The Chicago Blackhawks' defense of their second Stanley Cup championship in four seasons will begin Oct. 1 at the United Center.
On hand to watch the Hawks raise their Stanley Cup, Clarence Campbell, Central Division and Presidents' Trophy banners will be the Washington Capitals.
The 2013-14 regular-season schedule, released by the NHL on Friday, features every team playing against one another at least twice--home and away. In addition, the NHL announced the names of the four divisions under realignment, the Pacific and Central in the Western Conference and Metropolitan and Atlantic in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks are in the Central, along with the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues and Winnipeg Jets.
The Hawks' schedule features two seven-game road trips, from Nov. 19-30 and Jan.28-Feb. 27. Their second seven-game trip will be broken up by the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, to be held from Feb. 7-23 in Sochi, Russia.
With realignment, the Hawks will play the other six Central Division teams 29 times. Those are five games each against thr Avs (three home/two away), Stars (two home/three away), Wild (two home/three away), Predators (two home/three away) and Blues (three home/two away). the Hawks will face the Jets twice at the United Center and twice in Winnipeg.
The Hawks will have Stanley Cup Final rematches against the Boston Bruins on Jan. 19 at the UC and in Boston on March 27. They will take on Original Six rivals the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 22 in the Motor City and host the Wings on March 16.
A new wrinkle for the Hawks' season will be 7 p.m. start times for home games unless national TV dictates otherwise.
Twitter @ChrisKuc