Short answer: the 2026/27 season brings the biggest change to hockey broadcasting in decades, and it's in Canada. Rogers has begun a new twelve-year agreement, expanded Prime Video's role to include Wednesday nights and playoff series — and has stopped sublicensing games to CBC, ending a run that lasted 74 years. In the United States the picture is simpler than most American sports: ESPN and TNT split the national schedule between them, with out-of-market games in a single package. The Stanley Cup Final is on TNT this season.
At a glance
NHL 2026/27 season
| US national | ESPN/ABC and TNT — two partners only |
| 2027 Stanley Cup Final | TNT |
| Canada | Sportsnet, with Prime Video expanded |
| Big change | CBC's 74-year run has ended |
| Out-of-market | NHL Power Play, in the ESPN app |
Canada: the end of an era
This is the headline for the season and it's worth stating plainly, because a great many Canadian households are about to discover it by accident.
Rogers has ended its sublicensing arrangement with CBC. Hockey Night in Canada on the public broadcaster — a fixture of Saturday nights for 74 years — is no longer carrying NHL games. For anyone who has watched hockey free over the air their whole life, that's a genuine change in how they'll need to watch.
What replaces it:
Sportsnet remains the primary rights holder, now under a new twelve-year agreement. That's the main home for national coverage in Canada, on television and through its streaming service.
Prime Video has expanded considerably, taking on new Wednesday night games and multiple playoff series under a sublicensing deal with Rogers. A Canadian fan who previously ignored Prime Video as a hockey option now has a reason to check it.
The practical upshot for Canadian viewers: the free-to-air route that existed for generations has closed, and following the season now means a subscription — most likely Sportsnet, possibly with Prime Video alongside it depending on which nights and which playoff series you care about.
The US: two partners
American hockey coverage is refreshingly straightforward compared with the NFL or NBA. Two companies hold the national rights.
| Partner | What they carry |
| ESPN | 100 exclusive games — around 53 on ESPN and ABC, the rest streaming on ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu. Also the first three playoff rounds. |
| TNT | 72 regular season games plus the Winter Classic and Heritage Classic — and the 2027 Stanley Cup Final. |
| Regional networks | Your local team's games that aren't on a national broadcast |
The detail worth noting if you only tune in for the big moments: the Stanley Cup Final is on TNT this season, while ESPN carries the earlier playoff rounds. They alternate, so a fan who checks once a year should confirm which partner has the Final rather than assuming it's wherever it was last time.
Out-of-market games
If you support a team from another part of the country, this is the product you need, and the NHL's version is comparatively generous.
NHL Power Play carries more than 1,050 out-of-market games and lives inside the ESPN app for direct-to-consumer subscribers. That's a large proportion of the season for fans watching teams outside their own region.
The same logic applies as in every North American sport, though, and it's worth internalising before paying:
Out-of-market means out-of-market. Your local team's games are not in this package — they're on your regional network. If you live in your team's area, this product isn't aimed at you.
Nationally televised games aren't in it either. Those sit with ESPN and TNT directly.
So the fan it fits is the displaced one: someone living in one city following a team from another. For them it's excellent value. For someone supporting the local side, it's the wrong purchase, and that mistake is made often enough to be worth repeating.
Watching outside North America
Hockey is more fragmented internationally than basketball or American football, and it's worth setting expectations accordingly.
There's no single global product that carries the whole league in the clean way the NBA and NFL manage. What exists varies considerably by country:
In much of Europe, coverage is through local sports broadcasters, and how many games they carry ranges from comprehensive to a handful of marquee fixtures and the playoffs. Countries with strong hockey cultures — the Nordics, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Germany — tend to have the best coverage, often including national-team competitions that matter more locally than the NHL does.
The league's own streaming offering is available in a number of international markets, with the line-up and the name varying by territory.
Time zones are brutal. North American evening games land in the small hours across Europe. As with the NBA, replays and condensed versions are the sane route for most people rather than staying up.
The practical advice is to start with your own country's sports broadcasters and see what they carry before assuming you need something international — in hockey-playing countries the answer is often more than expected.
Free and cheaper routes
In the US, ABC is free over the air. Its share of the ESPN package is broadcast without subscription, so an inexpensive aerial gets you those games at no cost and usually at better quality than a compressed stream.
In Canada, the free route has narrowed sharply with the end of the CBC arrangement. Checking what remains free to air in your area is worth doing rather than assuming, but the honest position is that this is now largely a paid sport in Canada.
Prime Video may already be in the house. Canadian fans who have Prime for other reasons now get a meaningful slice of hockey with it, which changes the arithmetic on what else to buy.
Internationally, national-team tournaments are frequently free to air even where club hockey isn't — worth knowing for anyone whose interest is as much in the international competitions as the NHL.
The offers that don't add up
The pattern is the same across every sport on this site, and hockey is no exception: every game, every market, all the regional networks, for a fraction of a single legitimate subscription.
The economics answer it. Rogers committed to a twelve-year agreement worth an enormous sum for Canadian rights alone; ESPN and TNT pay heavily for the American national packages. That expenditure is exactly why the season is divided the way it is and why a subscription costs what it does. Anything offering all of it for a few euros a month isn't a more efficient operator — it isn't paying for the rights at all, which is unlawful in most countries.
The consequences land on the person who paid:
They fail during the games you bought them for. Game seven of a playoff series is precisely when capacity collapses.
They disappear without refunds, and enforcement action against them is routine.
Your payment details sit with an anonymous operator with no obligation to protect them.
The legitimate route in the US is one or two subscriptions plus free games on ABC; in Canada it's Sportsnet, possibly with Prime Video; internationally it's whichever local broadcaster carries it. None of that is free, but all of it works on the night it matters.
Quick answers
Who shows the NHL in the US? ESPN and TNT split the national schedule. ESPN has 100 exclusive games across ESPN, ABC, ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu plus the first three playoff rounds; TNT has 72 games, the outdoor classics and the 2027 Stanley Cup Final.
Is hockey still on CBC? No. Rogers has ended its sublicensing arrangement with CBC, closing a 74-year run of NHL coverage on the public broadcaster. Sportsnet is the primary Canadian home, with Prime Video expanded.
Who shows the NHL in Canada now? Sportsnet under a new twelve-year Rogers agreement, with Prime Video carrying Wednesday night games and multiple playoff series under a sublicence.
What is NHL Power Play? The out-of-market package, carrying over 1,050 games inside the ESPN app. It doesn't include your local team's games or nationally televised ones.
Where is the Stanley Cup Final this season? TNT has the 2027 Final. ESPN carries the earlier rounds. The partners alternate, so it's worth confirming rather than assuming.
How do I watch outside North America? Through your own country's sports broadcasters, which vary widely in how much they carry. The league also offers streaming in a number of international markets. There's no single global product covering the whole league.
Broadcast arrangements change between seasons and vary by territory, and international availability differs considerably by country. Details here reflect the NHL's published national schedule for the 2026/27 season — check current listings for your country before subscribing. Checked September 2026.