The NHL is now producing its own local broadcasts — what that actually means for watching your team

The NHL announced Tuesday that its in-house production arm will handle regional broadcasts for the Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, Wild, and Blues in 2026-27, with more teams possibly joining. It's a real answer to the collapse of the regional sports networks — but it answers who makes the broadcast, not yet where you'll find it. Here's the distinction, and what each market still needs to learn.

The gist: The NHL said Tuesday it will produce the local broadcasts for four teams next season — the Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, Wild, and Blues — through an expanded in-house operation called Centralized Production, with more clubs possibly added before opening night. It's a genuine answer to the collapse of the regional sports networks, and for the four markets that had been waiting, it's real news. But it's worth being precise about what it settles and what it doesn't: this announcement is about who makes the broadcast, not yet about where you'll watch it. Here's the difference, and what's still coming.

What the league actually announced

NHL Productions — the league's Emmy-winning content arm, previously known for documentaries, studio shows, and event coverage — is expanding into live game production. Starting with the 2026-27 regular season, it will handle comprehensive production services for the four clubs: studio and pregame/intermission/postgame programming with dedicated producers and on-site hosts for both home and road games, game production, advanced graphics and replay, and technical and engineering support.

The league also says it will provide strategic support for distribution and monetization of those regional broadcasts. To run the operation, it hired Rob McGlarry as general manager of local media.

Two quotes frame the intent. NHL President of Events and Content Steve Mayer called live production "a natural next step," and said the group is aiming to upgrade local telecasts with more cameras, better replay, and graphics that give games "the feel of a national network broadcast." Chief Media Officer David Proper was blunter about the business logic: the model "strengthens the value of regional media rights by expanding the pool of potential distribution partners, reducing dependence on outside production providers."

One reassuring detail for fans: the local announcers are expected to stay. Carolina confirmed as much, keeping Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy in the booth.

Why it's happening

This traces directly back to the end of the old regional sports network model. Main Street Sports Group — the company that emerged from the Diamond/Bally Sports bankruptcy and operated 15 regional channels under the FanDuel Sports Network brand — shut down after the 2025-26 season. Seven NHL franchises were left without a local broadcast home.

Three found outside partners: the Red Wings moved to Detroit SportsNet (run by team owners Ilitch Sports + Entertainment), the Predators to Scripps Sports, and the Kings stayed on their former network under new ownership as Angels Broadcast TV. The remaining four are the ones now working with the league.

Mayer suggested the league had been preparing for this: "I think we've been looking at this day for a long time. If something happened in the middle of last season, we would've been quickly able to mobilize and not miss a beat."

The important distinction: production is not distribution

Here's where fans should read carefully. A headline saying the NHL will "produce and distribute" local games can sound like the where-to-watch question is answered. For most of these markets, it isn't — not yet.

The league is handling the broadcast itself. Each club still controls how that broadcast reaches you — which cable and satellite systems carry it, whether there's an over-the-air channel, and whether there's a direct-to-consumer app and what it costs. Those deals are still being negotiated, and they vary by team:

• Carolina Hurricanes — the defending Stanley Cup champions went furthest, announcing their own sports network as the local television home, launched the same day.
• St. Louis Blues — the clearest picture of the four. The NHL will produce roughly 70 telecasts (every regular-season game not nationally televised by ABC, ESPN, ESPN+/Hulu, or TNT), while the Blues run sales, marketing, and distribution across their six-state territory through a team-owned platform to be announced. The team says it's finalizing agreements to carry games via cable, satellite, streaming, and over-the-air, plus a direct-to-consumer subscription with monthly and annual pricing — all of it "announced before the beginning of the season." Blues executive Steve Chapman framed it as leveraging the league's production while giving the club "more control over every aspect of our local broadcasts than ever before."
• Columbus Blue Jackets — confirmed the production partnership; distribution details explicitly still being worked out.
• Minnesota Wild — in the production group; distribution likewise to come.

If you follow one of these teams from outside its home market, nothing changes: out-of-market games remain on NHL Power Play, the league's out-of-market package on ESPN+ (the tier now called ESPN Select). Our 2026-27 viewing guide covers the national and out-of-market picture in full.

The cautionary tale hiding in the announcement

The league said more clubs could be added before the season, and named two likely candidates: the Ducks and Stars. The reason is instructive.

Both teams stream regionally through Victory+, and this month reporting from Sports Business Journal indicated the service has missed rights payments to partners and struggled to secure financing since February. The Ducks moved to terminate their agreement with two years left; on the baseball side, the Texas Rangers exited immediately for a different platform.

That's the risk in the current landscape, stated plainly: when a team hands its local rights to a small, thinly capitalized streamer, the arrangement can fail mid-contract — and fans are the ones who lose the channel. A league-run production operation with the NHL's balance sheet behind it is, among other things, insurance against exactly that. It's the strongest argument for this model, and it comes from a real failure, not a hypothetical.

This is the pattern, not an exception

The NHL is following a path already worn by baseball. MLB began producing local broadcasts for teams in 2023 and now handles roughly half the league — including the Cardinals, who left FanDuel Sports Network Midwest for the same reason the Blues did. The NBA is building toward a centralized local streaming hub expected for the 2027-28 season.

The through-line: leagues are becoming their own producers and, increasingly, their own distributors. For fans, that cuts both ways. It's more stable than the RSN model that just collapsed, and the broadcasts themselves should get better. But it also means more league- and team-run apps, each with its own subscription — the fragmentation story that's been driving rising sports-viewing costs all year.

The bottom line

If you follow the Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, Wild, or Blues, the uncertainty that's hung over your team since spring is mostly resolved — the games will be produced, professionally, and by all accounts with better cameras and graphics than before. What's still outstanding is the practical part: the channel, the app, and the price. Every one of these clubs says those details land before the season opens in late September.

Our advice is the same as it's been all summer: don't lock in a package for the fall until your team announces where its games will actually live.

Not sure which of this week's games you can already watch? StreamCaddy maps the cheapest correct way to watch all of your teams and events for your exact location and subscriptions.

Sources

1. NHL.com — "NHL unveils new centralized production for club regional broadcasts" (official release: NHL Productions to provide centralized production for the Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, Wild and Blues starting 2026-27; additional clubs may be added; strategic support for distribution and monetization; quotes from Steve Mayer and David Proper), July 21, 2026 — https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-unveils-new-centralized-production-for-club-regional-broadcasts
2. ESPN / AP — "NHL to produce and distribute local games for Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, Wild and Blues" (Main Street Sports operated 15 FanDuel-branded channels and went out of business after last season; Ducks and Stars possible additions after Victory+ missed rights payments; more cameras, enhanced replay, national-broadcast-feel graphics; local announcers expected to remain; Rob McGlarry hired as GM of local media; MLB and NBA comparisons), July 21, 2026 — https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/49419342/nhl-produce-games-hurricanes-blue-jackets-wild-blues
3. St. Louis Blues / NHL.com — "Blues, NHL partner on regional broadcasts for 2026-27" (approximately 70 telecasts; six-state territory; team-owned platform to be announced; cable, satellite, streaming and over-the-air agreements being finalized; DTC option with monthly and annual pricing before the season; out-of-market via NHL Power Play on ESPN+; Steve Chapman quote), July 21, 2026 — https://www.nhl.com/blues/news/blues-nhl-partner-on-regional-broadcasts-for-2026-27
4. Daily Faceoff — "NHL to produce broadcasts for four teams in 2026-27" (production scope; McGlarry hire; context on prior team moves away from RSNs), July 21, 2026 — https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/nhl-produce-regional-broadcasts-st-louis-blues-columbus-blue-jackets-minnesota-wild-carolina-hurricanes-2026-27
5. The Hockey Writers — "Blue Jackets Join NHL Centralized Production for 2026-27 Regional Broadcasts" (Columbus distribution details still being worked out; pregame/intermission/postgame programming with on-site hosts for home and road games; NHL EDGE content and sponsorship integration), July 21, 2026 — https://thehockeywriters.com/blue-jackets-join-nhl-centralized-production-for-2026-27-regional-broadcasts/
6. Sports Media Watch — "From the jaws of Victory+: Teams exit streamer as local rights remain shaky" (SBJ reporting that Victory+ missed rights payments; Ducks moving to terminate with two years left; Rangers exiting immediately; MLB operating production and distribution for nearly half its teams; NBA hub expectations), July 2026 — https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2026/07/victory-ducks-rangers-exit-rsn-local-rights-landscape-nba-hub/
7. FOX 2 St. Louis — "St. Louis Blues partner with NHL for regional TV broadcasts" (local framing; parallel to the Cardinals' 2026 arrangement with MLB; both clubs left FanDuel Sports Network Midwest), July 21, 2026 — https://fox2now.com/sports/st-louis-blues/st-louis-blues-partner-with-nhl-for-regional-tv-broadcasts/
8. Gino Hard — "NHL to Produce Local Broadcasts for 4 Teams Next Season" (Carolina announcing its own sports network with Maniscalco and Tracy returning; Blues social confirmation that availability, channel locations and a DTC option come before the season; Proper quote), July 21, 2026 — https://www.ginohard.com/nhl-local-broadcasts-four-teams-2026-27/