SUNRISE, Fla. – The National Hockey League announced today that the Discover 2026 NHL Winter Classic will feature the Florida Panthers hosting the New York Rangers at loanDepot park, home of Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins, on Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. TNT will broadcast the 2026 NHL Winter Classic exclusively in the U.S.

The NHL announced Wednesday that the Florida Panthers will host the 2026 Winter Classic, facing the New York Rangers on Jan. 2 at loanDepot park, home of the Miami Marlins. “Our time has come that we deserve an outdoor game,” Panthers president and CEO Matt Caldwell said. “We’re fired up to have it right here locally.”

But of the 41 outdoor games the NHL has put on since the 2003 Heritage Classic in Edmonton, the ones NHL president of content and events Steve Mayer — the mad scientist behind the games — gets asked about are the ones nobody could attend: Golden Knights – Avalanche and Flyers -Bruins at Lake Tahoe during the Covid-19 pandemic in February 2021.

The Rangers’ 2025-26 schedule will include another outdoor game, with the Blueshirts set to face the Panthers in the Winter Classic at loanDepot Park in Miami on Jan. 2, 2026, the league announced Wednesday.

It’s been officially announced by the NHL that the 2026 Winter Classic will see the Florida Panthers host the New York Rangers at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida on January 2nd, 2026. The NHL’s scheduling in recent years suggested that the Panthers would likely play the Rangers,

After hosting the NHL All-Star Game in 2023, the Florida Panthers followed that up by achieving a dream 30 years in the making when they won their first-ever Stanley Cup in 2024. In 2026, the organization’s golden age will continue with the Winter Classic.