WHL announces series of changes ahead of the 2026-27 regular season

Jun 30, 2026 | 1:25 PM

Western Hockey League commissioner Dan Near announced several rule changes to the WHL for the upcoming 2026-27 season.

The first change announced was an extension of the regular season schedule by one week. The schedule will remain 68 games but take place over an additional seven-day period.

The WHL Playoffs will now begin the Wednesday following the end of the regular season as opposed to the final weekend of March.

With this change, Commissioner Near also announced that the first round of the WHL playoffs will now be a best-of-5 series and that regular season tie-breaker games will be eliminated.

The WHL will also be embracing air travel on select road trips, permitting clubs to utilize air travel for one out-of-conference road trip per season.

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This launch will take place effective immediately for the upcoming season.

The WHL will also be piloting a new 3-on-3 overtime format during the 2026 preseason called ‘No Return OT’ prohibiting teams from carrying the puck backwards across the opposing blue line after entering the attacking end during overtime.

If a team were to exit the attacking zone and be the first to touch the puck, it would be treated as an icing, not a two-minute penalty.

The league will meet at the conclusion of the pre-season to determine whether the change will carry over to the regular season.

The WHL 2026-27 regular season schedule will be announced later today at 2:00 p.m. MST.

by Will Bryant

WHL announces series of changes ahead of the 2026-27 regular season

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