The NHL’s new television landscape is fairly light on games, at least on linear television.
The NHL announced its full 2021-22 national television schedule Thursday, with 28 games scheduled for ESPN or ABC and 50 for TNT. The ESPN/ABC schedule slightly exceeds the number of games it is allotted in its contract with the league (25), while TNT’s slate falls well short of its maximum of 72.
The combined total of 78 games falls short of the 111 televised by NBC and NBCSN in the NHL’s last 82-game season in 2018-19. Keep in mind an additional 75 games are scheduled to air exclusively on the streaming services ESPN+ and Hulu.
ESPN games are scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays with Saturday games on ABC, while TNT’s primary nights will be Wednesdays and Sundays.
The first three months of the season are light on nationally televised games. As previously announced, the schedule is set to begin with Penguins-Lightning and Kraken-Golden Knights on ESPN and ESPN+ October 12, followed by a doubleheader of Rangers-Capitals and Blackhawks-Avalanche on TNT the following night.
Following Opening Week, ESPN has only two more telecast windows until January — Islanders-Blackhawks on October 19 and Golden Knights-Avalanche on October 26. That list rises to three if one includes ABC’s Blues-Blackhawks game on November 26, the annual day-after-Thanksgiving matinee that long kicked off NBC’s schedule.
While TNT has more early season games than ESPN, it too will scale back after Opening Week. Following a second doubleheader on October 20, the network is scheduled for just one game a week until January — each airing in a 10 PM ET slot following TNT’s AEW Wrestling shows — before it resumes doubleheader coverage January 5. TNT also has the January 1 Winter Classic, a Saturday night Stadium Series game February 26, and a slate of Sunday matinees set to begin March 6 (including a third outdoor game, the March 13 Heritage Classic).
ESPN’s schedule is far more sporadic. The network has games scheduled for three-straight Thursdays in January, then a month off (in large part due to the All-Star and Olympic break), followed by back-to-back Thursdays February 24 and March 3, two more weeks off, a game on March 24, two more weeks off, and finally a rush of eight games in the final two weeks.
Following the Black Friday game and the February 5 All-Star Game — which returns to the afternoon (3 PM ET) after a brief run in primetime on NBC — ABC begins a regular schedule of Saturday games February 26 through the end of the season. Each game is set to begin at 3 PM, except for a primetime Rangers-Lightning game opposite the NCAA Tournament March 19.
When ESPN/ABC previously held NHL rights, ABC aired only five windows a season, each consisting of three regionalized games.
The full NHL TV schedule is available here.
[News from Turner, ESPN]
