Streaming news roundup: the Blues' national TV schedule is out, and here's how to watch the NHL in 2026-27

The St. Louis Blues released their national TV schedule for 2026-27, 11 games split between the ESPN family and TNT, as the NHL's full national slate rolls out this week. It's a useful snapshot of how NHL viewing works this season: national games on Disney and TNT, local games reshaped by the regional-network collapse, and out-of-market coverage on ESPN+. Here's the map.

The gist: The NHL's 2026-27 national TV slate is rolling out this week, and the St. Louis Blues just posted their piece of it: 11 nationally televised games. It's a good lens for how hockey viewing works this season, because it touches all three of the moving parts, the national networks, the post-RSN local shuffle, and the out-of-market pass. Here's the full picture, with the Blues as the example.

The Blues' national schedule, and the NHL's national map

The Blues will appear on national TV or streaming 11 times this season. Seven of those games are on the ESPN and Disney side (ESPN, ESPN+, Disney+, and Hulu) and four are on TNT, starting October 2 at Dallas. Worth noting for cord-cutters: three of those national games are streaming-only, carried on ESPN+, Disney+, and Hulu rather than on a linear channel.

Zoom out, and that's the shape of NHL national coverage in 2026-27. The league's national partners are the Walt Disney Company (ESPN and ABC, streaming on ESPN+, Hulu, and Disney+) and TNT Sports (TNT, streaming on HBO Max). The season opens Tuesday, September 29 with an ESPN tripleheader, headlined by the champion Carolina Hurricanes raising their banner, and TNT debuts the next night. The schedule expands to 84 games per team this year, and TNT holds the 2027 Stanley Cup Final.

Local games: still being sorted after the RSN collapse

National games are only a slice of the schedule. The vast majority of any team's games are local, and this is the first season after the regional sports networks collapsed. The Blues are a good example of where that stands: they've partnered with the NHL to produce their regional broadcasts through the league's in-house NHL Productions unit, and they plan a direct-to-consumer streaming option with annual and monthly subscriptions. The catch is that availability, channel locations, and pricing are still being negotiated, and won't be announced until closer to the season.

That uncertainty is the norm right now across the league. We mapped the full post-RSN landscape, and where each affected team landed, in the regional sports network collapse, explained. If you live outside your team's local territory, there's a simpler answer: out-of-market games stream through the NHL Power Play package on ESPN+ ($12.99 a month), which carries more than 1,000 out-of-market games.

How to watch the NHL in 2026-27

• National games: a live-TV streamer (YouTube TV, Fubo, or Sling) or a cable package carries ESPN and TNT. ABC's games come in over the air with an antenna, and the same games stream on ESPN+, Hulu, and Disney+ (the ESPN side) or HBO Max (the TNT side).
• Your local team's games: this depends entirely on where your team landed after the RSN collapse, a broadcast station, a streaming service, or a league-run setup like the Blues' NHL Productions arrangement. Check your specific team, because this is the piece most in flux.
• Out-of-market games: ESPN+ and its NHL Power Play pass.

The honest summary is that following the NHL closely still takes more than one service. But the local layer is the part still settling, so the smart move is to confirm where your team's games will actually live before opening night on September 29.

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. St. Louis Blues (NHL.com) — "Blues have 11 nationally-televised games in 2026-27" (ESPN, ESPN+, Disney+, and Hulu combine for seven games and TNT features the Blues four times; national slate opens Oct. 2 at Dallas on TNT; four games received new start times due to national windows; the Blues partnered with the NHL for regional broadcasts and plan a direct-to-consumer streaming option with pricing and channel details to be announced before the season; out-of-market fans can watch via NHL Power Play on ESPN+), August 26, 2026 — https://www.nhl.com/blues/news/blues-have-11-nationally-televised-games-in-2026-27
2. NHL.com — "NHL announces schedule for 2026-27 regular season" (the season opens Tuesday, Sept. 29 with an ESPN tripleheader in the U.S., including the Hurricanes' banner-raising; TNT debuts Sept. 30; the Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC) and TNT Sports (TNT/HBO Max) are the U.S. national partners; the Stanley Cup Final airs exclusively on TNT; the season expands to 84 games per team), July 16, 2026 — https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-announces-2026-27-regular-season-schedule
3. NHL Trade Rumors Talk — "How to Watch the NHL: 2026-27" (U.S. national games are split across the ESPN family (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN+, Hulu, Disney+) and the Turner family (TNT, TBS, truTV, HBO Max), plus an out-of-market pass on ESPN+ at $12.99 a month carrying 1,050-plus games; pairing one live-TV streamer with ESPN+ reaches nearly every nationally available game), June 14, 2026 — https://nhltraderumorstalk.com/how-to-watch-nhl-2026-27-tv-channels-streaming-guide
4. Sports Brackets — "2026-27 NHL National TV Schedule: Every ESPN, TNT & ABC Game" (Disney carries ESPN/ESPN2/ABC with ESPN+ and Hulu streaming; ABC "Hockey Saturday" windows run January through April and ABC carries the All-Star Game and Stadium Series; TNT airs Wednesday nights, select Sundays, the Thanksgiving Showdown, and the Winter Classic, streaming on HBO Max, and holds the 2027 Stanley Cup Final), July 21, 2026 — https://sportsbrackets.net/2026/07/17/2026-27-nhl-national-tv-schedule/