When the NHL announced its 2025-26 national TV and streaming schedule last week, it was seemingly plastered on every media outlet from Women’s Wear Daily to Golf Digest. So you’ve probably already heard that the Seattle Kraken will have nine national appearances. But that’s far from the full story.
First, let’s review those national U.S. Kraken appearances, starting with the realization that there are in actuality seven network television appearances (and two exclusively via streaming).
Notes:
- TNT will air five Kraken games, meaning plenty of chances for Buoy and Paul Bissonnette to resume their feud.
- Seven of the nine Kraken appearances are home games.
- To accommodate broadcast windows, the start time for two home games has been pushed 30 minutes ahead to 6:30 pm PT: Jan. 21 vs. the Islanders and April 13 vs. the Kings.
- Only those with an ESPN+/Hulu streaming subscription will be able to watch the Mar. 4 game against St. Louis and Apr. 2 game against Utah.
- Seattle doesn’t make its debut on ESPN television until Apr. 13, the first of two ESPN Kraken telecasts in a span of four days.
- The 2025-26 NHL schedule is 1,312 games long. The Apr. 16 Kraken-Avalanche game on ESPN is number 1,312, the very last contest of the regular season.
Kraken Canada TV
What other stories leave out is national Canadian broadcasts of Kraken games. Seattle will appear at least five times on Hockey Night In Canada. This is relevant because many Puget Sound homes have access to CBC’s Vancouver affiliate on their cable systems. Those Saturday HNIC telecasts are:
- Oct. 18 at Toronto, 4 pm Pacific
- Oct. 25 vs Edmonton, 7 pm Pacific
- Mar. 7 vs Ottawa, 7 pm Pacific
- Mar. 14 at Vancouver, 7 pm Pacific
- Apr. 11 vs Calgary, 4 pm Pacific
Also worth noting is Amazon Prime Canada’s Monday night streaming NHL package. John Forslund served on play-by-play last season. Should he anchor a second season for Prime Canada, he will miss calling nine Monday Kraken games.
- Oct. 20 at Philadelphia
- Nov. 3 vs Chicago
- Dec. 8 vs Minnesota
- Dec. 29 vs Vancouver
- Jan. 5 at Calgary
- Jan. 12 at NYR
- Jan. 19 vs Pittsburgh
- Mar. 2 vs Carolina
- Apr. 6 at Winnipeg
Last season, radio voice Everett Fitzhugh moved to the TV side for Monday games, with intermission radio host Mike Benton taking over radio play-by-play. For the Apr. 6 Kraken game in Winnipeg, Forlsund will call the game for Prime Canada, while Fitzhugh will be next door doing TV on Kraken Hockey Network.