Rangers' opening-round playoff series will air on MSG Networks, too
The Rangers' Andrew Copp, right, celebrates with Artemi Panarin after scoring a goal against the Islanders on April 21. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
NHL fans spent the regular season adjusting to the biggest changes in the league’s national media landscape in a decade-and-a-half. Now comes the more important part: the playoffs.
Of particular interest in the New York area, of course, is the Rangers, and the new system includes what many fans will consider good news:
Unlike in the NBC era, when weekend games on NBC’s broadcast channel would not be available to local channels, every game the Rangers play in the first round will be seen on MSG in addition to a national outlet.
That is because there are no national broadcast channel games on weekends in this round. (ABC will not be involved until the conference finals at the earliest.)
Instead, ESPN and Turner will split the first round, with games primarily seen on ESPN, ESPN2, TNT and TBS – barring multiple-overtime games that require the use of alternative channels in the ESPN and Turner universes.
ESPN will show games Monday through Wednesday the first week, then Turner gets Thursday and Friday and both networks will have games Saturday through Monday before ESPN gets two nights and Turner two next week.
There will be no ESPN+ digital exclusives in the playoffs, as there were during the regular season.
The national telecasts will not be blacked out in the New York area. Fans can choose between MSG for Rangers games or one of the national channels.
Come the second round, things get far simpler. Local channels such as MSG are out of the mix, and ESPN and Turner will take turns during the week showing games.
Each network will get a conference final, then the entire Stanley Cup Final will be on ABC. (Turner gets the Final next year.)
David Proper, the NHL’s senior executive vice president of media and international strategy, told Newsday the new system will be similar to the NBA playoffs in that that league also splits its playoffs games between ESPN and Turner.
Those networks are accustomed to this dance.
NBC was the NHL’s national TV home for 16 years before ESPN and Turner moved in starting this season with seven-year deals that included 75 games exclusive to ESPN+.
Proper said the league’s goal with its TV partners is to make following the playoffs as simple as possible. That includes “some very strong cross-promotion” across all channels.
“It is incredibly important to us that the fans have intuitive navigation during the playoffs,” he said, “and we work closely with ESPN and Turner to ensure that will be the case.”
Turner studio host Liam McHugh, a former Newsday sports staffer and a Herricks High School alumnus, filled the same role at NBC.
“It’ll be an adjustment [for viewers], but there’s background here with ESPN and Turner splitting the NBA playoffs,” he said.
“So fans will eventually find out where they need to be to watch everything. I think the variety, and I think change in this case, is a good thing. It opens up the sport and it gets different voices and different opinions and really different styles of show.”
McHugh said Turner’s freewheeling vibe compared to NBC’s more news-focused approach attracted him to the network’s hockey plans.
Proper said the first season under the new contracts has been a hit from the league’s perspective, including some healthy competition between “two partners at the same time that are pushing each other to do better and trying new and innovative things.”
One key component of the ESPN+ deal is not only exclusive games but a vast expansion of out-of-market games available there.
“I think there’s a lot of growth and excitement for what the future will hold,” Proper said, “but as far as Year One goes, we couldn’t be happier.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
