The NHL Canadian teams had more options under the new TV contract. NHL Network, TNT, ESPN, and ESPN+ were the choices with the latter 3 replacing NBCSN.
To clarify, the ESPN+ telecasts were exclusive to ESPN+ and Hulu and were produced by ESPN.
Last year's ESPN+ games were carried on the service but were locally produced.
Having ESPN+ this year meant you could choose which Hockey Night in Canada game you wanted. This was helpful since the NHL Network abandoned the late games after finally embracing them in 2021-2022.
The NHL Network lost a few games due to COVID-19 and the insanity rescheduling from Gary Bettman. The showcase games were helpful to avoid some terrible local feeds (Washington, Pittsburgh, Carolina) that otherwise would have made the games unwatchable.
The U.S. channel refused to carry any Hometown Hockey pregame programming and stripped the intermissions of any Sportsnet content. The irony was that the ESPN+ coverage allowed the intermissions, though didn't carry any of the pregame content. The U.S. channel carries a lot of poorly produced alternative content but not Hometown Hockey.
The NHL Network added a special Winnipeg game on February 17 but not because of the Jets. The Root Sports Northwest feed had the first all-Black broadcasting crew. As we noted, we understood why the Winnipeg feed was not used.
The December 18 game was supposed to be Boston @ Montréal. That game was cancelled so Toronto @ Vancouver became the choice. That was cancelled as well so Ottawa @ Philadelphia was on CBC and the NHL Network.
October 17
Dallas @ Ottawa, 5p
October 18
NY Rangers @ Toronto, 7p (HH)
October 23
Calgary at Washington, 1p (NHLN Showcase)
Toronto @ Pittsburgh, 7p (HNIC)
October 30
Winnipeg @ San Jose, 7p (HNIC)
November 6
Tampa Bay @ Ottawa, 2p (NHLN Showcase)
Boston @ Toronto, 7p (HNIC)
November 8
Los Angeles @ Toronto, 7:30p (HH)
November 10
Toronto @ Philadelphia, 7:30p
November 13
Los Angeles @ Winnipeg, 7p (HNIC)
November 20
NY Rangers @ Ottawa, 1p (NHLN Showcase)
Pittsburgh @ Toronto, 7p (HNIC)
November 24
Vancouver @ Pittsburgh, 7p
November 27
Edmonton @ Las Vegas, 7p (HNIC)
December 4
Montréal @ Nashville, 7p (HNIC)
December 11
Chicago @ Toronto, 7p (HNIC)
December 13
Calgary @ Chicago, 7:30p (HH)
December 18
Ottawa @ PhiladelphiaToronto @ Vancouver,Boston @ Montréal, 7p (HNIC)
January 1
Edmonton @ NY Islanders, 2p
January 8
Toronto @ Colorado, 7p (HNIC)
January 15
Toronto @ St. Louis, 7p (HNIC)
January 16
Vancouver @ Washington, 2p (NHL Network Showcase)
Edmonton @ Winnipeg, 7p
January 22
Montréal @ Colorado, 7p (HNIC)
January 23
Winnipeg @ Pittsburgh, 1p (NHL Network Showcase)
February 12
Toronto @ Vancouver, 7p (HNIC)
February 17
Seattle @ Winnipeg, 8p
February 19
St. Louis @ Toronto, 7p (HNIC)
February 21
Seattle @ Vancouver, 10p (HH)
February 27
Edmonton @ Carolina, 1p (NHL Network Showcase)
March 12
Seattle @ Montréal, 7p (HNIC)
March 14
Arizona @ Ottawa, 7:30p (HH)
March 21
Boston @ Montréal, 7p (HH)
April 2
Montréal @ Tampa Bay, 7p (HNIC)
April 4
Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 7:30p
April 9
Ottawa @ NY Rangers, 7p (HNIC)
April 11
Winnipeg @ Montréal, 7p (HH)
April 15
Winnipeg @ Florida, 7p
April 16
Toronto @ Ottawa, 7p (HNIC)
April 20
Dallas @ Edmonton, 8:30p
April 28
Calgary @ Minnesota, 8p
| Team | Overall | HNIC | Showcase | HH |
| Toronto | 13 | 9 | 0 | 2 |
| Montréal | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| Ottawa | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Winnipeg | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Vancouver | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Edmonton | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Calgary | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
The Calgary Flames were one of the best NHL teams yet only had 2 appearances on the NHL Network. One was early in the season and the other on the next to last day of the season. How embarrassing.
The western teams suffered from not having the late HNIC game on the U.S. channel. The February 21 game (Seattle @ Vancouver) was the only game involving Canadian teams that was after 8:30 pm Eastern.
The 3 eastern teams had 25 appearances versus 15 for the 4 western teams (there were 3 all-Canadian matchups). The NHL Network carried 0 Toronto-Montréal games and blanked out the Battle of Alberta (a return to normal, unfortunately).
TNT was essentially the replacement for NBCSN in the regular season. A lot of the announcers were the same. The TNT studio coverage was more entertaining yet not always relevant to the game at hand. Liam McHugh proved less annoying, which was an improvement.
Edmonton led the way for Canadian teams on TNT with 5 telecasts. The Oilers were the only team to lose a scheduled game due to COVID-19. The Oilers had 3 games from Edmonton, which is significant since ESPN was afraid to come to Canada.
Toronto had 4 appearances, none of them in Toronto. TNT was in Hamilton for the Heritage Classic. U.S. crews don't cover the Canadian outdoor games as well as those in the States.
Vancouver was scheduled for 3 telecasts and kept 2 of them. The switch out was in favour of Calgary, a smart move. The Canucks were scheduled to host the New York Islanders; the game was moved from January 5 to February 9 and TNT kept the game on the schedule.
Montréal lost a home game on TNT thanks to Gary Bettman. The Canadiens home game was moved to Boston and the team was also in Vancouver. The latter game was assigned to a backup crew of John Forslund and Bret Hedican, which was not up to the standards of the main TNT crews.
Calgary was not scheduled to be on TNT. The network smartly carried the Flames game on April 6 in Anaheim.
Ottawa and Winnipeg were not scheduled and did not appear on TNT.
The overall numbers were 13 games: 5 on Canadian soil but only in Edmonton (3) and Vancouver (2). There was a single all-Canadian matchup and the Heritage Classic was technically a Toronto road game.
October 27 Philadelphia @ Edmonton, 10p
November 24 Toronto @ Los Angeles, 10p
December 1 Pittsburgh @ Edmonton, 10p
December 22 Edmonton @ Los Angeles, 10p
January 5 NY Islanders @ Vancouver, 10p
January 12 Boston @ MontréalMontréal @ Boston, 7p
January 12 Toronto @ Arizona, 10p
January 19 Toronto @ NY Rangers, 7:30p
February 2 Edmonton @ Washington, 7p
February 9 NY Islanders @ Vancouver, 10p
February 23 Edmonton @ Tampa Bay, 7:30p
March 9 Washington @ Edmonton, 8p
March 9 Montréal @ Vancouver, 10:30p
March 13 Toronto @ Buffalo (Hamilton), 3p
April 6 Vancouver @ Las VegasCalgary @ Anaheim, 10p
TNT will have doubleheaders from the start of the regular season in the 2022-2023 campaign. Hopefully, there will be even more variety in teams that are on the schedule and locations.
NHL Network, NBCSN, and ESPN+ games in 2021 season analysis
NHL Network, NBCSN, and ESPN+ games in 2019-2020 season analysis
NHL Network, NBCSN, and ESPN+ games in 2018-2019 season analysis
NHL Network and NBCSN games in 2017-2018 season analysis
NHL Network games in 2016-2017 season analysis
NHL Network games in 2015-2016 season analysis
ESPN did manage to show Canadian teams on its cable network 2 times but waited until the last 8 days of the season.
Its irrational fear of doing a game on Canadian soil became rather ridiculous, especially with Ray Ferraro, Leah Hextall, and Cassie Campbell-Pascall on the payroll.
That said, ESPN's coverage was rather decent. They had good things to say about Canadian teams. They put Canadians on telecasts where their expertise was useful. They showed by comparison how poor the NBCSN productions were under the previous contract. The ESPN intermissions were even better than the TNT version, which was miles better than NBCSN.
Edmonton also led the way on the ESPN outlets with 1 game on ESPN and 3 games on ESPN+. The game in Pittsburgh moved up to ESPN and an extra game in Dallas was added. 2 of the 4 games were in Dallas.
Toronto had the other game on ESPN and 2 games on ESPN+. The game in Washington was added to the original schedule. The Maple Leafs games were backloaded, not showing them until March 7.
Montréal did get 2 ESPN+ games. Hextall and Campbell-Pascall made the game in the desert go much better than the result.
Vancouver made a single ESPN+ appearance though that was the Seattle Kraken home opener so the Canucks didn't get much attention.
ESPN+ ignored the Flames despite Calgary's great run. Like TNT, Ottawa and Winnipeg were shut out on the ESPN+ schedule.
ESPN schedule
April 21 Toronto @ Tampa Bay, 8p
April 26 Edmonton @ Pittsburgh, 7p
ESPN+/Hulu schedule
October 23 Vancouver @ Seattle, 10p
November 12 Edmonton @ Buffalo, 7p
November 23 Edmonton @ Dallas, 8:30p
December 28 Montréal @ Tampa Bay, 7p
January 17 Montréal @ Arizona, 4p
March 7 Toronto @ Columbus, 7:30p
March 22 Edmonton @ Dallas, 8:30p
April 24 Toronto @ Washington, 7p
ESPN and ESPN+ need to have extra games on Canadian soil in the 2022-2023 season to make up for year one.
Tracking the NHL 2021 media changes
CanadianCrossing.com NHL coverage
| Team | Overall | TNT | ESPN | ESPN+ |
| Edmonton | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| Toronto | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Montréal | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Vancouver | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Calgary | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ottawa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Winnipeg | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
All 3 of the Dallas-Edmonton games this season ended up on a streaming service or the NHL Network. Didn't have that on a possible bingo board.
Every Canadian team appeared on the NHL Network. Ottawa and Winnipeg were shut out on TNT and the ESPN setup. The Calgary Flames had a good and exciting squad but had 3 telecasts over all the platforms. Ottawa and Winnipeg had more games on the NHL Network.
Thank goodness for ESPN+ showing the games we really wanted to watch.
logo credits: NHL Network; TNT; ESPN
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