The NHL on NBC is a presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by NBC Sports, and televised on NBC properties, including MSNBC, CNBC, Golf Channel, USA Network, NBCSN and Peacock in the United States.
While NBC covered the league at various points in its history, the network's last relationship with the NHL is the result of NBC Sports acquiring the league's broadcast television rights from ABC in 2005. Its most recent contract with the league ran until the end of the 2020–21 NHL season; NHL broadcasting rights onward have been acquired by ABC/ESPN and Turner Sports (now known as TNT Sports). Though the main NBC network no longer airs NHL games, NBC Sports Regional Networks currently airs some games in the form of game telecasts that air on a regional basis, featuring local NHL franchises that each of the regional networks has respective broadcast rights to air in their designated market.
From 2008 until the end of the NHL on NBC in 2021, NBC's regular season coverage included the annual NHL Winter Classic, an outdoor game usually played on New Year's Day; one national weekly regular season game each Sunday afternoon after New Year's Day; one week of nationally televised contests in February for Hockey Day in America; and one nationally televised game one day after Thanksgiving. NBCSN's coverage included 90 regular season games that were mostly aired on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings, and later in the season on Sunday nights. Coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs was split between NBC and NBCSN, with CNBC and the USA Network (beginning in 2015) airing selected playoff games during the first two rounds.
History February 25, 1940 and 1966 As part of a series of experimental broadcasts that W2XBS (now NBC's flagship station, WNBC) produced between 1939 and 1940, the station broadcast a game between the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens from Madison Square Garden on February 25, 1940. Bill Allen provided the commentary. About 300 people in the New York City area saw the Rangers win, 6–2. Over the next few years, W2XBS (later WNBT) carried some New York Rangers home games on a local basis. A few New York Americans and Rangers games were on experimental TV stations in 1940-41 and 1941-42; TV then closed down until 1945-46.
Regularly scheduled American network broadcasts of NHL games would not begin until the late 1950s, when CBS began carrying regular season games, but no playoff games. The deal was terminated in 1960, due to a combination of a dispute over the players receiving a share of the rights fee and the then-regional nature of the sport.
Nationally televised NHL games in the United States resumed for the 1965–66 NHL season, but this time on NBC; the regional issues were settled by the league's pending addition of six new teams, which expanded the league's reach nationwide and into lucrative markets in Pennsylvania and California (in addition to two other midwestern markets; NBC, however, would lose the broadcast rights before the six new teams would make it to play). In 1966, NBC became the first television network in the United States to air a national broadcast of a Stanley Cup Playoff game. The network provided coverage of four Sunday afternoon playoff games during the postseason. On April 10 and April 17, NBC aired semifinal games between the Chicago Black Hawks and the Detroit Red Wings. On April 24 and May 1, NBC aired Games 1 and 4 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings. Win Elliot served as the play-by-play man while Bill Mazer served as the color commentator for the games.
NBC's coverage of the 1966 Stanley Cup Final marked the first time that hockey games were broadcast on network television in color. The CBC would follow suit the following year. NBC's Stanley Cup coverage preempted a sports anthology series called NBC Sports in Action, hosted by Jim Simpson and Bill Cullen, who were between-periods co-hosts for the Stanley Cup broadcasts.
NHL broadcast rights returned to CBS the next season, however due to other programming commitments, regular season games were handed off to RKO General.
YearRoundTeamsGamesPlay-by-playColor commentary 1966SemifinalsDetroit-ChicagoGames 2, 5Win Elliot Bill Mazer FinalDetroit-MontrealGames 1, 4Win Elliot Bill Mazer
1970s From –, NBC not only televised the Stanley Cup Finals (including a couple of games in prime time), but also weekly regular season games on Sunday afternoons. The previous contract with CBS was paying the NHL less than $2 million a year and NBC jumped in with an offer of $5.3 million. NBC also aired one regular season and a couple of playoff games in prime time during the first couple of seasons. Tim Ryan and Ted Lindsay (with Brian McFarlane as the intermission host) served as the commentators for NBC's NHL coverage during this period. Since most NHL teams still did not have players' names displayed on the backs of jerseys, NBC persuaded NHL commissioner Clarence Campbell to make teams put on players' names on NBC telecasts beginning with the season to help viewers identify them.
Peter Puck was introduced during NBC's NHL coverage in the 1970s. The animated character, whose cartoon adventures (produced by Hanna-Barbera) appeared on both NBC's Hockey Game of the Week and CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, explained hockey rules to the home viewing audience.
Besides Peter Puck, the 1970s version of The NHL on NBC had a between-periods feature titled Showdown. The concept of Showdown involved 20 of the NHL's greatest players (16 shooters and four goaltenders) going head-to-head in a taped penalty shot competition. After the NHL left NBC in 1975, Showdown continued to be seen on Hockey Night in Canada and local television broadcasts of U.S.-based NHL teams.
Schedules
1972–73 Date TeamsDecember 29, 1972 (prime time game starting at 8:30 p.m. Eastern)Boston at MinnesotaJanuary 7, 1973Boston at ChicagoJanuary 13, 1973New York Rangers at St. LouisJanuary 21, 1973Minnesota at DetroitJanuary 28, 1973Detroit at MontréalFebruary 4, 1973Pittsburgh at MinnesotaFebruary 11, 1973Montréal at New York RangersFebruary 18, 1973Montréal at TorontoFebruary 25, 1973St. Louis at DetroitMarch 4, 1973Chicago at BostonMarch 11, 1973Toronto at New York RangersMarch 16, 1973 (prime time game starting at 8:30 p.m. Eastern)Boston at DetroitMarch 18, 1973Detroit at ChicagoMarch 25, 1973St. Louis at Philadelphia
Note The December 29 and March 16 games were on Friday nights; all other regular-season games were on Sunday afternoons. All start times at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time unless noted.
1973–74 Date TeamsJanuary 4, 1974 (prime time game starting at 8:30 p.m. Eastern)Boston at New York RangersJanuary 19, 1974New York Rangers at ChicagoJanuary 27, 1974Philadelphia at BostonFebruary 3, 1974Montréal at DetroitFebruary 10, 1974Los Angeles at AtlantaFebruary 17, 1974Philadelphia at MontréalFebruary 24, 1974Boston at BuffaloMarch 3, 1974Chicago at DetroitMarch 10, 1974Philadelphia at BostonMarch 17, 1974New York Rangers at BostonMarch 24, 1974St. Louis at PhiladelphiaMarch 31, 1974Toronto at New York RangersApril 7, 1974Pittsburgh at AtlantaApril 14, 1974Montréal at New York Rangers
Note The January 4 game was on a Friday night; all other regular-season games were on Sunday afternoons. All start times were at 2 p.m. Eastern Time unless noted.
1974–75 Date TeamsJanuary 5, 1975St. Louis at BuffaloJanuary 11, 1975Philadelphia at MontréalJanuary 19, 1975 (start time of 2:30 p.m. Eastern)California at ChicagoJanuary 26, 1975Philadelphia at BostonFebruary 2, 1975Detroit at New York RangersFebruary 9, 1975 (start time of 2:30 p.m. Eastern)Montréal at BuffaloFebruary 16, 1975Boston at PhiladelphiaFebruary 23, 1975Philadelphia at New York RangersMarch 2, 1975Chicago at BostonMarch 9, 1975Montréal at New York RangersMarch 16, 1975Los Angeles at PhiladelphiaMarch 23, 1975St. Louis at VancouverMarch 30, 1975New York Islanders at AtlantaApril 6, 1975Minnesota at Chicago
Note All start times (except the January 19 and February 9 telecasts) were at 4 p.m. Eastern Time unless noted.
Stanley Cup playoffs Year Round Series Games covered Play-by-play Color commentator(s)1973QuarterfinalsMontreal-BuffaloGame 4Tim RyanTed LindsaySemifinalsNew York Rangers-ChicagoGame 2Tim RyanTed LindsayMontreal-PhiladelphiaGame 4Tim RyanTed Lindsay1974QuarterfinalsAtlanta-PhiladelphiaGame 1Tim RyanTed LindsayMontreal-New York RangersGame 4Tim RyanTed LindsaySemifinalsBoston-ChicagoGame 2Tim RyanTed LindsayPhiladelphia-New York RangersGames 4, 7Tim RyanTed Lindsay1975QuarterfinalsToronto-PhiladelphiaGame 1Tim RyanTed LindsayPittsburgh-New York IslandersGame 4Tim RyanTed LindsaySemifinalsMontreal-BuffaloGame 1Tim RyanTed LindsayPhiladelphia-New York IslandersGames 3, 6Tim RyanTed Lindsay
Stanley Cup Finals commentating crews YearTeamsGamesPlay-by-playColor commentary 1973Chicago-MontrealGames 1, 4-6Tim RyanTed Lindsay1974 Boston-PhiladelphiaGames 3, 6Tim RyanTed Lindsay1975Buffalo-PhiladelphiaGames 2, 5Tim RyanTed Lindsay
NBC did not broadcast the sixth game of the 1975 Finals, in which the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Buffalo Sabres to clinch their second consecutive championship, played in prime time on a Tuesday night. Had the Finals gone to a seventh game, NBC would have pre-empted its prime-time lineup on a Thursday night to carry that deciding contest. But by that time, the network had informed the NHL that unless ratings for the Finals spiked, it would drop the sport, which it did at the end of the season. In 1976, the NHL put together a syndication package that was carried in Chicago on WFLD.
Speaking of Chicago, WTTW carried the games of the 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cup Final that weren't on NBC. The feed was syndicated by Hughes. WGN had picked it up in 1970 and 1972 (and originated Hawks road games in 1971 and 1973 unless CBS, then NBC, carried them), but passed in 1974 and 1975. In New York, the PBS station carried Game 5 of the 1974 Finals at Boston and several of the games in 1975 that NBC did not have. While Hughes provided the hookup, it took the visiting team announcers like Gene Hart and Don Earle from Boston for the Bruins-Flyers series, for instance.
The dark years (1976–1989) For 17 years after the 1975 Finals, there would be no national over-the-air network coverage of the NHL in the United States (with the exception of CBS' coverage of game two of the 1979 Challenge Cup and game six of the 1980 Stanley Cup Final and NBC's coverage of the NHL All-Star Game beginning in 1990) and only spotty coverage on local TV stations and regional sports networks in markets that had NHL clubs. This was because no network was willing to commit to a large number of games, in turn, providing low ratings for NHL games. ABC would eventually resume broadcasting regular NHL games (on a time-buy basis through ESPN) for the 1992–93 season (and continuing through the 1993–94 season before Fox took over the broadcast television league rights for the next five seasons).
1990s From 1990 through 1994, NBC only televised the All Star Game. NBC reportedly wanted to test the appeal of hockey, having recently lost the Major League Baseball package to CBS. Shortly thereafter however, NBC would gain the broadcast television rights to the National Basketball Association (NBA) from CBS, thus there was a bit of a notion that NBC no longer really needed.