Rogers Communications's 12-year Canadian rights deal expires at the end of the 2025–26 season.
NBC Sports
2019–20 season
During the 2019–20 season, NBCSN flexed in several Washington Capitals games in February in anticipation of
Alexander Ovechkin's 700th NHL goal. Those games used the
NBC Sports Washington feed and announcers. In one instance, the February 10 broadcast involving the Capitals and
New York Islanders aired nationally on NBCSN (blacked out in the team's local markets) at the expense of its originally-scheduled game between the
Tampa Bay Lightning and
Columbus Blue Jackets, which only aired on the team's local markets.[1] In the end, however, NBCSN missed out on covering Ovechkin's 700th goal (which took place on Saturday afternoon, February 22, against the
New Jersey Devils), due to a prior commitment with the
2020 Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship. NHL Network aired the game instead.[2]
On October 19, 2020, NBC's lead play-by-play announcer
Mike Emrick announced his retirement from broadcasting.[4] Emirck's final assignment for NBC was his call of Game 6 of the
2020 Stanley Cup Finals. As he had been doing throughout the
2020 playoffs, the 74 year old Emrick called the Cup Finals off of monitors from his home studio in
Metro Detroit, citing his advanced age as a potential risk for severe illness from
COVID-19.[5] Following Emrick's retirement, NBC did not name a presumptive lead play-by-play voice. Instead, they chose to rotate between
John Forslund and
Kenny Albert on the no. 1 team.[6] On January 18, NBCSN aired a day-night quadruple-header on
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, featuring
Columbus at
Detroit,
Boston at
New York Islanders,
Buffalo at
Philadelphia and
Arizona at
Vegas.[7]
2020–21 season
On January 22, 2021, an internal memo sent by NBC Sports president Pete Bevacqua announced that NBCSN would cease operations by the end of the year, and that
USA Network would begin "carrying and/or simulcasting certain NBC Sports programming," including the
Stanley Cup Playoffs and NASCAR races, before NBCSN's shutdown.
Peacock, NBCUniversal's new streaming service, will also carry some of the network's former programming starting in 2022.[8][9] The move was cited by industry analysts as a response to the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on the
sports and
television industries, the acceleration of
cord-cutting, as well as formidable competition from rival sports networks such as
ESPN and
Fox Sports 1.[10]
On the weekend of February 20–21, 2021, the NHL held two contests
outdoors at Lake Tahoe. Coverage of the Saturday game between the
Vegas Golden Knights and the
Colorado Avalanche began on NBC. Play was suspended after the first period due to ice conditions caused by its exposure to heat and sunlight; the game was resumed at 9:02 p.m. PT (12:02 a.m. ET). It was moved to NBCSN due to the delay. As a result of the Sunday game between the
Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins being moved to a 7:30 p.m. ET start time, it too was moved from NBC to NBCSN (with an evening game between the
New Jersey Devils and
Washington Capitals swapped into NBC's afternoon window as a replacement).
Mike Tirico provided the play-by-play commentary[11] alongside
U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame member and color commentator
Eddie Olczyk, and ‘‘Inside-the-Glass’’ reporter Brian Boucher.
Rutledge Wood meanwhile, served as an on-site reporter in Lake Tahoe.
The end of The NHL on NBC
With the NBC Sports contract expiring at the end of the
2020–21 season, the league has explored the possibility of splitting its U.S. national media rights between multiple broadcasters, and over-the-top services (such as
DAZN,
ESPN+, or NBC's
Peacock).[12] In any case, the league aimed to surpass the US$2 billion total that NBC paid over the life of their 2011–12 to 2020–21 contract.[13] On March 10, 2021, the NHL announced that
ESPN[14] would serve as one of the new rightsholders under a seven-year contract, which will include packages of regular season games for
ESPN and
ABC (including opening night, the All-Star Game, and other special events), 75 original telecasts and all out-of-market games on
ESPN+, rights to half of the Stanley Cup playoffs (including one conference final per-season), and four Stanley Cup Finals over the length of the contract.[15][16]
On April 26, 2021, Sports Business Journal reported[17] that NBC had officially pulled out[18] of bidding for future NHL rights,[19] meaning that NBC will not televise NHL games for the first time since the
2004–05 NHL lockout.[20] The next day,
Turner Sports announced that they had agreed to a seven-year deal with the NHL to
broadcast at least 72 games nationally on
TNT and
TBS[21] (while also giving
HBO Max the live streaming and simulcast rights to these games) beginning with the
2021–22 season, which will include three Stanley Cup Finals, the other half of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Winter Classic.[22]
ESPN and TNT
In the years before the end of NBC's latest contract with the NHL, the league explored options for splitting its national broadcast rights, similar to the television deals of the
NFL,
NBA and
MLB. This included selling packages to streaming services, aiming to maximize the value of its broadcast rights.[23] On March 10, 2021, Disney, ESPN, and the NHL announced that a seven-year agreement was reached for ESPN to hold the first half of its new media rights beginning in the
2021–22 season;[24][25][26][27]
ESPN will hold rights to 25 exclusive national games per season, which can air on either ESPN or ABC, and will include exclusive rights to opening night games. Games on ABC stream on
ESPN+.[28]
75 exclusive national games per season will be streamed exclusively on ESPN+, and will not be carried on linear television.[29] hese games will also be available to
Hulu subscribers.[28][30]
ESPN+ will stream all
out-of-market games, as well as on-demand versions of all nationally televised games.[31]
ESPN and ESPN2 will share in coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs, holding rights to "half" of the games in the first two rounds, and one conference final per-season. ESPN/ABC will have the first choice of which conference final series to air. The remaining half will air on
TNT and TBS.[32][33]
Exclusive rights to the Stanley Cup Finals will alternate between ABC and TNT;[32][33] ESPN will have the ability to air
simulcast coverage with alternate feeds on its other channels and platforms.
ESPN2 airs a weekly studio program dedicated to the NHL, The Point (which is hosted by
John Buccigross),[34] and ESPN will hold various highlights and international rights.
On June 9, 2021, ESPN announced that current
New Jersey DevilsdefensemanP.K. Subban would be a studio analyst for the remainder of the
2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, making his debut on SportsCenter that day.[38] The same day, Craig Morgan, Arizona-based reporter on the
Arizona Coyotes and
NHL Network correspondent, reported that ESPN had added NBC's
Ryan Callahan and
A. J. Mleczko to their analyst roster, and that NHL Network's
Kevin Weekes, who also worked for ESPN during the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, was in talks to return to ESPN in an analyst/reporter role.[39] Marchand later reported that Weekes had signed with ESPN, and that
Bob Wischusen, who currently calls play-by-play for ESPN's
college football and
basketball broadcasts, will also work NHL broadcasts.[40] On June 24, ESPN officially announced that six-time
Stanley Cup ChampionMark Messier had signed a multi-year deal to join ESPN in a studio analyst role.[41][42][43] Messier's signing was the first announced signing made by ESPN, and potentially was made as a counter to TNT signing Messier's former teammate
Wayne Gretzky, who was also recruited by ESPN. On June 28, Marchand reported that three time Stanley Cup Champion
Chris Chelios would also join ESPN as a studio analyst.[44][45] The same day, The Athletic reported that current Hockey Night in Canada color commentator/reporter
Cassie Campbell-Pascall would also join ESPN.[46]
ESPN formally confirmed its commentator teams on June 29, 2021. ESPN's
college football #2 play-by-play man
Sean McDonough would be the network's lead play-by-play announcer;
Monday Night Football’s
Steve Levy would lead studio coverage and contribute to occasional play-by-play commentary. Hextall and Wischusen were officially named as play-by-play commentators, as well as
SportsCenter’s
John Buccigross, who will also contribute as an alternate studio host, and serve as the host for The Point. ESPN legend
Barry Melrose, Messier, Chelios, Ferraro, Boucher,[45] Weekes, Campbell-Pascall, Callahan, Mleczko,
ESPN New York’s
Rick DiPietro, and
2018 gold medalistHilary Knight would contribute as booth, ice-level, and studio analysts. 2016
Isobel Cup champion
Blake Bolden was added to join insiders
Emily Kaplan and
Greg Wyshynski as insiders and ice-level reporters.[47]Linda Cohn would continue her duties hosting In the Crease, while also gaining roles as an ice-level reporter and backup studio and game break host. On August 4, 2021, ESPN announced that they added most recent Blue Jackets coach and Stanley Cup winning coach
John Tortorella as an extra studio analyst.[48][49]
On September 16, after ESPN released their slate of games for the 2021–22 season, SportsCenter anchor and ESPN Social host
Arda Ocal would announce himself that he too would host select game broadcasts.[50] On October 2, former referee
Dave Jackson joined the network as a rules analyst, an NHL first.[51] Early into the 2021–22 season, ESPN added former NBC analyst
Dominic Moore, who had hosted the
Expansion Draft with Weekes and ESPN College Football personality
Chris Fowler.
Laura Rutledge, host of
NFL Live and
SEC Nation, joined the NHL on ESPN team for their coverage of the
2022 NHL All-Star Game, in a celebrity interviewer role. After preparing for and playing in the
2022 Winter Olympics in
Beijing, Knight made her ESPN debut on the March 10, 2022 episode of “The Point”, coincidentally on the one-year anniversary of ESPN regaining the rights to broadcast the NHL. Bolden, who has been working as a pro scout for the
Los Angeles Kings since 2020, made her official ESPN on-air debut on the March 17th episode of “The Point”. After the regular season kicked into high gear, Knight and Bolden were the only two who still had to make their on-air debuts with ESPN. Occasionally, other well known ESPN personalities like
Jeremy Schaap,
Kevin Connors,
Michael Eaves, and
Max McGee will be added in fill-in roles on The Point and In the Crease.
Mike Monaco,
Roxy Bernstein, and
Caley Chelios, daughter of Chris, have also filled in on game coverage.TSN's
Gord Miller, Ferraro's broadcast partner for Maple Leafs games on TSN, joined ESPN for the
2022 Stanley Cup playoffs. Subban returned to ESPN for the Playoffs in an expanded role, which includes being a game analyst for select games.
For the 2021–22 season, ESPN aired 18 games (billed as ESPN Hockey Night),[53][28][53]while 75 exclusive national games per season would be streamed exclusively on ESPN+.[29] For the 2021–22 season, most of these games (billed as ESPN+ Hockey Night)[53] aired on Tuesday and Thursday nights, with selected games on Friday nights.[28] These games will also be available to
Hulu subscribers. ESPN's first broadcasts were an opening night
doubleheader, with the
Pittsburgh Penguins at the defending Stanley Cup champions
Tampa Bay Lightning, and the
Seattle Kraken at the
Vegas Golden Knights in the
Kraken's first regular-season game in franchise history.[54][28]
For the 2022–23 season, out-of-market games on ESPN+–which did not carry any specific branding in the inaugural season–were branded as "NHL Power Play on ESPN+".[31] ESPN (35)/ESPN2 (1) aired 36 games (billed as ESPN Hockey Night),[53] while ABC aired 14 games under the ABC Hockey Saturday package, which will consist of 4 doubleheaders and one late-season tripleheader beginning the weekend after the All-Star break.[28][53][30]
TNT will hold rights up to 72 exclusive national games per-season.[33][57] In practice these games have primarily been Wednesday-night doubleheaders, with occasional games also scheduled on weekends.[57] Other Turner networks, such as
TruTV, are used as overflow in the event that a game on TNT runs long.[58][33][59][60]
TNT and TBS will share in coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs with ESPN and
ESPN2, holding rights to "half" of the games in the first two rounds, and one conference final per-season (ESPN will have the first choice of conference finals).
TNT will hold rights to the
Stanley Cup Finals in odd-numbered years beginning 2023, alternating with
ABC.
There is an option for
HBO Max to hold over-the-top streaming rights, including
simulcasts of TNT's games, and the option for games exclusive to the service. WarnerMedia executives indicated following the contract announcement that they had only just begun to study how the streaming service might be involved, and that they did not plan to air games on HBO Max within the 2021 calendar year.[61]
Bleacher Report will be able to distribute highlights on digital platforms. The site launched Open Ice, a new content brand focusing on NHL-related content. Online personality and
streamer Andrew "Nasher" Telfer was hired as a contributor for the brand.[65][66]
The contract was reported to be valued at $225 million per-season.[67]
On May 5, 2021, Richard Dietsch of The Athletic reported that
Kenny Albert and
Eddie Olczyk would serve as the lead broadcast team respectively for Turner Sports, retaining their lead roles from the previous season on NBC.[70][71][72][73][74] On May 25, the New York Post's Andrew Marchand reported that
Wayne Gretzky would be a lead studio analyst on Turner.[72][73][75] Turner confirmed the hiring of Albert, Olczyk, and Gretzky in these roles the following day.[72][74] On September 14, 2021, TNT announced its slate of on-air staff for its inaugural season.[76]Keith Jones, who served as a studio analyst at NBC, would serve as the lead ice-level reporter, joining Albert and Olczyk on the lead broadcast team.[76][66]Brendan Burke[77] and
Darren Pang were named as the secondary broadcast team.
Liam McHugh and
Anson Carter were named to the studio team,[76][78] along with former
Coyoteshead coachRick Tocchet[76][45] and veteran
Paul Bissonnette, who all joined Gretzky in studio.[76]Hockey Night in Canada’s
Jennifer Botterill, and NHL Network's Jackie Redmond, and Tarik El-Bashir also appear as contributors.[76][66] TNT later added former referee
Don Koharski as a rules analyst, and former
BlackhawkJamal Mayers as an extra contributor. On November 23, TNT added retired
Rangers goaltender
Henrik Lundqvist to its studio panel, starting on the next day's broadcast.[79] On November 30, TNT welcomed former referee
Stéphane Auger to their team, as another rules analyst, joining Koharski. He made his debut during the
Penguins-
Oilers game the next night. On January 13, 2022, TNT added Nabil Karim,[80] formerly of
ESPN, to contribute as secondary studio host and reporter for both the NHL[81] and the NBA. Former NBC and current Kraken play-by-play announcer
John Forslund was picked up by TNT as a fill-in announcer, whenever Albert or Burke are on assignment. Forslund first filled in for Albert for the Avalanche-Golden Knights game on February 16, as Albert was working the
Olympic women's hockey gold medal game for
NBC about an hour after puck drop.[82][83][84][85] Sharks color commentator
Bret Hedican also joined in a fill-in role, joining Forslund in Vancouver on March 9. TNT added several announcers to their roster for the playoffs, including
Randy Hahn,
Dave Goucher,
Jim Jackson,
Butch Goring,
Drew Remenda,
Shane Hnidy and
Jody Shelley.
Due to conflicts with TNT's first two NHL doubleheaders, AEW: Dynamite was pre-empted to Saturday on the weeks of October 13 and 20. From October 27 through December 15, 2021, TNT aired only a single, 10 p.m.
ET game with Dynamite as a lead-in (which concurrently began broadcasting live on both TNT's East and West feeds).[88][89] TNT then began airing doubleheaders on January 5, 2022, when Dynamite moved to TBS.[57][90][88]
^
ab"Winners and losers of the NHL's TV deal with ESPN". Awful Announcing. March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2021. [Y]ou'll not only need a cable or satellite subscription to access your team's RSN and ESPN, but you'll also need a subscription to ESPN+ or Hulu. 75 games will be streaming exclusive in this TV deal, and while you previously got everything you needed with the cable sub, you now will need to jump into the streaming waters to see every game.