After the Blue Jackets host the Pink Wings in a Stadium Sequence matchup at Ohio Stadium later this season, there will likely be solely two NHL franchises left that haven’t performed in an outside sport – the Panthers and Utah. The previous will likely be coming off the checklist shortly as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman mentioned on Tuesday’s Winter Basic broadcast that the league would announce an outside sport in Miami within the subsequent couple of weeks.
“It’s going to be just a little uncommon,’’ Bettman mentioned, through George Richards of Florida Hockey Now. “It’s going to be just a little extra distinctive. Some individuals will assume we’ve misplaced our minds. We’re not able to announce it, however we’ll quickly. And it’s going to be good.’’
The sport will happen at LoanDepot Park, which hosts MLB’s Miami Marlins. It’s a retractable roof stadium, which can presumably be essential to maintain an ice sheet intact in a South Florida local weather that routinely sees 70-degree highs in winter.
These hoping to see an intra-state rivalry matchup between the Panthers and Lightning will likely be out of luck, Richards reviews. That matchup “seems to be off the desk,” however the Lightning will nonetheless seemingly be getting their second outside sport in franchise historical past in 2025-26 or 2026-27, sources inform Richards – this time on their turf at Raymond James Stadium, dwelling of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As an alternative, Richards reviews that the Panthers’ visiting membership will mark the sixth outside sport look for the Bruins or Rangers.
If the roof at LoanDepot Park stays closed all through the sport along with the rink-building course of, it wouldn’t be the primary time that’s occurred. The 2014 Heritage Basic between the Canucks and Senators at Vancouver’s BC Place was performed with the retractable roof deployed as a consequence of rain within the forecast. Precipitation and humidity, not essentially temperature, would seemingly resolve whether or not the Panthers might play with the roof open.
Sources instructed Jordan McPherson and Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald in early December that Florida would seemingly get an outside sport subsequent season.
