Welcome to the final year of the 12-year, $5.2-billion deal Rogers signed with the National Hockey League for TV rights, and the last season before … another 12-year deal with Rogers.
The good news — or bad news, depending on your perspective — is that little has changed from last season. Most of the team’s regular-season games are regional, broadcast on TSN2 in English and RDS in French. Rogers owns the rights to Saturday nights, Wednesday nights and the playoffs, which are broadcast nationally, and has sublicensed four Monday night games to Amazon Prime Video.
To watch all 82 games, you’ll need subscriptions to at minimum TSN2, Sportsnet East, Citytv and Amazon Prime Video in English, or RDS and TVA Sports in French. Both TSN and Sportsnet are now available as add-ons within Amazon Prime Video, but getting all three that way will cost you $65 a month.
Beyond the Rogers deal, which will include more nationally televised games, we don’t know much more about rights to the Canadiens beyond this season. RDS’s rights deal also expires in 2026, and there has been no news about whether TVA Sports will renew its national NHL deal (in fact, owner Pierre Karl Péladeau has openly mused about the channel potentially shutting down because of its financial losses).
What to expect this season
Amazon has two new faces on its NHL broadcasts: former player Chris Pronger and former Sportsnet reporter Christine Simpson join Andi Petrillo, Adnan Virk, Blake Bolden, John Forslund on play-by-play, and analysts Jody Shelley, Thomas Hickey and Shane Hnidy.
Otherwise, no changes have been announced to broadcast talent: Chris Cuthbert, John Bartlett and Harnarayan Singh will do play-by-play on Sportsnet, Bryan Mudryk on TSN2, Pierre Houde on RDS, Félix Séguin on TVA Sports, Victor Findlay on TSN 690 and Martin McGuire on 98.5 FM.
Once again, Sportsnet will be prioritizing the Maple Leafs on Saturday nights, putting them on CBC whenever they play. That means only three Canadiens games will be on CBC Television this season: two against the Leafs (Nov. 22 and Dec. 6) and one against the Bruins on Jan. 24 when the Leafs have the night off. Plans can change as the season progresses, though, or when scheduling conflicts come up. The Habs-Leafs season opener on Wednesday has already been moved from Sportsnet to Sportsnet One to make way for a potential Game 4 of the American League Division Series between the Blue Jays and Yankees. (It will probably move back if the Jays clinch the series Tuesday evening.)
The season will take a break in February for the Olympic Games, with NHL players allowed to compete for their countries in the men’s tournament. CBC and Radio-Canada are the broadcasters for the Olympics, though they have sublicensed some sports to TSN, Sportsnet and TVA Sports in the past. The Canadiens’ last game before the break is Feb. 4 and first game after is Feb. 26.
The basics
Rogers will have 28 Canadiens games nationally, including most Wednesday and Saturday evening games, and one game against the Maple Leafs on Tuesday, March 10. Sportsnet also plans to broadcast some Saturday games in Punjabi on OMNI or in Cree or Inuktitut on APTN. Saturday night games will be broadcast on CBC Television, Citytv, Sportsnet, Sportsnet One or Sportsnet 360 (in rough order of priority). Wednesday games will be on Sportsnet channels only.
Amazon will have exclusive English-language rights to four Monday games (Oct. 20 against the Sabres, Nov. 17 against the Blue Jackets, Jan. 12 against the Canucks and Feb. 2 against the Wild). Those games will all be available on RDS in French.
TSN has 50 Canadiens regular-season games, which will be on TSN2, and RDS has 60 regular-season games. Both are blacked out west of Belleville, Ont., during those games. TVA Sports will have its usual 22 games nationally, all Saturdays except Wednesday’s home opener. Sportsnet and TVA Sports also have all playoff games (whether the Canadiens are in them or not).
Out of region
If you’re watching from outside the Canadiens’ region (which is all of Quebec, all of Atlantic Canada and eastern Ontario), you’ll need NHL Centre Ice or Sportsnet+ Premium, at $325/year or $43/month, to access all Canadiens games except those available locally on a non-Sportsnet channel. (This means you still need to also pay Amazon to access the Prime Video games.)
If you’re watching from the U.S., you’ll need ESPN+ to watch any games not available locally. There are currently no Canadiens games scheduled for national broadcast in the U.S. on ABC, ESPN or TNT, but some will be on NHL Network.
Check here for details on how to access Canadiens games from outside the team’s broadcast region.
Downloadable schedules
Chart showing Canadiens TV schedule (click for PDF)
Want a copy of this schedule on your fridge or office wall? Pick up Wednesday’s print copy of The Gazette, or you can download printable PDFs of the Canadiens’ season schedule here:
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