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets -- will play a total of seven games throughout Europe as they prepare to open the regular season overseas in the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere.

It’s been 50 years since the Boston Bruins played overseas, but they’ll make up for it in a big way with exhibitions in Northern Ireland and the Czech Republic along with two regular season opening games against the Phoenix Coyotes in Prague. The Minnesota Wild and Carolina Hurricanes will tune up for regular season openers in Finland by playing in Tampere, Finland and St. Petersburg, Russia respectively. Finally, the San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets will get ready for regular season openers in Sweden by playing in Germany and Sweden.

While other teams won’t play in such exotic locations as Russia or Sweden, there will be some other games outside of NHL cities during the preseason. Here is more from NHL.com.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks open their pre-season schedule Sept. 22 with a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the hometown of Blackhawks captain and Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP Jonathan Toews.

[snip]

The people of Dundas, Ontario, winners of the Canada-wide Kraft Hockeyville contest, will celebrate the grand prize when the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators play a pre-season game in their community Sept. 28.

The schedule features several other contests that will be played outside NHL cities, including Las Vegas, Nev. (Colorado vs. Los Angeles, Oct. 2); London, Ont. (Philadelphia vs. Toronto, Sept. 23); Rochester, N.Y. (Boston vs. Florida, Sept. 23); Quebec City, Que. (Montreal vs. NY Islanders, Oct. 2) and Saskatoon, Sask. (Calgary vs. NY Islanders, Sept. 29).

So those are the highlights of the preseason schedule. The league is expected to release the regular season version next week, so expect all kinds of analysis then.