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The NHL will face a new scheduling challenge for the 2026-27 season as British Columbia and Alberta prepare to adopt permanent year-round daylight saving time this fall.
This shift will end the twice-yearly clock changes in those provinces. With parts of Canada continuing to turn clocks back on November 1, the time difference between B.C. and Alberta and those areas will shrink by an hour.
This adjustment could impact game times and disrupt traditional scheduling practices like hockey doubleheaders.
“We’ll deal with it,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final in Raleigh, N.C. “It may impact some start times in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. But we’ll deal with it just as we deal with whatever things come our way that we don’t get to control.”
The NHL typically unveils its schedule in mid-July, with the regular season starting in early October.
“Hockey is still a big draw,” said Chris Zelkovich, an instructor at the Toronto-based College of Sports Media. “But if you throw roadblocks at people like starting games at different or inconvenient times, you are going to lose audience.”
British Columbia finalized its move to permanent daylight saving time last March, and Alberta made the same decision last month.
A key complication arises for Canadian doubleheaders. Teams in the Eastern time zone—Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, and Ottawa Senators—generally start home games at 7 p.m. local time.
Previously, this set up convenient doubleheaders with Alberta and B.C. teams—the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Vancouver Canucks—who are normally two to three hours behind Eastern Time.
With the time difference reduced by an hour, scheduling may become trickier. Games could overlap, or western teams may have to start later to preserve back-to-back TV windows.
“This is going to be a major adjustment,” Zelkovich said. “And if your team is a Stanley Cup contender, that may not matter. But if they aren’t, you might just say to yourself, ‘Well, it’s just not worth the trouble [to watch].’”
The Winnipeg Jets, based in the Central Time Zone, are one hour behind Eastern Time.
The lost hour will also be noticeable when Flames, Oilers, and Canucks play road games on the U.S. West Coast. For example, a 9:30 p.m. puck drop Alberta time could mean games don’t finish until after midnight locally.
“Ensuring hockey games remain accessible for fans in Oil Country is our priority,” said Oilers president and chief revenue officer Stew MacDonald in an email. “And any shift that results in later game start times is a concern — particularly as it creates challenges for families and young fans attending games or watching live broadcasts.”
The Flames declined to comment, and the Canucks did not respond to requests.
A Sportsnet spokesperson noted that the league determines schedules and start times, while TSN had no comment.
Mike Naraine, associate professor of sport management at Brock University, said, “I don’t think it fundamentally changes their business. It might, from an advertising perspective, cause [broadcasters] a little bit more [work]. It’s not a problem, but just another thing that they just work through.”
The Canadian Football League, which also uses doubleheaders and has nine teams nationwide, will likely avoid major impact this year as its regular season ends October 24.
