The NHL officially drops the puck again this week and a lot has changed for the 2022-23 season. We will break down how you can watch your favorite team on your local regional sports network (RSN), in nationally televised games, and all out-of-market NHL regular season coverage.
Our Picks
DIRECTV STREAM
- ESPN and TNT
- Bally Sports RSNs
- NBC Sports RSNs
- MSG
- NESN
- AT&T SportsNet and ROOT Sports
- Altitude
- NHL Network (+$10)
NHL Power Play on ESPN+
- 1,000+ Out-of-Market Games
- 75+ Exclusive Nationally Televised Games
What’s New for the 2022-23 NHL Season?
- Fans in every market have at least two options to stream their favorite team locally, after Colorado Avalanche games on Altitude were added to fuboTV
- But, DIRECTV STREAM is still the only live TV streaming service to stream Bally Sports RSNs as part of a streaming bundle, which is available with their $89.99 per month CHOICE Package
- However, for the first time there are direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming services to watch RSN games in-market: Bally Sports RSNs are available to stream with Bally Sports+ ($19.99/mo.), while Boston Bruins games are available on NESN360 ($29.99/mo.).
- ESPN will carry more games exclusively on TV, while 53 games will continue to be only available on ESPN+ and Hulu.
- NHL.TV has been rebranded to NHL Power Play, and once again is included with a a subscription to ESPN+ ($9.99 per month) or The Disney Bundle ($13.99 per month), meaning that you can get over 1,000+ out-of-market NHL games for $50 less than it was as a standalone service.
Local Telecasts on RSNs
To watch NHL games locally on your regional sports network online without cable, you will need a subscription to one of the major live TV streaming services.
The most comprehensive option remains DIRECTV STREAM.
After YouTube TV, Hulu, Sling TV, and fuboTV each dropped Bally Sports RSNs, DIRECTV STREAM CHOICE ($89.99) is still the only live TV streaming service to offer games on Bally channels, combined with those televised nationally on ESPN and TNT. For a limited time, you can get $10 off your first five months of DIRECTV STREAM, after a five-day free trial.
DIRECTV STREAM also offers MSG, NESN, Altitude, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, and ROOT Sports Northwest.
If you want to stream games on MSG (Rangers/Sabres), MSG+ (Islanders/Devils), NESN (Bruins), AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh (Penguins), AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Golden Knights), and ROOT Sports Northwest (Kraken), your least expensive option is fuboTV ($69.99 + RSN fee), which is available with a seven-day free trial. The service also recently added Altitude, which will let Colorado Avalanche stream games on the platform. While Fubo also carries ESPN, it doesn’t carry TNT, meaning you would miss any games on that cable channel.
If you don’t want a full cable alternative, one of the biggest changes for the 2022-23 NHL season is the addition of in-market streaming services from local RSNs.
If you just want Bally Sports RSNs, you could sign-up for Bally Sports+. The in-market streaming service costs $19.99 per month or $189.99 per year. While you won’t get games on ESPN or TNT, it is an option to stream many local teams without blackouts.
If you live in Boston, just like Bally Sports, NESN has also launched a DTC streaming service called NESN360, which carries Bruins telecasts for $29.99 per month or $329.99 per year.
Which Is The Best Option For My Favorite Team?
If you’re not sure which is the best option for you, we put together a handy chart below to figure out all of the options for each team.
- fuboTV is the least expensive option for MSG, MSG+, NESN, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, ROOT Sports Northwest (Kraken), AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Golden Knights), and recently added Altitude (Avalanche).
- DIRECTV STREAM CHOICE package ($89.99 / mo.) is the only live TV streaming service that offers Bally Sports RSNs. They also offer MSG, NESN, Altitude, AT&T SportsNet, and ROOT Sports Northwest, where available.
- NBC Sports RSNs are carried by nearly all of the [live TV streamingservices] including DIRECTV STREAM, fuboTV, Hulu Live TV, and YouTube TV.
TBD
National Telecasts
Just like last season, nationally televised games that don’t air on your team’s RSN will now be available on ESPN+, Hulu, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, and ABC.
Most services include these channels as part of their entry-level package with some exceptions. While fuboTV carries ESPN, it doesn’t carry TNT. Sling TV includes ESPN and TNT in their Sling Orange package, but not ABC. You can stream NHL on ABC games with ESPN3 (included with a Sling subscription) or ESPN+.
The biggest change is that there will now be 10 games that air on ESPN that will be simulcast on ESPN+ (those won’t be on Hulu), up from just two from last season. ESPN and ESPN2 will now exclusively carry 26 games this season, up from 15 last year, and ABC will air 14 matchups, all simulcast on ESPN+. TNT will also carry 62 games, compared to the approximately 50 that the channel had last season.
- ESPN: 26 games will not simulcast on ESPN+ (Sundays in 2022, mostly Tuesdays and Thursdays in 2023).
- ABC: 14 games (Saturdays), including 2022 All-Star Game, will simulcast on ESPN+.
- ESPN+/Hulu: 53 games (mostly Tuesdays and Thursdays).
- TNT: 62 games (mostly Wednesdays), including the Winter Classic.
If you want the most regular season coverage on TV, NHL Network will carry around 100 non-exclusive games during the 2022-23 NHL season, which will also air on local RSNs. These games will be blacked out if the team playing is in your local market, but you will need NHL Network if you are out-of-market, since they won’t be available on NHL Power Play's out-of-market service on ESPN+.
| DTV STREAM | DTV Internet | Fubo | Hulu | Philo | Sling TV | YouTube | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Get $100 Back | Free Trial | Free 3-Day Trial | Free Trial | Get 50% OFF | Sign Up | |||
| $86.99 | $69.99 | $94.99 | $82.99 | $28 | $40 | $40 | $72.99 | ||
| ABC | ✓ | + $0 | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | ✓ | |
| ESPN | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | |
| ESPN+ | - | - | - | ✓ | - | - | - | - | |
| TNT | ✓ | + $0 | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
Out-Of-Market Telecasts
Since most teams have three to four nationally televised games on ESPN+, if you are a big NHL fan, it is almost now a requirement to have the service. But, you will now also get 1,000+ out-of-market NHL games included with the service.
Last season, NHL.TV shifted over to ESPN+, but this season they have rebranded it as NHL Power Play on ESPN+.
The good news is that with NHL Power Play on ESPN+ you will continue to get both home and away telecasts for every game on the service. This season, NHL Power Play will feature greater access to pre and post-game shows from local RSNs.
While in the past, the NHL offered NHL.TV for $145 to watch every team ($25 per month), with ESPN+, you will be able to stream every out-of-market game for just $10.99 / month, or $109.99 / year ($9.17 / month). You can also stream it with The Disney Bundle which is available for $16.99 / month.
Just like last season, you won’t be able to stream games that air on NHL Network, those will be blacked out on the service, so you will need a live TV streaming service like Sling TV to get those games. You also won’t be able to watch the games in the NHL app, when you click on these games in the app, it will take you to ESPN+ to stream the action.
NHL 2022-23 Season Preview
2022-23 NHL TV Schedule
TBD