The 2021-22 NHL national television schedule for The Walt Disney Co. and Turner Sports was announced Thursday.
The Walt Disney Co. will televise 103 games across ESPN, ESPN+, Hulu and ABC, with 75 games exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu, 28 exclusively on ESPN and ABC and 1,000 out-of-market games available on ESPN+. This will include games on Tuesday and Thursday throughout the regular season and exclusive games on ESPN+ and Hulu every Friday until January, then every Thursday for the remainder of the season.
ESPN will televise a season-opening doubleheader Oct. 12. The Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning (7:30 p.m. ET) before the expansion Seattle Kraken play at the Vegas Golden Knights (10 p.m. ET).
[RELATED: FULL 2021-22 NHL schedule]
Other highlights include the Kraken playing their first home game against the Vancouver Canucks at Climate Pledge Arena on Oct. 23 (10 p.m. ET), and the Penguins visiting the Washington Capitals on Dec. 10 (7 p.m. ET).
ESPN will televise the 2022 NHL All-Star Skills Competition on Feb. 4 with the All-Star Game from Las Vegas on ABC the following day. ABC will televise 10 Saturday games beginning in February and the NHL Thanksgiving Showdown between the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 26 (1 p.m. ET).
ESPN, the NHL and The Walt Disney Co. agreed to a seven-year television, streaming and media rights deal March 10 that includes exclusive coverage of the Stanley Cup Final on ABC in four of its seven years with the ability to simulcast on ESPN+ and additional ESPN networks.
ESPN previously announced its studio and broadcast lineup which includes analysts Mark Messier, Chris Chelios, Kevin Weekes and John Tortorella, among others. Sean McDonough, Steve Levy, Leah Hextall, John Buccigross and Bob Wischusen will be play-by-play broadcasters.
Turner Sports and the NHL announced a seven-year media rights agreement April 27 that will have regular-season and postseason games televised on TNT and TBS starting this season and running through 2027-28. Turner Sports will televise all Stanley Cup Final games in 2023, 2025 and 2027, one conference final series each season, and half of the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, plus 72 regular-season games per season including the NHL Winter Classic in each of the seven seasons of the deal.
TNT begins its schedule with a doubleheader Oct. 13 featuring the New York Rangers at the Capitals (7:30 p.m. ET) and the Blackhawks at the Colorado Avalanche (10 p.m. ET), the first of exclusive coverage on 25 Wednesday nights throughout the season, which includes 15 doubleheaders. TNT will also televise seven weeks of Sunday afternoon games in March and April.
Among the 50 games to be televised by TNT include three outdoor games: the 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Blues and Minnesota Wild at Target Field in Minneapolis, home of the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball, on Jan. 1 (time TBD); the 2022 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series between the Lightning and Nashville Predators at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, home of the Tennessee Titans of the NFL, on Feb. 26 (7:30 p.m. ET); and the 2022 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic between the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs at Tim Horton’s Field in Hamilton, Ontario on March 13 (3 p.m. ET).
Other highlights of the TNT schedule include the Blackhawks at the Kraken on Nov. 17 (10 p.m., ET); the Penguins at the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 1 (10 p.m. ET); the Boston Bruins at the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 12 (7 p.m. ET) and the Maple Leafs at the Rangers on Jan. 19 (7:30 p.m.).
Turner Sports on Tuesday announced its studio and broadcast teams, which include Wayne Gretzky, Anson Carter and Rick Tocchet as studio analysts, Keith Jones as an ice-level analyst and Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk as the lead broadcast team.
