The NHL announced their national broadcasts on Wednesday morning, with a separate press release from the Hurricanes highlighting 10 games set to broadcast across the league's various distributors. The news also came with several game time adjustments, mostly for the ESPN+ games. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the Carolina Hurricanes' updated schedule.
1. Opening Night against New Jersey will now be on ESPN+
If you were hoping for the soothing call of Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy for the Canes' season opener against the New Jersey Devils, you'll likely find this press release upsetting. The first national game for the Canes this season is their season premiere battle and playoff rematch with the Devils on October 9th.
This was the case last season as well, when the Hurricanes fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning on ESPN+. To be fair, it's a good matchup for them to carry, especially with the bad blood bound to boil over and the debuts of the Canes' biggest offseason additions. It also came with a time change, with the puck now dropping at 7:30 pm EST.
2. The Canes will appear 3 times on TNT but not on ABC
While most of the Canes' national games will be on ESPN+, they'll feature three times during TNT's doubleheaders. They'll be the opener on November 4th when they face the New York Rangers for the first time. Then, the Canes will visit the Minnesota Wild for the second half of a Wednesday night double dip on 11/19. Their final appearance is an afternoon MLK Day battle with the Sabres.
However, there are no plans for the Hurricanes to feature on ABC at all this season, which I can't say I'm disappointed by. Those games are usually reserved for afternoons, mostly Saturdays, later in the season. Last year, the Canes beat the Rangers on ABC to knock them out of playoff contention. In fact, the Hurricanes don't have a single weekend national game this season.
3. Their national schedule is front-loaded and features some variety
Nine of their 10 national games take place between October and January, with just one down the stretch in late March. They place twice in October, November, and December each, and then three times in nine days in January. Their outlier is a March 31st game against the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. Six of their 10 are home games, too.
They also face a wide variety of opponents during these games. They'll face four division opponents, with Columbus as their only repeat. Their first three games are against the Metro. Three of their games are against the Central Division, while they'll face Toronto and Buffalo from the Atlantic.
I know there are some in the community who don't like national games. Frankly, I prefer the home broadcasts more than the national ones, simply because I care more about the Canes than hearing how they can't get over the hump. Nevertheless, national games are necessary evil that we must all endure during an 82-game grind.