The defending Stanley Cup champions are getting a fair amount of nationally televised broadcasts during the 2026-27 season. It makes sense, after all. Why wouldn't the league want to put the Carolina Hurricanes everywhere after hoisting Lord Stanley in June? Still, it's far from the most in the league, with teams like Boston and Pittsburgh getting league-high 20 national games this season.
We already knew that the Hurricanes' season opener on September 29th against the Florida Panthers would be a part of ESPN's Opening Night tripleheader, with the Canes raising their Stanley Cup banner. On Wednesday, we learned about the rest of the national schedule for games on TNT and ESPN's family of networks. Here are three things that I took away from this announcement.
1. The Canes will be on national television more than last season
With the schedule expanding by two games, it's fitting that the Canes added two more national games than last year. In 2025-26, the Canes played ten times in front of a national audience, going 6-2-2 in those contests. A few of those games were incredible, too, like Pyotr Kochetkov's season debut shutout at Madison Square Garden and their MLK Day thriller with Buffalo.
This year, the Canes will play 12 games on national television, beginning on Opening Night against the Cats. It's an even split of home and road games, though their last four are all away from the Lenovo Center. Six of the 12 will be streaming-exclusive contests on ESPN+, Disney+, and Hulu, four will be on TNT, and their first two national broadcasts of the season will be on ESPN.
2. Hurricanes-Islanders must've been a highly coveted matchup
The Canes will face nine unique opponents on national television, and there are some very intriguing matchups. Canes-Bolts. Canes-Avalanche. Canes-Bruins. Canes-Rangers. All big-time games. However, there's one matchup that clearly beats them all. The Canes will face each of their division opponents four times this season. Three of their four against the Islanders will air nationally.
In recent years, it feels like the Canes and the Blue Jackets play a lot on ESPN+. We won't see that this year, but we'll get Canes-Islanders twice on ESPN+ and once more on TNT. I can understand the appeal, with Matthew Schaefer taking the league by storm as a rookie and recent postseason encounters possibly playing a part. Still, three times seems like a bit much.
The only matchup featured multiple times is another weird one. The Canes will play both of their cross-conference games against the Wild this season on TNT and ESPN+. They also played some exciting games last season, one of which was televised on TNT. Otherwise, everyone else is one-and-done.
3. It's very 2027-heavy, with eight games after the new year
Turner Sports and Disney must be expecting some fireworks late in the season because the Canes' national schedule skews heavily toward the 2027-side of the season. Eight of their 12 games come after the ball drops. All four of their games in 2026 come before American Thanksgiving on November 26.
While they'll play one of their three games against the Islanders in January, the bulk of their games are in February and March. The beginning of February is blocked for the All-Star Break, yet the Canes manage to play four of their ten games during the league's shortest month in front of a national audience. This also includes their only national afternoon game of the year against the Rangers.
They'll close the season with three more in March. They'll play their second game against Minnesota, their only national game on the West Coast in Anaheim, and finish with the final meeting against the Islanders. By then, the season will be nearly over. The Canes should be in a position to clinch a playoff spot, and maybe more. That's further down the line. We still have so much to get to before then.
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