NHL’s National TV Broadcast Schedule Centers Star-Stacked Teams

Connor McDavid may have just missed last season’s Stanley Cup glory, but his Oilers will be in the national spotlight regardless. Alongside the Penguins and Avalanche, Edmonton tops the list of teams with U.S. nationally televised games for the 2024–2025 NHL season. 

The trio will each make 17 appearances across TNT Networks, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN+. (With nearly 25 million subscribers, the latter’s wide distribution returns bigger viewership numbers than any individual cable or satellite provider—yet another indication of the increasingly blurred line between linear and streaming.)

Next in line are the major-market 2024 Presidents’ Trophy–winning Rangers and Connor Bedard–led Blackhawks as well as Minnesota: They’ll each appear on 15 national broadcasts. In their first season, the Utah Hockey Club will get seven national spots.

The Oilers, Penguins, and Avalanche had varying degrees of success last season—Pittsburgh sat out the playoffs despite a strong regular-season final stretch—but each have star-studded rosters. McDavid, the reigning Conn Smythe winner and three-time Most Valuable Player colloquially known as “McJesus,” is the sport’s biggest celebrity, but Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon and defenseman Cale Makar also have plenty of national interest. And there is, of course, Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, going on his 20th season.

In short, national audiences should be hungry to watch these teams play—and networks are rewarding them.

The Blue Jackets have only one national broadcast: the 2025 NHL Stadium Series outdoor matchup against the Red Wings. And fully blanked on the U.S. national stage are the Flames, Senators, and Jets. Winnipeg has arguably the most precarious position in the league, with anemic ticket sales and constant relocation rumors kicking up each season. (In February, commissioner Gary Bettman reiterated his commitment to keeping the Jets in Winnipeg.) 

The exclusion of these three Canadian franchises is no shock, given their lack of star power or market heft. But the Oilers’ big scheduling win makes a statement for the U.S.’s neighbors to the north: Despite the exclusion of non-U.S. media markets from Nielsen numbers, networks are betting on Canadian hockey to pay dividends.