The Boston Bruins are indeed heading to Germany for the 2027 NHL Global Series, but not to the city some early headlines suggested. Official announcements from the NHL and NHLPA on Thursday confirmed the Bruins will play their two regular-season games at Munich's SAP Garden, not in Berlin, as part of a four-game German swing that also sends the Edmonton Oilers to Cologne's Lanxess Arena.
The correction matters because it clarifies exactly where Boston fans should look if they want to follow the team overseas. As reported by Flashscore, Munich and Cologne are the sole host cities for the 2027 NHL Global Series Germany, correcting initial reporting that had pointed to Berlin. That includes a WCVB article that ran with a Berlin dateline before the league's official venue announcement circulated.
According to NHL.com, the four-game series splits evenly between the two clubs and the two cities: the Bruins will play twice in Munich, while the Oilers play twice in Cologne. Each matchup carries a hometown storyline built in — Munich native JJ Peterka suits up for Boston, while Cologne native Leon Draisaitl headlines Edmonton's side, giving both German cities a homecoming game for one of their own.
Munich's SAP Garden Gets Its First Regular-Season Test
SAP Garden is a 12,500-seat arena in Munich's Olympiapark that opened in September 2024 and serves as home ice for EHC Red Bull München and home court for Bayern Munich's basketball team, per Wikipedia. The venue already has NHL history: the Buffalo Sabres played the building's inaugural NHL-related game there on September 27, 2024, beating EHC Red Bull München 5-0 during the arena's grand opening, according to SAP Garden. The 2027 series will mark the first time Munich hosts NHL regular-season competition.
The German swing doesn't start with Boston and Edmonton, though. Per Bundesliga, the NHL will first stage the 2026 NHL Global Series Germany on December 18 and 20, when the Ottawa Senators and Chicago Blackhawks meet for two regular-season games at the PSD Bank Dome in Düsseldorf — a near-term preview of the league's broader push into the country before the 2027 Munich and Cologne dates arrive.
Peterka's Path From Utah to His Hometown Rink
Peterka's route to a Munich homecoming began this summer. Boston acquired the Munich-born forward from the Utah Mammoth on June 26 in exchange for two first-round draft picks, a trade Hoodline covered in Boston's draft-day trade heist. NHL.com noted the move brought the 25-goal forward to Boston well ahead of his hometown showcase.
Peterka won't be the only German influence behind the Bruins' bench in Munich. Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs said the German games present, in his words, an incredible opportunity for the Bruins organization to build on its longstanding connection with fans around the world, according to WCVB. Head coach Marco Sturm, who WCVB identifies as the NHL's first German head coach, was named the 30th head coach in Bruins history on June 5, 2025, after three seasons leading the AHL's Ontario Reign, per NHL.com. Sturm is also described by WCVB as the first German-born player in Bruins history, giving Boston's trip a coaching pedigree to match its roster storyline. Forward Lukas Reichel, also German-born, rounds out the club's ties to the country, according to WCVB.
Edmonton's Draisaitl Arrives With a Milestone in Hand
Edmonton's half of the series carries its own statistical weight. Draisaitl became the first German-born player in NHL history to reach 1,000 career regular-season points on December 16, 2025, according to The Hockey Writers. That achievement makes the Oilers' Cologne stop as much a milestone tour as a road trip, pairing the league's most accomplished German player with the city where he grew up.
Bayern Munich Partnership Signals Bigger Ambitions
The Munich games arrive alongside a broader commercial push. The NHL and FC Bayern Munich announced a multi-year strategic partnership on the same day as the schedule confirmation, aimed at promoting ice hockey in Germany and expanding Bayern's brand in North America through street hockey initiatives, youth clinics, and matchday activations at Allianz Arena, according to FC Bayern Munich. The tie-up shows how the league is leaning on Germany's dominant soccer brand to build grassroots hockey interest ahead of its arena debuts.
A Long Runway of European Trips for Boston
This won't be the Bruins' first crossing of the Atlantic for competitive hockey, though it will be their second trip to Europe specifically for regular-season games, per WCVB. The franchise ran a 23-game European exhibition tour against the New York Rangers in 1959, visiting England, Switzerland, France, Belgium, West Germany and Austria along the way, WCVB reports. Boston also opened the 2010-11 season in Prague with two games against the Phoenix Coyotes, and the team has ventured to Asia as well, playing two preseason games against the Calgary Flames in Shenzhen and Beijing in 2018.
The 2027 Global Series expands on a German regular-season history that dates back to October 2011, when the Buffalo Sabres played the Anaheim Ducks in Berlin — the country's first taste of NHL regular-season hockey, according to Flashscore. The NHL has not yet released dates, tickets or travel packages for the 2027 Munich and Cologne games, per WCVB, leaving Bruins fans to wait for specifics on how to follow Peterka's homecoming in person.
