Early years: 1979–1982 and 1985–1988 ESPN initially covered the NHL during the , and seasons by making deals with individual teams. This included 11
Hartford Whalers home broadcasts in 1980–81 and 25 the following year. Branded as
ESPN Hockey,
Sam Rosen, Barry Landers, and Joe Boyle were employed as play-by-play announcers.
Pete Stemkowski was the lead color commentator. During the opening round of the
1982 playoffs, ESPN broadcast game four of the series between the
New York Islanders and
Pittsburgh Penguins, and game two of the series between the
Minnesota North Stars and
Chicago Black Hawks, with Sam Rosen and Pete Stemkowski on the call. In the
season prior, the pair called games three and four of the playoff series between the
St. Louis Blues and
Pittsburgh Penguins. During this time,
USA Network also
broadcast NHL games. To prevent overexposure, the NHL granted only one network exclusive rights. In April 1982, USA outbid ESPN for the NHL's American national television cable package ($8 million for two years). In 1984, the NHL asked ESPN for a bid, but then gave USA the right to match it, which it did. The network chose
Dan Kelly and
Sam Rosen to be the network's first play-by-play announcers.
Mickey Redmond and
Brad Park were selected to be the analysts, while
Tom Mees and
Jim Kelly were chosen to serve as studio hosts. ESPN aired
ESPN Hockey Night in America on Sundays, but also aired select midweek telecasts. ESPN aired its first game, an opening-night matchup between the
Washington Capitals and
New York Rangers, on October 10, 1985. At the end of the season, ESPN lost the NHL television rights to
SportsChannel America, which paid $51 million ($17 million per year) over three years, more than double what ESPN had paid ($24 million) for the previous three years. SportsChannel America paid $5 million for rights to a fourth NHL season. It was only available in a few major markets, absent from
Detroit,
Pittsburgh, and
St. Louis, and it reached a third of the households that
ESPN did at the time. In , the first year of the deal, SportsChannel America was available in only 7 million homes, compared to ESPN's reach of 50 million. By the
1991–92 season, ESPN was available in 60.5 million homes, whereas SportsChannel America was available in 25 million.
Second return to ESPN and ABC's involvement: 1992–1999 When the SportsChannel deal ended in
1992, the league returned to ESPN for another contract that would pay $80 million over five years. Until the
2001–02 NHL season, weekly regular-season games were broadcast on Sundays (between
NFL and
baseball seasons), Wednesdays, and Fridays. Games in the first two rounds were non-exclusive, while telecasts in the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals were exclusive (except in 1993 and 1994). Beginning in the
1993–94 season, up to five games per week were also shown on
ESPN2, branded as
NHL Fire on Ice. Sister broadcast network
ABC also
aired NHL games during the first two seasons of the contract, in the league's first network television broadcasts since
NBC's previous contract in the 1970s. In the first season, this included selected playoff games, and later expanded to include a package of regular-season games in the second season. These telecasts were produced by ESPN and were officially considered to be
time-buys on ABC by
ESPN Inc.
Final years, and including ABC full-time: 1999–2004 In 1998, ESPN renewed its contract through 2004 for $600 million, beginning in the
1999–2000 season. Under the new contract, ESPN was permitted two exclusive telecasts per team per season, while ABC would also return as broadcast television rights holder to replace Fox. ESPN's terms of the deal included up to 200 games a year split between ESPN and ESPN2, the All-Star Skills Challenge, the majority of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals. ABC's terms included rights to the
NHL All-Star Game, four to five weeks of regular-season action, with three games a week, six weekends of Stanley Cup Playoff action, and the rest of the Stanley Cup Finals. Beginning in the
1999–2000 season, ESPN was permitted two exclusive telecasts per team per season. When ESPN started broadcasting
NBA games on Wednesday and Friday nights in
2002, the weekly hockey broadcasts were moved to Thursday and they were renamed to
ESPN Thursday Night Hockey. Following the 2003–04 season, ESPN was only willing to renew its contract for two additional years at $60 million per year. ABC refused to televise the Stanley Cup Finals in prime time, suggesting that the Finals games it would telecast be played on weekend afternoons (including a potential game seven).
Disney executives later conceded that they overpaid for the 1999–2004 deal, so the company's offer to renew the television rights was lower in 2004. Before the
2004–05 lockout, the NHL had reached two separate deals with
NBC (which would replace
ABC as the NHL's national U.S. broadcast television partner) and ESPN. ESPN offered the NHL $60 million to renew its contract, carrying about 40 games (only 15 of which would be during the regular season), mostly on ESPN2. However, ESPN opted out of the contract following the lockout, and the NHL reopened negotiations.
Comcast offered over $200 million for a three-season deal to
air games on
OLN (later rebranded as Versus to reflect its expansion to mainstream sports), which ESPN declined to match, effectively giving NBC Sports exclusive national broadcasting rights to the league. After Comcast acquired a majority stake in
NBC Universal in 2011, it renewed both the broadcast television and cable rights to the league via
NBC Sports through the 2020–21 season. For the tournament, ESPN named
Steve Levy and
Barry Melrose as the lead broadcast team, while adding
Kevin Weekes from
NHL Network,
Leah Hextall from
Sportsnet, NHL Hall of Famers
Chris Chelios and
Brett Hull to their roster. ESPN also named NHL Hall of Famers
Chris Chelios and
Brett Hull as their studio analyst.
John Saunders, who had hosted ESPN and ABC's NHL coverage from 1987 to 1988 and again from 1992 to 2004, was tapped to lead the studio coverage. Cohn, who was originally going to do features for ESPN, was tapped to replace Saunders.
ESPN+ involvement: 2018–present After its 2018 launch, ESPN's subscription streaming service
ESPN+ added an NHL studio program. This program has a free daily regular-season game courtesy of NHL.tv (operated by Disney subsidiary
BAMTech), and includes a Stanley Cup Playoffs documentary series (replacing one produced as part of
Showtime's
All Access franchise). As part of the NHL.tv deal, ESPN+ started a night-time show,
In the Crease, hosted by
Linda Cohn and
Barry Melrose.
Third return to ESPN and ABC: 2021–present In the years before the end of NBC's latest contract with the NHL, the league explored options for splitting its national broadcast rights, similar to the television deals of the
NFL,
NBA, and
MLB. This included selling packages to streaming services, aiming to maximize the value of its broadcast rights. On March 10, 2021, Disney, ESPN, and the NHL announced that a seven-year agreement was reached for ESPN to hold the first half of its new media rights beginning in the
2021–22 season: • ESPN holds rights to at least 25 exclusive national games per season, which can air on either ESPN, ESPN2, or ABC, including exclusive rights to opening night games. All ABC games and select ESPN games stream on
ESPN+ and, since 2025,
Disney+. • ABC aired the Thanksgiving Showdown in 2021. • Up to 75 exclusive national games per season are streamed exclusively on ESPN+, and are not carried on linear television. These are also available to
Hulu subscribers and later became available for Disney+ subscribers on December 5, 2024. • ESPN+ streams all
out-of-market games, as well as on-demand versions of all nationally televised games. These became available for Disney+ subscribers on December 4, 2024. • ESPN holds rights to
All-Star Weekend, with the
Skills Competition airing on ESPN, and the All-Star Game airing on ABC. • ESPN has held rights to the
NHL Stadium Series since
2023, depending on scheduling logistics with TNT. • ESPN holds rights to the
NHL entry draft. • ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC share coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs, holding rights to half of the games in the first two rounds and one conference final per season. ESPN/ABC has the first choice of which conference final series to air. The remaining half airs on
TNT and TBS. To date, ESPN has chosen the Eastern Conference Final in even-numbered years, and the Western Conference Final in odd-numbered years, mirroring that of its NBA counterpart. • Exclusive rights to the Stanley Cup Finals alternate between ABC and TNT. and ESPN holds various highlights and international rights. • ESPN holds rights to the
NHL Awards show in even-numbered years, alternating with TNT. On May 10, 2021,
TSN's
Ray Ferraro (who previously worked for ESPN from 2002 to 2004) and
NBC's
Brian Boucher signed with ESPN/ABC to become their top hockey analysts. On June 9, 2021, ESPN announced that current
New Jersey Devils defenseman P. K. Subban would be a studio analyst for the remainder of the
2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, making his debut on
SportsCenter that day. The same day, Craig Morgan, Arizona-based reporter on the
Arizona Coyotes and
NHL Network correspondent, reported that ESPN had added NBC's
Ryan Callahan and
A. J. Mleczko to their analyst roster, and that NHL Network's
Kevin Weekes, who also worked for ESPN during the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, was in talks to return to ESPN in an analyst/reporter role. On June 24, ESPN/ABC announced that six-time
Stanley Cup Champion Mark Messier had signed a multi-year deal to join ESPN in a studio analyst role. Messier's signing was the first announced signing made by ESPN, and potentially was made as a counter to TNT signing Messier's former teammate
Wayne Gretzky, who was also recruited by ESPN. On June 28, Marchand reported that three-time Stanley Cup Champion
Chris Chelios would also join ESPN/ABC as a studio analyst, and
The Athletic reported that current
Hockey Night in Canada color commentator/reporter
Cassie Campbell-Pascall would also join the network. ESPN formally confirmed its commentator teams on June 29, 2021. ESPN's
college football No. 2 play-by-play man
Sean McDonough would be the network's lead play-by-play announcer;
Monday Night Football's
Steve Levy would lead studio coverage and contribute to occasional play-by-play commentary. Hextall and Wischusen were officially named as play-by-play commentators, as well as
SportsCenter's
John Buccigross, who would also contribute as an alternate studio host, and serve as the host for
The Point.
Barry Melrose, Messier, and Chelios were named studio analysts, while Ferraro, Boucher, On September 16, after ESPN released their slate of games for the 2021–22 season, SportsCenter anchor and ESPN Social host
Arda Ocal announced that he too would host select game broadcasts. On October 2, former referee
Dave Jackson joined the network as a rules analyst, an NHL first. Early into the 2021–22 season, ESPN added former NBC analyst
Dominic Moore, who had hosted the
expansion draft with Weekes and
ESPN College Football personality
Chris Fowler.
Laura Rutledge, host of
NFL Live and
SEC Nation, joined the NHL on ESPN team for their coverage of the
2022 NHL All-Star Game in a celebrity interviewer role. After preparing for and playing in the
2022 Winter Olympics in
Beijing, Knight made her ESPN debut on the March 10, 2022, episode of
The Point, coincidentally on the first anniversary of ESPN regaining the rights to broadcast the NHL. Bolden, who has been working as a pro scout for the
Los Angeles Kings since 2020, made her official ESPN on-air debut a week later. After the regular season kicked into high gear, Knight and Bolden were the only two who still had to make their on-air debuts with ESPN. Occasionally, other well-known ESPN personalities like
Jeremy Schaap,
Kevin Connors,
Michael Eaves, and
Max McGee will be added in fill-in roles on
The Point and
In the Crease.
Mike Monaco,
Roxy Bernstein, and
Caley Chelios (daughter of Chris) have also filled in on game coverage. Subban and TSN's
Gord Miller, Ferraro's broadcast partner for Maple Leafs games on TSN, joined ESPN for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Tortorella left ESPN after their first season to become the new head coach of the
Philadelphia Flyers. After holding two stints with ESPN during the playoffs, the network announced that Subban would be joining their coverage full-time beginning with the
2022–23 season, holding both studio analyst and color commentator roles. This came after his retirement announcement. ESPN also confirmed that
Spanish language coverage of the NHL would air on
ESPN Deportes and
ESPN Latin America.
Kenneth Garay and Eitán Benezra would be the main play-by-play commentators, while Carlos Rossell and Antonio Valle contribute analysis and color commentary.
Rigoberto Plascencia was later added as another play-by-play announcer. For the 2021–22 season, ESPN aired 18 games (billed as
ESPN Hockey Night),'' while 75 exclusive national games per season would be streamed exclusively on ESPN+. For the 2022–23 season, out-of-market games on ESPN+, which did not carry any specific branding in the inaugural season, were branded as
NHL Power Play on ESPN+. for its decision to implement a
split screen between its coverage of game six of the
Stanley Cup Playoff series between the
Vegas Golden Knights and
Edmonton Oilers and a
Sunday Night Baseball telecast between the
St. Louis Cardinals and
Boston Red Sox, which was being played at the same time and was ultimately won by St. Louis 9–1. For the 2023–24 season, ESPN+/Hulu aired at least 50 exclusive games. Among linear broadcasts, 19 games aired on ABC, featuring four doubleheaders, both
NHL Stadium Series games, and two tripleheaders on February 17 and April 13. ABC also aired the
2024 Stanley Cup Final.
ABC Hockey Saturday for this season began on January 13, preceding
Super Wild Card Saturday of the
NFL playoffs, unlike previous years where its slate began after the NHL All-Star Game, and ESPN aired the rest. as part of Disney's $5.5 billion cost-cutting. On September 12, 2023, TNT hired Boucher away from ESPN/ABC to serve as
Keith Jones' replacement on the top team, thus reuniting with former NBC partners
Kenny Albert and
Eddie Olczyk. On October 10, 2023, ESPN announced that Barry Melrose would retire from the network to spend more time with his family after being diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease. On December 19, 2023, Campbell-Pascall accepted a new position as a special advisor with the
Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). Although she had left Sportsnet, she remained with ESPN/ABC. The 2024–25 season would again have ESPN+/Hulu stream at least 50 exclusive games.
ESPN2 aired a doubleheader on December 27. ABC's 19-game schedule for this season began earlier than normal on January 4 during the last week of the
2024 NFL regular season. The
2025 Stadium Series would air on ESPN instead of ABC. With the
NHL 4 Nations Face-Off tournament replacing the All-Star Game this season, the NHL decided to split it between TNT, ABC, and ESPN: TNT had the round-robin games on February 12 and 17, ABC/ESPN+ aired the February 15 round-robin doubleheader, and ESPN aired the United States–Finland game on February 13 and tourney final on February 20. On October 8, color commentator Ray Ferraro called two games of an opening night tripleheader: the
St. Louis Blues at
Seattle Kraken, and the
Chicago Blackhawks at
Utah Hockey Club. Two late-season
Washington Capitals games were later added to ESPN's schedule in anticipation of
Alexander Ovechkin breaking
Wayne Gretzky's career goals record. While the April 12 road game at the
Columbus Blue Jackets would air exclusively on ABC, the March 27 road game at the
Minnesota Wild would co-exist with the Capitals' own broadcast via the
Monumental Sports Network in the
Washington metropolitan area. Additionally, the April 17 road game at the
Pittsburgh Penguins would air on both ESPN and Monumental in the Capitals' market after it was initially an ESPN-exclusive broadcast. After Ovechkin broke the career goals record in the regular season, the April 15 road game at the
New York Islanders was flexed out in favor of the
Florida at Tampa Bay game, and the April 17 road game at the
Pittsburgh Penguins returned exclusively to ESPN. A total of 86 games across ESPN and ESPN+/Hulu was slated for the 2025–26 season, with the remaining 16 games airing on ABC. ESPN's schedule had been modified due to the network having reduced rights in its new NBA deal along with ESPN opting out of televising
Sunday Night Baseball. ESPN continued to have the opening day tripleheader, but the select games for the rest of the regular season would be on any day of the week except Wednesdays, including a Sunday night doubleheader on April 5 as a
Sunday Night Baseball replacement. After holding a stint during the playoffs in the previous season, ESPN signed Stanley Cup champion
T. J. Oshie to its broadcast crew as a studio and game analyst for the 2025–26 season. In addition, ESPN hired new
Los Angeles Kings play-by-play announcer
John Kelly and brought back John Tortorella after his coaching stint with the Philadelphia Flyers. Despite the additions, ESPN also announced that Ryan Callahan, who had been with ESPN since it regained NHL rights, would not return for the 2025–26 season. ==Alternate broadcasts==