June 2, 2024 by Josh Boulton

The NHL has a television marketing problem. The game’s best player, Connor McDavid, plays for the Edmonton Oilers. The city of Edmonton, Alberta is located in the Mountain time zone. Just three other NHL teams play their home games in that region, and six more are located further west, in the Pacific. That’s a total of 10 teams in the two westernmost regions of North America.

22 of the 32 NHL clubs play further east of Edmonton, with 16 of those having home arenas in the Eastern time zone alone. That’s a full 50% of fan bases in NHL cities on two hours difference. It also means the significant majority of sports media is located there as well. That makes it hard for reporters to watch the Western games at all, let alone cover them properly since they’re so busy trying to be the first to get out all the stories on the games that just ended.

For the general hockey fan who’s just trying to watch, it’s even less practical for most. Some Oilers fans, like me, are in the Atlantic time zone, another hour east. Even further than that are our friends from Newfoundland and Labrador, who have to tack another extra half hour on top.

As a lifelong Oilers fan in Nova Scotia, watching live Oilers games means I routinely have to stay up until 11:00 pm just to sit through the 10-15 minute pre-game rituals. By the time the third period rolls around, it’s 1:00 am, and the game finally ends around 1:30. That’s a lot to ask of me and my kids as a regular routine, even on a Saturday night. And it’s completely out of the question on a random Tuesday. As a die-hard fan who also writes casual articles about the team, sometimes here and there among the 82 games even I find it’s not worth it.

But, okay, it’s the playoffs now. A true fan stays up for that. You have to, right? Well, somehow the first two rounds of the playoffs are even worse. For the third year in a row the Oilers played the Los Angeles Kings, a team in the Pacific time zone. Games in Edmonton started at the usual 11:00 pm (which as we know means closer to 11:15). Games in LA started at 11:30 pm at the earliest, and as late as 11:50 pm, and were ending at around 2:30 am. Without overtime.

I was so grateful that series was over in five because it gave me a chance to reset before a seven-game second round series against another Pacific opponent. I haven’t missed a single minute of these playoffs, but I’ve paid a heavy physical toll to do it.

Now that it’s the Western Conference Final, it’s much easier for me here, but the games from the West still start a half hour later than the Eastern Final. Not that I’m complaining at all. In fact, it’s got to be more of an adjustment for the hometown fans out West, who now have to start the games around an hour and a half earlier than they’ve been used to all season. Conference Final games for me are now over sometime before midnight. Remember, that’s when first round games in L.A. used to start!

Now, I know the NHL can’t help where some of the best players end up. Nathan MacKinnon is in the same boat in Mountain time zone based Colorado. Elias Pettersson is out in Pacific zone based Vancouver along with Adrian Kempe, the best kept secret in Los Angeles. Kirill Kaprizov is hidden in the Central time zone with Filip Forsberg.

Full credit to NHL awards voters mind you. All three 2024 Norris Trophy candidates are in the Western Conference, as are two of three Vezina Trophy finalists. Two of three Hart Trophy nominees are in the Mountain tome zone, and every one of the three coaches up for the Jack Adams Award stood behind a Western Conference bench.

It’s just no wonder the average Canadian NHL fan doesn’t have a full understanding of just how special McDavid truly is beyond his ability to accumulate points. It’s understandable why they laugh when we say things like Leon Draisaitl is the single best passer in the entire NHL. It’s why narratives about Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman being “power-play merchants” take root. Because who in the East could honestly watch enough Oilers games each year to paint a proper picture?