The first of two head-to-head matchups for this year's 2026 NHL Global Series is set to take place over the next few days, with two games scheduled to take place.
While the Edmonton Oilers will not be involved until next year's edition, the team will still be represented during the proceedings.
Here's a guide of what to expect should you tune into the first edition of this year's NHL Global Series.
Who's involved? Where is it taking place?
The 2026 NHL Global Series will feature a two-game series between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Seattle Kraken. The series will count as the two teams' head-to-head series for the 2026-27 NHL season.
Both games will take place at the Veikkaus Arena in Helsinki, Finland; the stadium is home to Liiga side Jokerit.
The first game will take place on Thursday, November 12 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time, while the second contest will occur on Saturday, November 14 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Are there any former Oilers taking part in the Global Series?
Two former Oilers are part of this year's Kraken roster.
The Kraken's captain, Jordan Eberle, was a longtime member of the Oilers. He first arrived in Edmonton during the 2010-11 NHL campaign and eventually helped the team get back to the postseason six years later. That said, he left for the New York Islanders immediately after that postseason campaign before being acquired by the Kraken during their expansion draft.
As part of the Oilers, Eberle played a total of 520 games (regular season and postseason combined), recording 384 points over the course of those contests.
Adam Larsson is the other Kraken player that has past ties to the Oilers. His first season in Edmonton was the 2016-17 campaign that saw Edmonton return to the playoffs; he played an additional four seasons with the team before joining the Kraken as part of its inaugural roster. Larsson played just shy of 350 games with the Oilers (considering both regular season and playoff contests), putting 76 points on the board during that time frame.
For the Hurricanes, Taylor Hall will represent the Oilers at the Global Series. He's coming off a Stanley Cup win with the Hurricanes and has six points in his first 10 games of the campaign.
What do fans need to know? What should fans expect?
The first game feels like it's going to be all Carolina, but the second could be much closer.
The Hurricanes enter this contest with two blowout wins in their last four games. First, the Hurricanes defeated the Winnipeg Jets by a 7-0 scoreline on November 1; they followed that up six days later by racing out to the same scoreline against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hurricanes ultimately won that second game 9-2.
Those two wins are only part of what has been a dominant start to the Hurricanes' Stanley Cup defense. Even though their season started with an overtime loss to the Florida Panthers and a 5-2 loss against the Washington Capitals, the Hurricanes have gone 13-2-1 since. Their only losses in that 16-game run came against the Oilers, Calgary Flames, and Nashville Predators. As a result, they are the first team to reach 30 points this season and are on pace for 133 points; that would put them just two points short of the record for most regular-season points in a single campaign, which was set by the 2022-23 Boston Bruins.
The Kraken are also enjoying a strong start to the 2026-27 NHL season; their 9-6-1 start to the 2026-27 season represents the best 16-game start in the team's history. While they might not have the goalscoring to match the Hurricanes beat for beat, they are still a top-10 team in the league in that regard. In addition, the Kraken possesses one of the many strengths of this year's Oilers team; they have the fifth-best shooting percentage in the league.
That said, the Hurricanes are much further ahead than the Kraken in almost every goaltending/defensive metric. Whereas the Hurricanes are generally a top-five/top-10 team on that side of the ice, one has to go well into the bottom-half of the league standings to find the Kraken.
In all, it is fair to expect this series to end up being a two-game sweep for the Hurricanes.
Even though Seattle should find some offense, it remains to be seen if the Kraken's goaltending unit will keep the team competitive against the Hurricanes. If that doesn't happen, Carolina might walk away from this series with all four points.
For the Kraken, it might simply be about damage control. An overtime point in the series could easily be seen as a win, but leaving Finland with a split could be just as valuable, especially given how close the middle of the Pacific Division standings is.
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