NHL faces scheduling challenge as B.C., Alberta move to permanent daylight time

The NHL will have a fresh challenge when it comes to setting its 2026-27 schedule with British Columbia moving to permanent year-round daylight saving time this fall and Alberta expected to follow suit.

The change would eliminate twice-yearly clock changes in those provinces. The time gap between B.C. and Alberta and parts of Canada that still turn clocks back on Nov. 1 would then shrink by an hour.

Game times for sporting events could be impacted, along with long-standing traditions 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 normally releases its schedule in mid-July. Regular-season play usually begins 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."

Although there are exceptions, Canadian teams based in the Eastern time zone — the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators — usually start their home games at 7 p.m. local time.

That has previously set up doubleheader timing with the teams based in Alberta and B.C. — the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks — who would normally be two or three hours behind the ET clock.

Trimming that time difference by an hour may require some strategic scheduling. There could be an overlap of games, or we could see later start times in the west to protect