Panthers to Host Rangers in 2026 NHL Winter Classic

Playing an outdoor hockey game in Florida was once thought to be nothing short of a fantasy, until now.

The Florida Panthers will play hosts to the New York Rangers in the 2026 NHL Winter Classic, the NHL announced Wednesday. 

The game will be played on Jan. 2, 2026 in Miami at loanDepot Park, home of MLB’s Miami Marlins. 

Over the past few years, South Florida has become a major attraction for the NHL, with the Panthers hosting the All Star game in 2023, before making back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances in 2023 and 2024.

Now the Panthers can add Winter Classic hosts to its resume. 

Florida is one of three NHL teams yet to appear in an outdoor game, with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Utah Hockey Club — formerly the Arizona Coyotes — being the other two. 

Utah will soon be the lone franchise awaiting an outdoor game, with Florida getting the Winter Classic and Columbus hosting the Detroit Red Wings in the 2025 NHL Stadium Series this March.

The matchup will see last season’s Eastern Conference finalists faceoff under the Miami sun — or loanDepot’s retractable roof — in what will be the Panthers’ first ever outdoor game in its 32nd NHL season. 

The Panthers knocked the Rangers out of the playoffs in Game 6 of the 2024 Eastern Conference Final, en route to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup last season. 

Next year’s game will be the 16th edition of the Winter Classic, which was first held on Jan. 1, 2008 in Orchard Park, N.Y., where the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 in a shootout.

The NHL also announced that the Tampa Bay Lightning will host the Boston Bruins in the 2026 NHL Stadium Series on Feb. 1 at Raymond James Stadium, giving the State of Florida not one, but two outdoor games in 2026.

“Stanley Cups, strings of sellouts and the exponential growth of youth and high school hockey throughout the state have demonstrated that Florida is a hockey hotbed,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “Outdoor NHL games in the Sunshine State? Never let it be said that our League isn’t willing to accept a challenge.”