How Does NHL Preseason Work? A Guide to Prospects, Junior Hockey, AHL Eligibility and the Shorter 2026 Preseason
Every September, NHL training camps become one of the most important—and confusing—periods on the hockey calendar.
Veterans are preparing for opening night. Rookies are trying to win jobs. Draft picks are attempting to prove they are ready earlier than expected. Other prospects may be competing simply to stay in camp for another week before returning to junior hockey, college, Europe or an American Hockey League affiliate.
In 2026, those decisions are happening faster than ever.
The NHL's 2026-27 preseason runs from September 19 through September 26, with only 65 preseason games across the entire league. The shortened preseason is part of the NHL's new Collective Bargaining Agreement and coincides with the expansion of the regular season from 82 to 84 games per team. The regular season begins September 29.
For established NHL players, fewer preseason games may be welcome.
For prospects trying to make an NHL roster, however, every shift suddenly matters more.
How Does NHL Preseason Work?
NHL preseason takes place after rookie camps, prospect tournaments and the opening of full training camp.
Teams invite a much larger group of players to training camp than they can carry during the regular season. That group can include established NHL players, AHL players, recent draft picks, unsigned prospects, junior players and players attending on professional tryouts.
Coaches and general managers gradually reduce that group as opening night approaches.
The ultimate goal is to construct the opening NHL roster.
NHL clubs generally operate with a maximum 23-player active roster during the regular season, with a minimum roster of 20 players consisting of 18 skaters and two goaltenders.
That means dozens of players who begin September in NHL camps eventually have to go somewhere else.
Depending on the player's age, contract and eligibility, that destination could be the AHL, ECHL, Canadian Hockey League, NCAA hockey or a European league.
And that is where NHL prospect development gets complicated.
Why Is the 2026 NHL Preseason So Short?
The change is part of the new NHL/NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Beginning in 2026-27, the NHL regular season expands to 84 games, while the preseason is reduced to a maximum of four games per team.
The league's official 2026 preseason lasts just eight days.
Training camp practices began September 17, meaning teams playing on opening night have only about 12 days from their first full practice until their first regular-season game.
That is a major change.
Previously, a prospect might receive several exhibition games to make an impression. Coaches could gradually introduce younger players before putting established NHL line combinations together later in camp.
Now there is much less time.
Why the Shorter NHL Preseason Matters for Prospects
Imagine an 18- or 19-year-old arriving at camp trying to beat an established professional for a roster position.
In the past, he might receive four or five preseason appearances.
Now he might get only one or two meaningful opportunities.
One bad game becomes more significant. So does one great game.
Coaches also have less time to experiment because NHL teams need their regular line combinations, defensive pairings, power plays and penalty kills ready almost immediately.
That could create an interesting conflict.
Teams need preseason games to evaluate prospects—but they also need preseason games to prepare NHL players.
The result could be much faster roster cuts.
For borderline prospects, practices, scrimmages and rookie tournaments may therefore become increasingly important parts of the evaluation process.
The NHL-to-AHL Development Pipeline
For many prospects, being cut from NHL camp does not mean anything went wrong.
The American Hockey League is the NHL's primary development league, and most NHL organizations operate with an affiliated AHL team. The AHL provides prospects with professional coaching, heavier competition and a schedule designed to prepare players for eventual NHL roles.
A typical organizational ladder might look something like:
Junior/College/Europe → AHL → NHL
But players don't simply move freely between every level.
Age, contracts and league agreements determine where a prospect can play.
Can an 18-Year-Old Play in the AHL?
Technically, AHL bylaws allow players who are 18 or older by September 15 to compete in the league.
But historically, the biggest restriction involved players drafted out of the Canadian Hockey League.
The CHL consists primarily of three major junior leagues:
Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Western Hockey League (WHL)
Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Under the NHL-CHL agreement, many teenage prospects drafted from these leagues historically faced an unusual choice:
Make the NHL or return to junior hockey.
They generally could not simply be assigned to the AHL.
This created one of hockey's most debated development situations.
A player could potentially be too advanced for junior hockey but not quite ready for the NHL.
A Major Change for 19-Year-Old Prospects
The NHL's new CBA sought to create more flexibility.
The agreement specifically called for reopening the NHL-CHL arrangement so that NHL clubs could loan one 19-year-old player per year to the AHL without first being required to return that player to his junior club.
That change is significant for prospect development.
NHL executives have argued that some elite teenagers have already accomplished nearly everything available to them in junior hockey but still aren't physically or tactically ready for full-time NHL competition.
The AHL can provide a middle ground.
Instead of choosing between dominating junior hockey again or sitting on an NHL fourth line, an organization could give a selected 19-year-old significant professional minutes in the AHL.
NHL.com has already highlighted the new 19-year-old pathway when discussing prospects for the 2026-27 season.
What About NCAA Players?
College hockey prospects operate differently.
NCAA players have increasingly become an important NHL development path, particularly because college hockey gives young players an opportunity to compete against older and physically mature opponents.
NHL executives have noted that NCAA hockey can function as a useful developmental step between junior-level hockey and the professional game.
Once a college player leaves school and turns professional, he can potentially join an NHL or AHL organization depending on his contract situation.
For example, 19-year-old prospects Cole Eiserman and James Hagens moved from NCAA hockey to the AHL during the 2025-26 season, illustrating how different the path can be for college players compared with CHL prospects.
How Do Players Move Between the NHL and AHL?
Once a player is eligible for the AHL and under the appropriate contract, an NHL organization can assign him to its affiliate.
But there is another major consideration:
waivers.
Younger players and recently signed prospects are generally waiver-exempt for a period determined by factors such as age, signing date and NHL games played.
That makes them easier to move between leagues.
Older or more experienced players may require waivers before being assigned to the AHL, giving other NHL teams an opportunity to claim them.
This is why NHL roster decisions are not always simply about identifying the 23 "best" players.
General managers also have to consider contracts, salary-cap implications, waiver eligibility and long-term player development.
A waiver-exempt prospect may occasionally begin in the AHL while a veteran who would have to clear waivers remains in the NHL.
The New Rules Could Make AHL Assignments More Meaningful
Another change under the new CBA limits so-called paper transactions.
Previously, teams could sometimes technically assign a player to the AHL for roster or salary-cap purposes and quickly recall him without the player actually participating in an AHL game.
Under the new agreement, a player assigned to the AHL must appear in a minor-league game before being recalled.
That makes an assignment more tangible.
If a young player gets sent down, teams must increasingly treat it as a real development move rather than merely an administrative maneuver.
What Happens When a Junior Player Gets Cut From NHL Camp?
Consider a highly drafted 18-year-old CHL player.
He performs well during rookie camp and survives the first round of NHL cuts.
Then he plays in preseason.
The organization essentially has to determine whether he is ready for NHL competition or whether another year of development is better.
If he isn't eligible for an AHL assignment under the applicable rules, returning to his junior team may be the appropriate destination.
A 20-year-old prospect, a 19-year-old qualifying for the new AHL pathway, an NCAA player who has turned pro and a European prospect may each face different options.
That is why the phrase "sent down" can be misleading.
Not every prospect is being sent to the same place.
The 2026 Preseason Creates a Faster NHL Audition
The biggest story this September may therefore be opportunity—or the lack of it.
The NHL preseason runs only from September 19-26 before the regular season starts September 29.
Some clubs are even using split-squad games to evaluate more players simultaneously. Montreal and Toronto, for example, scheduled simultaneous split-squad preseason games, allowing each organization to put significantly more players into game situations on the same night.
That makes sense in a compressed preseason.
Teams need more information in less time.
Could Rookie Tournaments Become More Important?
One likely consequence of a shorter preseason is increased importance for everything that happens before NHL exhibition games.
Development camps, prospect showcases, rookie tournaments, training-camp scrimmages and practices give organizations additional opportunities to evaluate young players.
Scouting departments have already watched these prospects for years, of course.
But preseason is different.
It allows coaches to see whether a prospect can execute an NHL system against NHL-caliber competition.
Can he defend against an experienced NHL forward?
Can he win a board battle?
Can he process the game quickly enough?
Can he contribute when he doesn't have the puck?
Those questions can determine whether a player begins the year in the NHL, AHL or somewhere else.
NHL Prospects Have Less Time to Make an Impression
The 2026-27 season represents an interesting shift in how NHL teams develop and evaluate young talent.
The regular season is actually longer, increasing to 84 games, but the preseason has been compressed dramatically.
That means prospects have fewer exhibition games to prove themselves.
At the same time, increased flexibility for certain 19-year-old CHL prospects could give organizations another development option between junior hockey and the NHL.
For hockey fans, that makes September roster battles especially interesting.
A prospect's preseason stat line may only contain two or three games, but behind those numbers are much larger organizational decisions involving age, eligibility, contracts, waivers and development.
And sometimes one great preseason performance is enough to force a team to reconsider its plans.
For fans following prospects across North America, HockeyMap.com helps connect the hockey world geographically—from NHL and AHL markets to junior, college and local hockey communities.
As the 2026-27 season approaches, watch the roster cuts closely.
The players disappearing from an NHL training-camp roster aren't necessarily disappearing from the organization's plans.
In many cases, they're simply taking the next step on a much longer road to the NHL.