Avalanche to play 2020 regular season game in Helsinki as part of the NHL’s Global Series

Friday morning, the NHL announced that the Colorado Avalanche would once again take part in the league’s Global Series during the 2020-21 regular season. The Avs will play against the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland during the fall November 2020.

The league also announced that the Boston Bruins and Nashville Predators will begin their season in Prague as a part of this series.

The National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA), in conjunction with Live Nation Sweden, today announced that the Boston Bruins, Nashville Predators, Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets will participate in the 2020 NHL Global Series.

The Boston Bruins and Nashville Predators will open their 2020-21 seasons against each other in Prague, Czech Republic, at O2 Arena next October. Later in the fall, the Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets will face off in a pair of regular-season games at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland. In addition, the Bruins and Predators will complete their training camps in Germany and Switzerland, respectively, and each will play an exhibition match as part of the 2020 NHL Global Series Challenge. Game dates as well as broadcast and ticketing information to the 2020 NHL Global Series and 2020 NHL Global Series Challenge will be announced when available.

A couple years ago, the Avalanche traveled to Stockholm, Sweden for the 2017 NHL Global Series, where they were defeated by the Ottawa Senators in two games (Ottawa 4, Colorado 3 (OT) on Nov. 10, 2017; Ottawa 4, Colorado 3 on Nov. 11, 2017) mere days after the two teams completed the now infamous Matt Duchene trade.

In 2017 it was the captain that got to play in front of his countrymen, this time it will be Finnish stars Mikko Rantanen and Joonas Donskoi who will get to show their teammates around their homeland. The league has not finalized the schedule yet, but these games will likely come in the first half of November with the team getting a four or five day break both before and after.

These won’t be the first regular season games to be held at the Hartwell Arena in Helsinki. The Florida Panthers and Winnipeg jets played two games there as a part of the 2018 Global Series. The arena holds 13,349 fans.