TNT To Air Connor McDavid Six Times This Season, Already A Vast Improvement Over NBC

(Source)--Turner Sports, in its first season of NHL coverage, will feature a 50-game telecast schedule during the 2021-22 NHL regular season, starting Wednesday, Oct. 13, with a TNT opening week doubleheader featuring the New York Rangers visiting the Washington Capitals in one of the fiercest rivalries in sports at 7:30 p.m. ET, followed by the Colorado Avalanche and Nathan MacKinnon hosting the Chicago Blackhawks, with the anticipated Chicago debut of 2021-22 Vezina Trophy winner Marc-Andre Fleury, at 10 p.m.

The NHL on TNT’s weekly schedule will include exclusive coverage on 25 Wednesday nights throughout the season – including 15 doubleheaders. Starting in Spring 2022, the network will add seven weeks of Sunday afternoon telecasts for March and April.

Having the NHL back on ESPN and on TNT for the first time is going to give the league a nice bump after the last couple of vanilla years at NBC. First off, TNT added Biz as an analyst and I can't wait to see him in this role. Biz might be a goof on Chiclets but he crushes it on the Arizona broadcasts and he'll do the same for TNT.

But this PR release buried the lede...

Overall, the network will showcase many of the top teams and leading NHL stars, including six appearances by the Oilers and five appearances by the Avalanche, Blues, Bruins, Capitals, Kraken, Lightning, Penguins, Rangers, and Wild.

Holy shit! Not only are we gonna get the best player on the planet on American TV a lot more, he's getting more TNT airtime than any other team. This is huge for marketing Connor McDavid and the NHL. 

TNT is also going to air the three outdoor games in 2022.

• The 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic will showcase the St. Louis Blues against the Minnesota Wild at Target Field – home of the Minnesota Twins – on Saturday, Jan. 1. The event will continue the tradition first established in 2008 of hosting regular season outdoor games at the start of the New Year. The start time of the game will be announced at a later date.
• The Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning will visit the Nashville Predators in the 2022 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series on Saturday, Feb. 26, at 7:30 p.m. This year’s outdoor game will be played at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, home of the Tennessee Titans.
• The 2022 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic will return this season on Sunday, March 13, at 3 p.m. Emanating from Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario, the outdoor game will feature two teams making their first appearances: Toronto Maple Leafs will take on the Buffalo Sabres, who are also the first non-Canadian team to participate in the event.

ESPN announced their NHL schedule as well.

(Source)--Beginning October 12, ESPN, ESPN+ and Hulu become the destination for Tuesday night hockey throughout the regular season. ESPN+ and Hulu will also showcase an exclusive game every Friday night until January, then every Thursday night for the remainder of the regular season. ABC will regularly carry Saturday games beginning in February.

ESPN will air 18 exclusive regular season games and a shitload more will be on ESPN+/Hulu. Additionally, ESPN+ will stream more than 1,000 out-of-market games, all as part of an ESPN+ subscription. That's fucking huge for fans who watch as many games as they can. 

ABC will air 10 regular season games as well as the All-Star Game. After the Olympics, ABC will have a weekly Saturday game but unfortunately only one of them is scheduled for nighttime---the rest are afternoon tilts. McDavid and the Oilers are scheduled to appear in three ESPN+ games but no ABC or ESPN games.

If you're an NHL fan, you gotta be fired up after seeing these schedules and knowing the game presentation will be vastly improved on ESPN and TNT.

Let's fucking go!