- Calgary, Ottawa and Vancouver drew zero games in the US national TV package
- Boston and Pittsburgh top all 32 teams with 20 national appearances apiece
- Read below for the full national TV count for every team
ESPN and TNT handed out 172 national games on Wednesday. Three teams got none of them.
Counting up the game-by-game grids both networks published alongside their 2026-27 schedules, the Flames, Senators and Canucks are the only clubs that appear on neither one. Toronto barely cleared the bar with three, and its one ESPN game is a stream rather than a broadcast.
Worth being precise about what that means. These are the American national windows only, and Canadian teams sit under a separate rights deal at home. Sportsnet opens its season the same night with a doubleheader, the Maple Leafs hosting Montreal and the Canucks visiting Edmonton.
Boston and Pittsburgh sit at the other end, tied for the lead at 20 games each. The Penguins pulled a league-high 10 TNT dates on their own, which is what happens when you still roster Sidney Crosby:
Philadelphia landed 19, then the Rangers at 18. Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota and Washington all came in at 17.
Puck Report split the ESPN side even finer, with 15 games on ABC, 38 on ESPN and the other 47 on ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu. Check out their count by team:
Here is the same breakdown split by network, sorted by total national appearances:
| Team | TNT | ESPN | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bruins | 9 | 11 | 20 |
| Penguins | 10 | 10 | 20 |
| Flyers | 9 | 10 | 19 |
| Rangers | 8 | 10 | 18 |
| Blackhawks | 8 | 9 | 17 |
| Red Wings | 7 | 10 | 17 |
| Wild | 7 | 10 | 17 |
| Capitals | 8 | 9 | 17 |
| Avalanche | 7 | 9 | 16 |
| Panthers | 6 | 9 | 15 |
| Golden Knights | 7 | 8 | 15 |
| Sabres | 8 | 6 | 14 |
| Lightning | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| Stars | 5 | 8 | 13 |
| Hurricanes | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| Kings | 3 | 9 | 12 |
| Devils | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| Sharks | 4 | 7 | 11 |
| Blues | 4 | 7 | 11 |
| Islanders | 3 | 7 | 10 |
| Oilers | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| Ducks | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Kraken | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| Mammoth | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Canadiens | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| Predators | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Maple Leafs | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Blue Jackets | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Jets | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Flames | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Senators | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Canucks | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Some of the smaller numbers come with an asterisk of their own. Winnipeg’s lone appearance is the Heritage Classic against Montreal on Oct. 25, and Columbus gets the Blue Jackets on TNT once, in the April 8 finale against the Flyers.
Seattle drew seven, but four of them stream on ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu instead of airing on a channel. Montreal went the other way, with four of its six on TNT.
Take a look at how TNT laid out its half of the calendar:
Ottawa does get one marquee stage this season, just not an American one. The Senators meet Chicago at PSD Bank Dome in Dusseldorf on Dec. 18 and 20 for the Global Series Germany.
Nothing here is permanent. Networks flex games into national windows once the standings sort themselves out, so a fast start in Calgary or Vancouver can still buy a team an ESPN slot in March.
