National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
(NHL) games televised on NHL Network. It premiered on February 6, 2021 during the
2020–21 NHL season
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
. The games primarily air on Saturday or Sunday afternoons, and were the first in-house NHL telecasts to be carried by NHL Network. The telecasts are also broadcast by the NHL's rightsholders in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
as the ''European Game of the Week''.
History
In the
2018–19 NHL season
The 2018–19 NHL season was the 102nd season of operation (101st season of play) of the National Hockey League. 31 teams competed in an 82-game regular season. The regular season began on October 3, 2018, and ended on April 6, 2019. The 2019 St ...
, the NHL established the ''European Game of the Week'', under which it would schedule weekend afternoon games intended for
primetime
Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
broadcasts by the NHL's European media partners. The first of these games was the
NHL Global Series
Throughout the history of the National Hockey League (NHL), there has been a long-standing tradition of international games played by NHL teams. The following is a list of games played by NHL teams against other NHL teams and non-NHL teams outside ...
game in
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, on October 6, 2018.
For the shortened
2020–21 NHL season
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
, NHL Network–which until then, primarily aired NHL games
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
from regional sports networks and Canadian broadcasters–announced that it would introduce its first original NHL telecasts, known as the ''NHL Network Showcase.'' The network scheduled an inaugural slate of 16 games beginning on February 6, 2021, all of which drawn from the ''European Game of the Week'' package. The first game was originally intended to be between the
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...
and
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...
. As multiple Devils games were postponed due to
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
protocol, it was replaced by a game between the
Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...
2021–22 NHL season
The 2021–22 NHL season was the 105th season of operation (104th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league expanded to 32 teams with the addition of the Seattle Kraken. The league had an October-to-April regular season sche ...
, expanding to 25 games throughout the season.
Production
As with most NHL games in the 2020–21 season due to COVID-19 protocol, ''NHL Network Showcase'' broadcasts are produced from clean feeds produced by the home team's regional rightsholder, with commentary, graphics, and surrounding coverage produced and added from NHL Network's studios in
Secaucus, New Jersey
Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264, For the 2021–22 season, NHL Network began to employ an on-site skeleton crew to augment the host production with its own cameras, but otherwise continued to use a remote production as before.
With the introduction of an in-house broadcast, the ''European Game of the Week'' broadcast concurrently became a repackaged version of the ''NHL Network Showcase'' broadcast, carrying a separate intro and branding to the U.S. telecast with a focus on international players. During the 2021–22 season, NHL Network also produced nine games exclusively for international broadcasts.
On-air staff
Stephen Nelson serves as the lead commentator for ''NHL Network Showcase'' broadcasts, with
Brian Lawton
Brian Robert Lawton (born June 29, 1965) is an Americans, American former professional ice hockey player, Sports agent, agent and General manager (ice hockey), general manager, who played 483 regular season games in the National Hockey League (N ...
Mike Rupp
Michael Ryan Rupp (born January 13, 1980) is an American former professional ice hockey center. He has previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New Jersey Devils, Phoenix Coyotes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins, ...
, and Kevin Weekes serving as a rotating team of analysts during the first season. E.J. Hradek and Mike Johnson were a secondary play-by-play crew for a game in the 2021–22 season.
See also
* ''
MLB Network Showcase
''MLB Network Showcase'' is the title of a presentation of Major League Baseball on cable and satellite channel MLB Network that premiered on April 9, 2009. The network produces in-house 26 non-exclusive live games a year during baseball season. ...
'', Major League Baseball telecasts carried by sister channel MLB Network.