RALEIGH - Erik Cole wasn't too concerned about the release of the NHL schedule on Thursday. The former Carolina Hurricanes forward already knew what the schedule made official: He won't have to wait long to return to the RBC Center.

The Edmonton Oilers will visit the Canes on Nov. 1, four months to the day since the trade that sent Cole north of the border. Cole had heard the Oilers were headed to Raleigh. He just didn't know when.

"If our two teams are going to play each other, I'd rather play in Raleigh for sure," Cole said Thursday. "It's going to be fun. It's a great way to kind of put the past behind me and make sure I'm looking forward and moving on."

The new schedule presents a stiff opening challenge for the Hurricanes, who face both Stanley Cup finalists and play seven of nine games on the road in October before returning home to face Cole and the Oilers.

Before the first month of the NHL season is out, the Hurricanes will face the defending champions, visit California for the first time in almost three years and play games in three time zones.

It gets easier at the end: Eight of Carolina's final 11 games are at home.

After opening the season at the RBC Center against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 10, the Hurricanes travel south to face the new-look Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 11 in Barry Melrose's first game as an NHL coach in 13 years.

They host the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 13, then head out on a six-game road trip for the rest of the month to avoid the State Fair, which runs Oct. 16-26.

That odyssey includes games at the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks as well as a visit to the Pittsburgh Penguins and a game at the New York Islanders on Oct. 25, when all 30 NHL teams will be in action.

The league will open the season with four teams playing in the Czech Republic and Sweden on Oct. 4-5. There are three games in North America on Thursday, Oct. 9, with the rest of the league opening that weekend.

This year's schedule includes more games against Western Conference teams -- 18 instead of 10 -- and fewer against the Southeast Division -- six instead of eight, to ensure each team faces every other team at least once.

The Hurricanes face six Western Conference teams at home, six on the road and play three "wild-card" teams twice -- the Anaheim Ducks, Phoenix Coyotes and St. Louis Blues.

There are 14 sets of back-to-back games on Carolina's schedule, down from 18 a year ago. Three of those are consecutive home games on weekend nights. Twenty-nine of Carolina's 41 home games are on Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights.

"Those are much better nights for us," Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said. "Having a majority of games there is very helpful."

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