The Boston Bruins and Nashville Predators will open their 2020-21 regular seasons in Prague, Czech Republic, and the Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets will travel to Helsinki, Finland to make up next year's NHL Global Series, the league announced on Friday.
The Bruins and Predators will also finish their training camps in Germany and Switzerland, respectively, with each team hosting an exhibition game before heading to Prague. Boston stars David Pastrank and David Krejci are from the Czech Republic, and Switzerland is the birthplace of Nashville captain Roman Josi.
Later in the fall, the Avs and Jackets will travel overseas to play two regular-season games. Finland is the home country for Colorado's Mikko Rantanen and Joonas Donskoi, as well as Columbus' Markus Nutivaara and Joonas Korpisalo. Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen was also born in Finland.
Next year's events will mark the fourth consecutive season the NHL has sent teams to Europe, and ninth overall. The Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers opened their seasons in Prague in October, and the Buffalo Sabres and Tampa Bay Lightning are currently in Stockholm, Sweden for a two-game set.
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