Draisaitl and Peterka Are Going Home as NHL Expands Germany Push

Germany is no longer receiving the occasional NHL visit.

It is becoming part of the league’s international calendar.

The Edmonton Oilers and Boston Bruins will each play two regular-season games in Germany during the 2027-28 season, giving Leon Draisaitl and JJ Peterka the chance to play NHL hockey in the cities where their journeys began.

Edmonton will head to Cologne, Draisaitl’s hometown. Boston will play in Munich, where Peterka was born. The dates and opponents for all four games will be announced later.

Neither Cologne nor Munich has ever hosted an NHL regular-season game.

That alone makes the announcement significant. The bigger story is what surrounds it.

Germany will already welcome the Ottawa Senators and Chicago Blackhawks to Düsseldorf for two games in December 2026. The NHL and NHL Players’ Association have committed to a longer-term strategy built around regular-season games, grassroots development, fan engagement and commercial partnerships in the country.

Now the league is placing two of Germany’s most recognizable hockey stars at the center of the next phase.

For continuing coverage of league expansion, players, contracts, team developments and the Stanley Cup, visit The Sports Encounter’s NHL hub.

2027 NHL Global Series Germany at a Glance

Detail	Information
Season	2027-28 NHL regular season
Edmonton Oilers games	Two regular-season games
Edmonton host city	Cologne, Germany
Boston Bruins games	Two regular-season games
Boston host city	Munich, Germany
Featured German star	Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
Featured German star	JJ Peterka, Boston Bruins
Dates	To be announced
Opponents	To be announced
Cologne NHL regular-season history	First regular-season NHL games
Munich NHL regular-season history	First regular-season NHL games

Draisaitl Returning to Cologne Is the Centerpiece

There are international games, and then there are homecomings.

Leon Draisaitl playing an NHL regular-season game in Cologne belongs firmly in the second category.

The Oilers center was born in Cologne in 1995 and developed through German hockey before crossing the Atlantic and becoming one of the defining NHL players of his generation.

He has since built a career that changed what seemed possible for a German-born player in the league.

Draisaitl is the only German-born player to surpass 1,000 NHL points. He reached 1,053 career points by the time of Thursday’s announcement, leaving him comfortably ahead of every other Germany-born player in league history.

His individual honors already include the Hart Memorial Trophy as NHL MVP and the Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion in 2019-20. He later won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy after leading the league with 52 goals in 2024-25.

The NHL previously documented how Draisaitl’s rise has increased hockey’s visibility in Germany as he approached the 1,000-point milestone.

By 2027, the relationship becomes physical rather than symbolic.

The Oilers are going to his city.

Cologne Has Seen Draisaitl in an Oilers Jersey Before, but This Is Different

Edmonton has previously taken Draisaitl back to Cologne.

The Oilers played an exhibition game against Kölner Haie in 2018 before continuing their European trip.

That night carried emotional value, particularly because of Draisaitl’s family and developmental ties to German hockey.

The 2027 visit will carry official consequences.

These will be regular-season games.

Points will count.

Line combinations will matter.

Special teams will matter.

Goaltending decisions will matter.

Edmonton will not be appearing in Cologne merely as a touring attraction. The Oilers will be trying to win NHL games during an 84-game regular season.

For German supporters who have watched Draisaitl’s career primarily through broadcasts and late-night North American start times, the difference is substantial.

Connor McDavid Gives the Cologne Games Another Global Superstar

Draisaitl provides the local emotional connection.

Connor McDavid gives Edmonton another reason these games could become among the most sought-after hockey tickets Germany has hosted.

The Oilers have spent years building around one of the most dangerous offensive partnerships in modern hockey.

McDavid’s speed and playmaking have made him a global face of the sport, while Draisaitl’s combination of size, finishing, passing and power-play intelligence has created a second elite point of attack.

The possibility of German fans seeing both in an official NHL game in Cologne gives the league far more than a ceremonial homecoming.

It gives the NHL one of its most marketable teams in a country the league has explicitly identified for further growth.

Draisaitl’s place within hockey’s salary hierarchy also reflects his stature. Our ranking of the highest-paid NHL players in history places his eight-year, $112 million contract among the biggest annual commitments in the sport.

JJ Peterka Gives Boston Its Own German Homecoming

Munich’s story will be different.

JJ Peterka does not have Draisaitl’s résumé yet, but his connection to the city makes Boston’s appearance equally deliberate.

The 24-year-old was born in Munich and grew through German hockey before establishing himself in the NHL.

Peterka joined the Bruins in a June 26 trade from Utah after producing 47 points, including 25 goals and 22 assists, across all 82 games for the Mammoth in 2025-26.

His first four NHL seasons came with the Buffalo Sabres.

By the time Boston reaches Munich, Peterka will have had more than a full season to establish himself inside the Bruins’ structure.

The NHLPA made the local connection explicit when announcing the games, highlighting both Draisaitl and Peterka getting the opportunity to play before hometown supporters.

That is not accidental scheduling.

It is star-driven market development.

The NHL Is Building Germany Around German Players

The strategy becomes clearer when the 2026 and 2027 games are placed together.

Ottawa and Chicago will play in Düsseldorf on December 18 and 20, 2026.

Ottawa brings Tim Stützle, another major German NHL talent.

The following season brings Edmonton to Cologne with Draisaitl and Boston to Munich with Peterka.

Germany’s NHL story is therefore being built around players who already give local fans a reason to care.

The NHL and NHLPA have described the Germany initiative as a long-term international growth strategy incorporating grassroots programs, content, fan engagement, business partnerships and additional regular-season games.

The game schedule is the visible part.

The strategy underneath is much broader.

Düsseldorf Is the Bridge to Cologne and Munich

Germany’s current NHL regular-season history is surprisingly thin considering the country’s hockey tradition.

Buffalo Sabres and Los Angeles Kings played in Berlin on October 8, 2011.

Germany then went 15 years without another NHL regular-season game.

That drought ends in Düsseldorf in December 2026 when Ottawa and Chicago play twice at PSD Bank Dome.

The league’s 2026-27 schedule formally includes those Düsseldorf games alongside Global Series contests in Finland.

Then come Cologne and Munich.

Viewed together, the pattern matters more than any individual matchup.

Berlin in 2011 looked like an event.

Düsseldorf, Cologne and Munich increasingly look like a market strategy.

Germany Has Earned More Attention From the NHL

German hockey is no longer represented internationally by one exceptional outlier.

Draisaitl remains the standard bearer, but the talent pool around him has grown.

Stützle has developed into a major offensive player in Ottawa.

Moritz Seider became a franchise defenseman in Detroit.

Peterka established himself as an NHL scorer.

Philipp Grubauer built a long goaltending career.

Nico Sturm became a Stanley Cup champion.

Lukas Reichel and other German players have continued adding depth.

The pipeline does not resemble Canada’s, the United States’ or the traditional Nordic powers.

It does not need to.

Germany now produces enough genuine NHL talent to make the country’s connection to the league sustainable rather than dependent on one star.

That wider hockey growth was visible during the inaugural 3ICE World Cup, where Germany recovered from a four-goal deficit against Canada to finish third.

Cologne Is a Natural Hockey City for This Experiment

Cologne offers more than Draisaitl’s birthplace.

The city already has a strong hockey identity through Kölner Haie and a fan base accustomed to supporting the sport at scale.

That matters for the NHL.

An international event works better when local supporters understand what they are watching and already have an emotional relationship with hockey.

The league does not need to introduce the sport from scratch.

It can introduce the Oilers.

Draisaitl becomes the bridge between those two worlds.

A child who grew up playing in Germany returns as an NHL MVP, scoring champion and one of the greatest European players of his generation.

That story markets itself.

Munich Opens Another Kind of Opportunity

Munich offers the NHL a different profile.

It is one of Europe’s wealthiest and most internationally recognizable cities, with a massive professional sports culture and an increasingly important hockey market.

The NHL has also entered a multi-year partnership with FC Bayern Munich built around international growth, community initiatives, content and cross-market engagement.

Putting the Bruins in Munich alongside that wider push creates multiple entry points for fans who may know Peterka, Bayern or the NHL without necessarily following all three.

This is where modern sports expansion becomes more sophisticated than flying two teams overseas.

The game is the centerpiece.

The commercial and cultural ecosystem around it is what the league hopes will remain afterward.

Boston Is an Interesting Choice for Germany

The Bruins bring one of the NHL’s most recognizable traditional brands into a new market.

Boston belongs to the Original Six and carries generations of history.

That provides a useful contrast with Peterka.

A young German forward becomes one of the local faces of an organization whose identity stretches back more than a century.

The Sports Encounter frequently looks at how historic franchises connect their past with their present. Our feature on Jonathan Toews’ retirement and his impact on Chicago examined how individual stars can become inseparable from the identity of major hockey cities.

Peterka is at a much earlier point of that journey.

Munich gives him an unusual chance to connect his new NHL team with the city that first shaped him.

The Opponents Could Make the Games Even Bigger

The NHL has deliberately left one important part of the announcement unfinished.

We do not yet know who Edmonton and Boston will play.

That creates several intriguing possibilities.

An opponent carrying another major German player would strengthen the home-market narrative.

Detroit could bring Seider.

Ottawa could bring Stützle.

Other matchups could be chosen for divisional, scheduling or commercial reasons.

What should not be assumed is that Edmonton and Boston will play each other.

The current announcement says each team will play two games in Germany, with opponents and dates to follow.

The final pairings could therefore add another layer to an already strong concept.

Germany Is Part of a Wider NHL International Push

The NHL’s overseas ambitions extend beyond Germany.

The 2026-27 season includes regular-season games in Helsinki between the Carolina Hurricanes and Seattle Kraken.

Europe has regularly hosted Global Series games in markets including Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic.

The difference with Germany is the commitment to repetition.

One visit can create attention.

Repeated visits can create habits.

That is where the league’s strategy becomes particularly interesting.

The Sports Encounter has already examined the NHL’s growing appeal through our analysis of how rising Stanley Cup television audiences showed renewed momentum around hockey.

International growth is another part of the same challenge.

The league wants more people watching, following teams, recognizing players and caring about games beyond traditional North American markets.

The NHL Has Something the NFL and NBA Understand Well: Star Power Travels

International sports expansion becomes much easier when the audience already knows the athletes.

The NBA has built enormous global recognition around individual superstars.

The NFL increasingly takes recognizable franchises and players into international markets.

The NHL has traditionally relied more heavily on hockey-first audiences.

Draisaitl changes the equation in Germany.

He is local enough to create emotional ownership and globally accomplished enough to sell the quality of the product.

Peterka gives the league a second hometown story.

Stützle provides another through Düsseldorf.

The league is effectively turning Germany’s own NHL generation into the ambassadors for its expansion.

Draisaitl’s Legacy in Germany Is Already Larger Than His Statistics

The 1,053 points matter.

The MVP matters.

The scoring titles matter.

The Stanley Cup runs matter.

Draisaitl’s larger impact is that a German player has occupied the absolute top tier of the world’s best hockey league for years.

That visibility changes expectations for younger athletes.

German prospects no longer need to imagine whether someone from their system can become an NHL superstar.

They have watched it happen.

The same dynamic appears throughout sports when one athlete changes what a country believes is achievable.

By bringing Draisaitl home in an Oilers uniform, the NHL turns that influence into something German fans can see in person.

Germany Also Fits the NHL’s Search for New Commercial Growth

International games are emotional sporting events, but they are also commercial projects.

The NHL gains access to sponsors, merchandise demand, broadcast attention and potential long-term supporters.

Teams gain visibility beyond their normal geographic markets.

German partners gain access to a major North American league.

The league’s rising salary structure makes those commercial ambitions increasingly relevant.

The Sports Encounter’s analysis of hockey’s largest contracts shows how rapidly the economic scale surrounding elite NHL talent is changing.

Higher revenues support higher salary caps.

New markets potentially contribute to that growth.

International Expansion Still Has a Hockey Cost

There is another side to the Global Series.

Travel.

Time-zone changes.

Training disruption.

Schedule compression.

Players are asked to cross the Atlantic in the middle of an NHL season and still compete for meaningful standings points.

The experience can be memorable while remaining physically demanding.

The league therefore has to build schedules around recovery and competitive fairness rather than treating overseas games purely as entertainment products.

That will be particularly important for Edmonton, a Western Conference team already accustomed to substantial travel across North America.

The Games Need to Leave Something Behind

The NHL’s Germany project will ultimately be judged by more than attendance.

Sold-out arenas would be the easiest measurement.

The harder questions come afterward.

Did more children try hockey?

Did local clubs gain attention?

Did German viewership increase?

Did new supporters continue following Edmonton, Boston, Ottawa and Chicago after the teams returned home?

Did sponsors remain involved?

Did the league create stronger German-language content and more sustained fan engagement?

That is why the grassroots part of the NHL-NHLPA strategy matters.

A Global Series can introduce people to the product.

A development ecosystem determines whether the relationship lasts.

The 2026 Stanley Cup Showed Why the NHL Wants a Wider Audience

The league enters this international push with strong evidence that its core product remains compelling.

Carolina’s championship run delivered drama, tactical depth and growing television interest.

The Sports Encounter covered the final through to the moment when the Hurricanes shut out Vegas in Game 6 to win the Stanley Cup.

The challenge now is distributing that excitement more effectively.

Germany gives the NHL a market with existing hockey culture, elite local players and major commercial potential.

That combination explains why the country has moved rapidly up the league’s international priority list.

The Global Series Also Connects Hockey’s Past and Future

The NHL has spent more than a century building deeply local identities in North American cities.

International expansion asks franchises to create additional relationships without weakening those foundations.

Some of hockey’s strongest stories come from that sense of place.

Our broader hockey coverage repeatedly returns to the connection between players, cities, supporters and identity.

The Germany games invert that relationship.

Draisaitl is taking Edmonton into his original city.

Peterka is taking Boston into his.

For a few nights, Cologne and Munich become part of those NHL franchises’ geography.

TSE Analysis: This Is Smarter Than Dropping Random Games Into Europe

The best international sports strategy gives local fans a reason to emotionally claim the event.

Germany now has that.

Düsseldorf gets Stützle and the 2026 Global Series.

Cologne gets Draisaitl and Edmonton.

Munich gets Peterka and Boston.

Those connections transform the games from neutral-site exhibitions into homecoming stories.

The league still has to execute.

Ticket prices matter.

Broadcast access matters.

Community programming matters.

Scheduling matters.

Repeated engagement after the teams leave matters.

But the underlying concept is strong because the NHL is building around people German fans already recognize.

Final Verdict: Draisaitl and Peterka Make Germany More Than a Global Series Stop

Leon Draisaitl did not need an NHL game in Cologne to establish his place in German hockey history.

His career has already done that.

JJ Peterka does not need Munich to prove he belongs in the league.

He has already built an NHL career and earned a move to one of hockey’s most famous franchises.

The value of these games lies in bringing those journeys back to where they started.

Germany spent 15 years without an NHL regular-season game after Berlin in 2011.

Now Düsseldorf will host two in 2026, followed by four more involving Edmonton and Boston in 2027-28.

That is a clear change of direction.

The NHL is no longer asking whether Germany deserves another game.

It is asking how large its German presence can become.

Draisaitl returning to Cologne and Peterka returning to Munich provide the perfect faces for that experiment.

And if the NHL’s longer-term investment works, those four games could matter far beyond the final score.

Follow The Sports Encounter’s latest NHL coverage for league news, player stories, team developments, contracts and analysis.

FAQs

Are the Edmonton Oilers playing NHL games in Germany in 2027?

Yes. Edmonton will play two regular-season games in Cologne during the 2027-28 NHL season.

Are the Boston Bruins playing in Germany?

Yes. Boston will play two regular-season games in Munich during the 2027-28 season.

Will the Oilers play the Bruins in Germany?

That has not been announced. The NHL has confirmed that Edmonton and Boston will each play two games in Germany, but the opponents and dates will be announced later.

Why are the Oilers playing in Cologne?

Cologne is the hometown of Edmonton superstar Leon Draisaitl, making the games a major homecoming for the most accomplished German-born scorer in NHL history.

Why are the Bruins playing in Munich?

Munich is the hometown of Bruins forward JJ Peterka, who joined Boston in 2026.

Has Cologne hosted an NHL regular-season game before?

No. The 2027-28 games will be the first NHL regular-season games staged in Cologne, although Edmonton played an exhibition game there in 2018.

Has Munich hosted an NHL regular-season game before?

No. Munich will host NHL regular-season hockey for the first time.

When was the last NHL regular-season game in Germany?

Before the scheduled 2026 Düsseldorf games, Germany’s previous NHL regular-season game was Buffalo Sabres vs Los Angeles Kings in Berlin on October 8, 2011.

Which NHL teams are playing in Germany in 2026?

The Ottawa Senators and Chicago Blackhawks will play regular-season games in Düsseldorf on December 18 and December 20, 2026.

How many NHL points does Leon Draisaitl have?

Reuters reported that Draisaitl had reached 1,053 career NHL points at the time of the August 20, 2026 announcement, the most ever by a German-born player.