TheNHL on TNT is an American presentation ofNational Hockey League (NHL) games produced byTNT Sports (formerly known as Turner Sports and later Warner Bros. Discovery Sports), and televised onTNT and streamed onHBO Max in the United States.
Like other U.S. national NHL broadcasts,NHL on TNT games may be available in Canada onSportsnet or streamed onSportsnet+ as part of a 12-year agreement with the NHL that lasts to the end of the 2025–26 season, subject to blackout restrictions if a Canadian team is involved in the TNT broadcasts.
When the NHL's media rights were up for renewal in 2011, Turner Sports was reported to have been among the bidders (withSports Business Journal suggesting that Turner would want to pick it up forTruTV to expand its sports output alongside theNCAA men's basketball tournament), alongside past NHL rightsholdersFox Sports and ESPN.[5] The NHL ultimately decided to renew its rights withNBC Sports under a 10-year deal, taking advantage of the acquisition of its parent companyNBC Universal byComcast—the existingcable rightsholder viaVersus.[6]
To increase the value of its U.S. media rights after the expiration of its ten-year deal with NBC Sports, the NHL pursued having multiple media partners for its next round of media rights deals, including possible deals with streaming services.[7] After announcing on March 10, 2021, thatESPN would hold the first half of the new media rights, on April 27, the NHL announced that a seven-year agreement was reached for Turner Sports to hold the second half of its new media rights beginning in the2021–22 season;[8][9][10][11][12]
TNT holds rights to up to 72 regular season games per season.[10][13] In practice these games have primarily been Wednesday-night doubleheaders (thus serving as the successor to NBCSN'sWednesday Night Hockey), with occasional games also scheduled on weekends (mostly on Sunday afternoons during the second half of the season).[13] Other WBD networks, such asTruTV, are used as overflow in the event that a game on TNT runs long.[8][10][14][15]
TNT holds rights to theWinter Classic annually, as well as the Thanksgiving Showdown (since 2022), Stadium Series andHeritage Classic in select years.
TNT and TBS share in coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs with ESPN,ESPN2, and ABC, holding rights to "half" of the games in the first two rounds, and one conference final per season (ESPN/ABC will have the first choice of conference finals). To date, TNT was given the Western Conference Final in even-numbered years, and the Eastern Conference Final in odd-numbered years.
TNT holds rights to theStanley Cup Finals in odd-numbered years beginning 2023, alternating withABC.
Beginning in the2023–24 NHL season,Max began to offersimulcasts of TNT games as part of its Bleacher Report Sports add-on.[16] The contract also includes an option for games that are exclusive to the service.[17]
Bleacher Report distributes highlights on digital platforms. The site launchedOpen Ice, a new content brand focusing on NHL-related content. Online personality andstreamer Andrew "Nasher" Telfer was hired as a contributor for the brand.[21][22]
TNT holds rights to theNHL Awards show in odd-numbered years altering with ESPN.
The contract was reported to be valued at $225 million per season.[23]
On May 26, 2021, Turner announced the hiring ofWayne Gretzky as its lead studio analyst, and that NBC's top commentary team ofKenny Albert andEddie Olczyk moved to Turner as its lead commentary team.[24][25] Retired basketball player and current TNTInside the NBA panelistCharles Barkley, who is a friend of Gretzky, was instrumental in convincing Gretzky to join Turner.[26] Craig Morgan, an Arizona-based reporter on theArizona Coyotes and correspondent for theNHL Network, reported thatDarren Pang andKeith Jones, color commentators for theSt. Louis Blues andPhiladelphia Flyers, respectively, would be joining Turner.[27] On June 9, Morgan reported that NBC'sAnson Carter would be doing the same.[28] On June 28, Marchand reported thatIslandersplay-by-play manBrendan Burke was in talks to join Turner as their #2 play-by-play man.[29] On August 31, it was reported thatLiam McHugh would join TNT from NBC.[30]
On September 14, 2021, TNT announced its slate of on-air staff for its inaugural season.[31] Jones, a studio analyst at NBC, would join Albert and Olczyk on the lead broadcast team as the lead ice-level reporter.[31][22] Burke[32] and Pang were named as the secondary broadcast team. McHugh and Carter were named to the studio team,[31][28] along with formerCoyoteshead coachRick Tocchet[31][33] and veteranPaul Bissonnette, who all joined Gretzky in studio.[31]Hockey Night in Canada’sJennifer Botterill, NHL Network's Jackie Redmond, and Tarik El-Bashir also appear as contributors.[31][22] TNT later added former refereeDon Koharski as a rules analyst, and formerBlackhawkJamal Mayers as an extra contributor.
On November 23, TNT added retiredRangers goaltenderHenrik Lundqvist to its studio panel, starting on the next day's broadcast.[34] On November 30, TNT welcomed former refereeStéphane Auger to their team, as another rules analyst, joining Koharski. He made his debut during thePenguins-Oilers game the next night.[35] On January 13, 2022, TNT added Nabil Karim,[36] formerly ofESPN, to contribute as secondary studio host and reporter for both the NHL[37] and the NBA. Former NBC and current Kraken play-by-play announcerJohn Forslund was picked up by TNT as a fill-in announcer, whenever Albert or Burke are on assignment. Forslund first filled in for Albert for the Avalanche-Golden Knights game on February 16, as Albert was working theOlympic women's hockey gold medal game forNBC about an hour after puck drop.[38][39][40][41] Sharks color commentatorBret Hedican also joined in a fill-in role, joining Forslund in Vancouver on March 9. TNT added several announcers to their roster for the playoffs includingRandy Hahn,Dave Goucher,Jim Jackson,Butch Goring,Drew Remenda,Shane Hnidy andJody Shelley.
Due to conflicts with TNT's first two NHL doubleheaders,AEW: Dynamite was pre-empted to Saturday on the weeks of October 13 and 20. From October 27 through December 15, 2021, TNT aired only a single, 10 p.m.ET game withDynamite as a lead-in (which concurrently began broadcasting live on both TNT's East and West feeds).[44][45] TNT then began airing doubleheaders on January 5, 2022, whenDynamite moved to TBS.[13][46][44]
In the 2022–23 season, TNT announced a 62-game regular season schedule, normally airing on Wednesdays throughout the regular season and four Sundays during March and April. In addition to gaining exclusive rights to the2023 Stanley Cup Finals and the2023 NHL Winter Classic, TNT will gain the rights to the annualThanksgiving Showdown on Friday, November 25, featuring a doubleheader between thePittsburgh Penguinsand thePhiladelphia Flyers, and theSt. Louis Blues at theTampa Bay Lightning. With theNBA opting not to play games onElection Day, TNT decided to schedule a rare Tuesday night doubleheader on November 8, with theEdmonton Oilers at the Tampa Bay Lightning, followed by theNashville Predators at theSeattle Kraken. Like their playoff coverage in 2022, TNT brought in regional announcers for select games. Those include former Kings (current at the time) and NBC play-by-play manAlex Faust and Lightning play-by-play manDave Randorf, previously ofTSN andSportsnet. Unlike the previous season, select TNT broadcasts would air on a non-exclusive basis, and are blacked out in the local markets of the participating teams in favor of local broadcasters.[47] On January 23, Tocchet left TNT to be the new head coach of theVancouver Canucks, replacing recently-firedBruce Boudreau.[48][49] He subsequently returned to TNT as a guest studio analyst after the Canucks missed the playoffs.[50][51][52] On May 11, 2023, Jones was named the President of Hockey Operations for thePhiladelphia Flyers after the2023 Stanley Cup playoffs concludes.[53][54][55][56][57][58][59]
During the first round of the2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, TNT only carried weekend games due to its commitments with theNBA playoffs, with some weeknight games airing on TBS alongside ESPN.[60] To maximize viewership, the 2023 Stanley Cup Finals were simulcast on TBS and/or TruTV (notwithstanding commitments toMLB on TBS Tuesday Night andAEW Dynamite).[61]
On August 29, 2023, TNT hiredBrian Boucher away from ESPN to replace Keith Jones on the lead team, thus reuniting with former NBC partners Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk, a position that was confirmed on September 21 with entire TNT crew returning andHenrik Lundqvist being added to the crew full-time.[62][63][64]
TNT aired a 62-game schedule for the 2023–24 season, 48 of those games on Wednesdays as doubleheaders, and 12 of those games on Sunday afternoons (with the first branded asHockey Day in America—reviving the franchise that had been used by NBC), along with the2023 Heritage Classic in Edmonton (which aired on TBS as its first regular-season game (due to TNT commitments to aUnited States women's soccer friendly againstColombia),[65][66] the Thanksgiving Showdown, and the2024 NHL Winter Classic.[67]
Another set of 62 games is scheduled for TNT's 2024–25 regular season coverage, including Wednesday night games throughout the season, the Thanksgiving Showdown, the2025 Winter Classic, and Sunday games between late February and April. TruTV will continue to have simulcasts or alternative broadcasts of selected games. With theNHL 4 Nations Face-Off tournament replacing the All-Star Game this season, the NHL decided to split it between TNT, ABC, and ESPN: TNT will have the round-robin games on February 12 and 17, ABC/ESPN+ will air the February 15 round-robin doubleheader, and ESPN will air the United States–Finland game on February 13 and the final on February 20.[76] TheNew York Rangers–Philadelphia Flyers game on April 9 would be called by the legendary Rangers broadcast duo ofSam Rosen andJohn Davidson; this was due to Rosen's impending retirement from broadcasting NHL games after the season.[77]
A 72-game slate for TNT was announced ahead of the 2025–26 regular season, including Wednesday night games throughout the season, the Thanksgiving Showdown, the2026 NHL Winter Classic, and Sunday games between March 1 and April 12. A total of 14 Tuesday night games, one game on Thursday night and a doubleheader onMartin Luther King Jr. Day were also added, following the NBA moving its secondary national TV partner fromTNT toNBC and Peacock andPrime Video. This includes a tripleheader on December 23.[78]
As part of TNT's seven-year NHL national contract, selectStanley Cup playoff games air on TBS.[86] In 2023, TBS aired theHeritage Classic, its first regular season game.[87] While TBS's playoff games initially featured TBS branding replacing that of TNT, since the 2023–24 season all NHL broadcasts now carry "TNT Sports" branding regardless of channel due to corporate branding changes.
Turner launched the regionalTurner South network in 1999, which carried games of theAtlanta Thrashers, which were owned at that time by Turner parentTime Warner.Matt McConnell was the primary television play-by-play announcer for the Thrashers from1999–2003 withJP Dellacamera taking over for the rest of the way in Atlanta.Darren Eliot was the television color commentator throughout the Thrashers' entire existence before their 2011 departure toWinnipeg as theJets. Time Warner sold the Thrashers in 2003, and sold Turner South toFox Cable Networks in 2006, which merged it withFSN South to formSportSouth.
With the exception of Root Sports Northwest, all of WBD's regional sports networks would be dissolved at the end of the2023 Major League Baseball season.[90][91] The Golden Knights signed a multi-year agreement with theE. W. Scripps Company's Scripps Sports division to start airing games on Scripps's Las Vegas broadcast stationKMCC and syndicate the telecasts to other stations across the team's broadcast territory.[92] Meanwhile, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, the television home of the Penguins, was purchased by theFenway Sports Group, which also owns theBoston Bruins' home network,NESN.[93] The network dropped the AT&T branding and became known as simplySportsNet Pittsburgh (not to be confused with Canada'sSportsnet networks) effective October 2.[94] In January 2024, the Mariners purchased WBD's remaining stake on Root Sports Northwest.[95] As a result, the Kraken left Root Sports Northwest following the season and partnered withTegna Inc. (as theKraken Hockey Network) to air its games via flagship broadcast stationKONG-TV and streaming partnerAmazon Prime Video.[96][97]
A Turner Sports executive stated that TNT's goal for its coverage was to provide information on-air that would appeal to both mainstream viewers and "diehard fans", including leveraging the NHL's new player and puck tracking system for on-air features and graphics, andhigh frame rate cameras. The network also implemented an on-ice graphic for the power play clock, similar to the on-court shot clock graphic used in TNT's NBA coverage.[43] TNT's studio coverage originates from Turner's headquarters in Atlanta, with a set featuringprojection mapping effects.[98]
