NHL announces next All Star Game host, return to Alberta in the future

This afternoon, the NHL broke major news by announcing that the 2026 All Star Game will be hosted by the New York Islanders in UBS Arena. Notably, the league will forego the 2025 All Star Game entirely in favour of an NHL hosted international tournament called the Four Nations Faceoff.

Beyond the All Star Game in New York, work behind the scenes is being done to bring the event back to Alberta for the first time in over 20 years. The Calgary Flames are in the process of securing a new arena to replace the aging SaddleDome, and part of the city's current agreement with Flames ownership is an obligation to host the All Star Game within three years of the arena's opening.




If the Flames' plans for the new arena goes as expected, the NHL All Star Game will return to Alberta before 2028 - it feels distantly in the future, but it's only four years away.

While it would be great to see the All Star game return to Calgary, the Edmonton Oilers are long overdue to play host themselves. The Oilers haven't hosted the game since 1989, just after Wayne Gretzky was traded. The league shouldn't wait until McDavid and Draisaitl are out of their primes before giving Oilers fans their due and allow them to host the game and showcase their talents, team, fans, and beautiful arena to the national stage.