The puck drops October 4 for the start of the 2017-18 NHL season, and there are some big changes to look for this year.

The biggest change hockey fans are looking forward to this season is the addition of the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Goalie superstar Marc-Andre Fleury was acquired by the Knights last year as part of the expansion draft, and he is now their starting goaltender. The Golden Knights went 3-4 in the preseason. The Knights play in their inaugural regular season game on Friday, October 6 at Dallas. Their first home game is Tuesday, October 10 against Arizona. The full schedule for the season can be found here.

Fans will also notice that the teams are sporting some new threads. Reebok is no longer the manufacturer of NHL jerseys. Teams this year will be wearing new, lighter ADIZERO jerseys by Adidas.

Although there may not be Austin Matthews or Patrick Laine rookie talent this year, there is still a lot of skill coming with the 2017-18 rookie class. Nico Hischier was drafted first overall by the New Jersey Devils in the 2017 Entry Draft followed by Nolan Patrick being drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers. The race for the Calder Trophy may not be as outstanding as last season, but it will still be an interesting category to pay attention to.

There are three rule changes that will be enforced during the 2017-18 season. The first rule is that no time-out shall be granted to the defensive team following an icing. The team that did not ice the puck can still call a timeout. The second rule change is that when there is a stoppage of play due to a high-sticking of the puck, the location of the face-off will remain the same regardless of manpower. Previously, if the team that caused the high-sticking was on a power-play, the face-off would be moved to their defensive end. The final rule is that if a coach challenges a play for being off-sides and loses, the team will receive a minor delay of game penalty. Timeouts will no longer be a factor in off-sides challenges.

The new NHL season is looking to be pretty interesting, so grab your lucky sweaters because it is finally October once again.