Alberta’s decision to remain on daylight time year-round has changed when Western Canadian NHL teams take the ice, leaving Calgary and Edmonton with a combined 15 games starting at 9 p.m. local time this season. The Calgary Flames will have eight such games, including two at the Saddledome, while the Edmonton Oilers have seven, including two at Rogers Place. Players, families and team officials are preparing for later nights and a more varied schedule.

Alberta will no longer move clocks back an hour in November and forward in March. British Columbia and Manitoba have also adopted permanent daylight time. The policy changes affected an NHL schedule shaped by broadcast rightsholders, altering both game start times and when fans in the West watch their teams.

Flames captain Mikael Backlund said athletes would manage the late starts. “Professional athletes got to do what we got to do to get ready,” he said. “There’s caffeine out there.” Backlund said Calgary’s schedule has a wide range of start times, with only one stretch of consecutive games at the same start time before the team begins an Eastern road trip on Dec. 10.

“There’s a big variety this year,” Backlund said of the calendar. Calgary also has eight afternoon games beginning at 2:30 p.m. or earlier, up from five in 2025-26. Flames president and chief executive officer Robert Hayes said the earlier starts could suit families, while Saturday night games beginning at 9 p.m. may bring a different atmosphere.

“We’ve got more afternoon games. That’s going to be exciting for families,” Hayes said. “And then the 9 o’clock games, hopefully that just means, and I’ll couch my words here, a greater party atmosphere, if you will, for a Saturday night 9 o’clock game that happens to be on.” Calgary’s late home games are scheduled for Dec. 26 against the Vancouver Canucks and Jan. 16 against the Los Angeles Kings.

Hayes said the timing was outside the club’s control. “It’s out of our control,” he said. “I’ve always said in my business career, ‘let’s focus on the things we can control,’ and we can’t control that. A decision was made by the province … and decisions were made by others that this is the time we’re going to start hockey games.”

For Flames forward Ryan Strome, late games may affect whether his family can attend. Strome has children aged six, five and two, and may be able to help with bath chores before heading to the Saddledome on those nights. “They always want to come to games, and the nine o’clock games they definitely can’t come to,” he said. “That’s probably the biggest adjustment, is that my tickets will be free those nights because my family can’t go.”

Edmonton’s 9 p.m. home games include a Nov. 7 meeting with Vancouver and a March 6 game against the Chicago Blackhawks. Oilers defenceman Jake Walman, who is from Toronto, expects his family to notice the time difference more than he will. “I don’t think I’ll notice as much as my family at home watching,” he said. “They’ll probably be struggling to watch that one.”

Oilers teammate Trent Frederic plans to shift his routine around the later starts. “Sounds weird, but I’ll try to go to bed a little bit later the night before, probably take a later nap, eat my lunch a little bit later than normal,” he said. He added that naps help him cope with late games, after which players can go to bed late and remain wired. “The naps are big, or at least they are for myself. A lot of times after games, the later games, you’re going to bed late, you’re still wired, so it’s just important to kind of stick with getting the good naps.”

Manitoba announced on Sept. 17, the day NHL players began reporting to training camps, that it would remain on daylight time permanently. The NHL changed the start times for a dozen Winnipeg Jets home games the following day, moving them back an hour; none will begin later than 7:30 p.m. local time. Manitoba will be on the same time as Toronto starting Nov. 1. Winnipeg’s road schedule includes a 10 p.m. game against Vancouver on Feb. 13 and a 9:30 p.m. start against the Utah Mammoth on Dec. 2.

The Canucks, playing on the West Coast, also face unusual road start times, including 4:45 p.m. and 7:40 p.m. A seven-game trip in late January has five different starts, ranging from noon to 6 p.m. Winger Brendan Gallagher said the schedule would take adjustment, including an 8 p.m. game to open the season, but that the team would keep its routines as much as possible.

“One hundred per cent it’s going to be different,” Gallagher said. “It’s something that we’ve never really been through. Even having an 8 p.m. game to start the season, a little bit different, but we’ll get used to it. We’ll have plans, and you probably tinker with (it) a little bit, but it’s not going to change too much. Once the puck drops, it’s still hockey and you’ve got a job to do. You try to stick to what your routine is as best you can.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2026, with files from Gemma Karstens-Smith in Vancouver.

Based on reporting by Global News Edmonton.