2009-2010 NHL Schedule Released

Hockey fans can start making their plans. The NHL released the 2009-2010 regular season schedule Wednesday afternoon.

You can view each team's schedule here. We'll look at some of the more intriguing matchups after the jump.

The season opens October 1 with four games, including Montreal at Toronto and San Jose visiting Colorado for Joe Sakic's jersey retirement.

The Pittsburgh Penguins open defense of their Stanley Cup title, and raise the championship banner, October 2 at home against the Rangers. This is scheduled to be the last home opener in Mellon Arena history, as the new rink is set for the fall of 2010. The Penguins will help lift the lid on the NHL career of John Tavares the next night, as they visit the Islanders.

Pittsburgh gets two rematches against Cup runner-up Detroit, January 31 in Pittsburgh and March 22 at The Joe. Detroit will be in Europe to start their season in Stockholm against the Blues on October 2-3 (Florida and Chicago play the same days in Helsinki), then the Red Wings open at home October 8 against Marian Hossa and the Blackhawks.

Chicago sees former teammate Martin Havlat for the first time October 26 at the United Center, as the Wild pay a visit. Minnesota faces Marian Gaborik for the first time later that week, when the Rangers visit St. Paul October 30. Former Wild coach Jacques Lemaire takes his Devils to the XCel Energy Center January 2.

Gaborik and Lemaire, together for nine years in Minnesota, will face each other on opposing teams for the first time October 5. That's when the Rangers face the Devils in New Jersey's home opener.

The first of four Pittsburgh-Washington games will be played January 21 in Pittsburgh. Those two, of course, hooked up for a super seven-game series in this year's playoffs. Those should bring us plenty of Sidney Crosby-Alex Ovechkin hype. The Capitals open the season October 3 at Boston, as the Bruins start the year with a five-game homestand.

With the Olympics coming to Vancouver in February, the Canucks will play a record 14 straight games on the road. Even with the league-wide Olympic break starting February 15, the Canucks have to get out of dodge so the city and their arena can be prepared for the Games. That roadie begins January 30 at Toronto, and the Canucks won't play at home again until March 13 against Ottawa.

January 30 is also the day for CBC's famous Hockey Day Canada broadcast, as they spotlight the six Canadian teams in a special tripleheader. Those games are Montreal at Ottawa, Toronto at Vancouver, and Edmonton at Calgary.

Jay Bouwmeester will return to the Sunshine State February 5, as the Flames battle the Florida Panthers. Former Duck Chris Pronger won't play any games in Anaheim, but the Ducks do visit Philadelphia October 10. On that same night, the much-maligned Coyotes franchise opens their home schedule against Columbus. Surely, their season will be closely-monitored by many fans and media.

The final day of the regular season will be Sunday, April 11, leading to the Stanley Cup Playoffs opening up April 14.