Five highlights from 2025-26 NHL schedule
From the renewal of intense rivalries to superstars returning to their former home bases, the release of a new NHL regular-season schedule always foreshadows some of the upcoming campaign’s spiciest storylines. Here are five take-aways from the 2025-26 schedule released Wednesday:
(UN) WELCOME HOME
Toronto fans will have to wait until next year to see Mitch Marner’s anticipated return to Scotiabank Arena when the Vegas Golden Knights visit the Toronto Maple Leafs on Jan. 26. The superstar forward spent his first nine NHL seasons with his hometown Maple Leafs before being sent to Vegas in a June 30 sign-and-trade amid a souring relationship between the club and the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent. Marner had 741 points in 657 games with the Leafs but bore a lot of the criticism from the Toronto faithful vexed at their team’s lack of playoff success. Expect Marner to get rough treatment from a segment of the Scotiabank Arena crowd upon his return, though he is sure to still have his supporters in the stands. Marner, who is set to start an eight-year, US$96-million contract, will reunite with former teammates a few days earlier when Toronto visits Vegas on Jan. 15.
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FINAL REMATCH
The Edmonton Oilers don’t have to wait too long to get another crack at the Florida Panthers, as the Stanley Cup finalists from the past two seasons are set to square off in Sunrise, Fla., on Nov. 22. The Panthers won their second straight Cup at Edmonton’s expense this year, capping off the 2024-25 season by winning the final series in six games. It marked the eighth time a Canadian team has failed to break the country’s Stanley Cup drought that stretches back to the 1993-94 season. The teams meet again March 19 in Edmonton. Florida won both regular-season games against Edmonton in 2024-25.
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RIVALRIES REKINDLED
The start of the season will see the resumption of hostilities among the NHL’s Canadian teams and their rivals. Edmonton opens the season Oct. 8 at home against the provincial rival Calgary Flames, with the Vancouver Canucks coming to town three days later. The Flames visit Vancouver the night after their season opener in Edmonton. The Winnipeg Jets open their season Oct. 9 against Dallas, the team that knocked the Presidents’ Trophy winners out of the second round of the playoffs. The Maple Leafs start at home Oct. 8 against the Original Six archrival Montreal Canadiens. The Ottawa Senators, however, have to wait until a Nov. 1 trip to Montreal before facing off with a Canadian division rival.
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BIG BREAK
The NHL’s return to Olympic competition means a chance for some players in the league to represent their country on one of sports’ biggest stages, and a nice extended break for the others. The league will pause action on Feb. 6 for 19 days to accommodate the men’s hockey tournament at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. It’s the first Games to feature NHL players since the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
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TURKEY TIME
The NFL may own Thanksgiving in the United States, but the Canadian version of the holiday will serve up an afternoon NHL doubleheader to kick off the season’s Prime Monday Night Hockey programming on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming platform. Detroit Red Wings at Toronto will air Monday, Oct. 13 at 4 p.m. ET, followed by the St. Louis Blues at Vancouver Canucks at 4:30 p.m. PT.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 16, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says e-scooter injuries are on the rise across the country.
It released data Thursday saying that hospitalizations involving e-scooters for kids between five and 17 years old increased by 61 per cent from 2022-23 to 2023-24.
The agency said hospitalizations for men between 18 and 64 went up by 22 per cent in that time period and went up by 60 per cent for women.
The data shows the majority of e-scooter hospitalizations happened in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia.
Dr. Daniel Rosenfield, a pediatric emergency physician at SickKids Hospital in Toronto, said the number of kids and teens arriving in the emergency department with e-scooter injuries has been increasing over the last five years and some have been “catastrophic,” including one 13-year-old boy’s death in 2023.
“We see anything from minor scrapes and cuts and little lacerations that need a couple of stitches to … traumatic brain injury, internal bleeding in the chest and abdomen, open fractures that need to go to the operating room to be fixed,” he said.
Some children between four and six years old have been hurt while riding with their parents on an e-scooter, Rosenfield said, but injuries among teens riding on their own is more common.
Among cases where the information is available, 80 per cent of the riders who end up in the ER aren’t wearing helmets, he said.
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Rosenfield said he thinks the rise in injuries correlates to an increase in the popularity and affordability of e-scooters in recent years — together with a lack of understanding about how dangerous they can be.
“These scooters, much like everything electrified these days, have come down in price and have increased in power,” he said.
“Their acceleration and torque is tremendous. And most parents, when they’re buying these things for their kids, are completely unaware of that.”
Pamela Fuselli, president and CEO of Parachute Canada — a charity focused on injury prevention — said the laws around e-scooters vary between provinces and even municipalities.
In Ontario, riders must be at least 16 years old. But in Toronto, e-scooters are not allowed on public roads or paths. And just east of the city in Oshawa, they’re permitted under a pilot program.
But people are clearly using them even where they’re not allowed, Fuselli said.
“Even while a city may have a bylaw about this, they can regulate what’s operated in public spaces, but then that has to be enforced. They can’t really regulate what’s sold,” she said.
Fuselli said kids under 16 should not be riding e-scooters — and parents shouldn’t be buying them for children younger than that.
“They look like toys, but they really are motor vehicles,” she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2025.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Most new measles cases in Ontario over the past week were reported in a popular summer travel area.
Public Health Ontario is reporting 32 new measles cases, 19 of which are in Huron Perth.
The public health unit located west of Kitchener includes Stratford, known for its annual theatre festival, as well as Lake Huron beach spots including Clinton and Goderich.
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That brings Ontario’s total case count to 2,276 since an outbreak began last fall.
Public health experts have encouraged cautious optimism on Ontario’s slowing case counts given the ebb and flow of the highly contagious infectious disease.
Alberta is also battling an outbreak, reaching 1,340 total cases since the outbreak there began in March. It surpassed the United States’ case count earlier this week.
Also this week, New Brunswick declared a measles outbreak and has reported five confirmed cases in the south-central region of the province.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Ontario’s solicitor general says the province is adding 150 beds to three jails across the province using modular construction.
Michael Kerzner made the announcement Thursday at the Niagara Detention Centre, which will expand by 50 spaces, as will the Vanier Centre for Women in Milton, and the Cecil Facer Youth Centre in Sudbury, which is also being converted to an adult facility.
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Construction is expected to begin next year and cost the province more than $180 million.
The announcement comes not long after the province’s ombudsman raised concerns about an overcrowding “crisis” in Ontario’s correctional facilities, saying some are operating at more than 150 per cent of their capacity, compromising safety for inmates and staff alike.
Premier Doug Ford has also recently been pushing the federal government for stricter bail laws and urging judges and justices of the peace not to let violent, repeat offenders out on bail when they are charged with a new crime.
Provincial jails hold people accused of a crime but not out on bail, as well as those serving sentences of two years less a day, but the vast majority fit into the first category and have not been convicted.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
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