DALLAS — After a busy couple of offseason days off the ice, the Dallas Stars announced on Tuesday what their upcoming season will look like on the ice and released their 2024-2025 schedule in full.
And what are the biggest highlights of the reveal? Let's go through them.
When is the Dallas Stars' opening game of the 2024-2025 season?
The Stars' season kicks off on Thursday, October 10, when the team heads to Tennessee to take on the Nashville Predators.
When is the Dallas Stars' 2024-2025 home opener?
The Stars' first home game takes place on Saturday, October 12, as the team welcomes the New York Islanders to the American Airlines Center to kick off a three-game homestand that will also see the team hosting the Seattle Kraken on Sunday, October 13, and the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, October 15.
Who will the Stars face in their annual New Year's Eve home game?
One of the best, if somewhat unheralded, traditions in Dallas sports is the Stars' annual hosting of a home game on New Year's Eve. This year, the team will welcome the Buffalo Sabres to town as they bid 2024 adieu.
When will the Stars play their international games in Finland in the 2024-2024 season?
As has been known for some time now, the Dallas Stars will honor their long-running Finnish connection -- ties dating back to forward Jere Lehtinen in the '90s and '00s, goalie Kari Lehtonen in the '10s and continued throughout the '20s by center Roope Hintz and defensemen Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell -- by heading to Finland for a pair of games against the Florida Panthers on Friday, November 1, and Saturday, November 2.
Those back-to-back games will be held at the Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland, and they will serve as the final installments in this upcoming season's installment of the 2024 NHL Global Series.
During the preseason, the Buffalo Sabres will travel to Munich, Germany, to face off against the EHC Red Bull München of Germany's top hockey league, Deutsche Eishockey Liga, at the SAP Garden on Friday, September 27.
A few weeks later, the Sabres will head to Prague, Czechia, to kick off the NHL regular season in a two-game stand against the New Jersey Devils at the O2 Arena on Friday, October 4, and Saturday, October 5.
Learn more about the 2024 NHL Global Series here.
When will the Stars face off against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in 2024-2025?
The Stars' only games against the Cup-winning Panthers this season will take place in Finland during the Global Series -- which, while perhaps disappointing for Dallas fans hoping to see the Stars take down the reigning champs on home ice, will see the Stars' boasting a de facto home ice advantage considering the team's aforementioned stout Finnish connections.
When will the Stars get their first crack at revenge against the Edmonton Oilers?
The Stars will see Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and company for the first time since losing to the Oilers in the 2024 Western Conference Final when they host Edmonton at the American Airlines Center on Saturday, October 19.
When is the 2024-2025 NHL All-Star Weekend break?
Actually, there isn't one this season -- or moving forward, for the time being, anyway.
Starting this season, the NHL is replacing its All-Star Weekend with a new four-team international tournament called the 4 Nations Face-Off, in which the NHL will host a four-team, round-robin tournament featuring a rotating list of international participating nations with rosters made up of NHL players from those countries.
This inaugural affair will feature the United States, Canada, Sweden and (pertinent again to Stars fans) Finland participating in the February 12-20 tournament, which will be hosted at the Bell Centre in Montreal and TD Garden in Boston.
For more information about the 20254 Nations Face-Off, head here.
When is the Stars' final home game of the 2024-25 regular season?
The Stars will host the Utah Hockey Club -- formerly the Arizona Coyotes -- on Saturday, April 12, in their last regular season game of the 2024-2025 schedule at the American Airlines Center. It is the only time the Stars will host the recently re-branded team this season.
The Stars' first-ever game against Utah, meanwhile, will come on Monday, December 2, at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
Who will the Stars face in their last regular season game of the 2024-2025 season?
The Stars' 2024-2025 season will end just as it starts, as the team will take on the Nashville Predators in an away game on Wednesday, April 16.
How did the Stars reveal their schedule?
The Dallas Stars social media team had a little fun with the reveal.
With the help of their "Social Media Assistants" Wyatt Johnston, Thomas Harley and Nils Lundkvist, they used a compilation of stock images (and a bit of photoshop) to announce the team's opponents.
Check it out:
Are there any other fun facts about the Stars' 2024-2025 schedule?
You bet there are! According to the NHL:
- The Stars' most common night of the week for home games this year is Thursdays (8 games).
- The Stars' most common night of the week for away games this year is Saturdays (11 games).
- The month in which the Stars will host the most home games is December (9 games).
- The month in which the Stars will travel for the most away games is a tie between January and March (8 games each).
- The Stars will be faced with 11 sets of back-to-back games in the 2024-2025 schedule, the first set coming during the team's first home stand of the year.
Where can I get tickets for the Stars' 2024-2025 games?
Tickets are not yet on sale, and an on-sale date for tickets to games in the upcoming season has not yet been announced.
That said, the team has said that Dallas Stars Victory Club Members, Dallas Stars App users and Dallas Stars Insiders will receive access to ticket presales ahead of the general public.
Fans can head here to sign up for more information on Victory Club Memberships, can head here to sign up to become a Dallas Stars Insider and can download the Dallas Stars App by searching "Dallas Stars" in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.