
NHL Puck Drop 2021: NHL Network Expands Showcase Schedule, Boosts Onsite Presence at Marquee Events The broadcaster is slated to air 34 games this season By Kristian Hern ndez, Associate Editor
Thursday, October 14, 2021 - 10:57 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Over the past two nights, the National Hockey League returned to ESPN after 17 years and debuted on TNT. Another broadcast partner, NHL Network, is also entering the 2021-22 season, with wind in its production sails in the form of an increased slate of NHL Showcase games, additional coverage for international fans, and a return to onsite operations for major events.
Our goal is to get back out on the road, says Josh Bernstein, VP, production, NHL Network. We want to get as close to normal as we can. It may not look exactly the way it used to, but we'll be out there again.
More Exclusive Action: Showcase Slate Grows From 16 to 25 As the broadcaster's main platform for the league's biggest matchups, NHL Network Showcase will feature a wide array of franchises this season. The schedule will be increased from last year s 16 games to 25. The 2020-21 campaign was the first time that NHL Network deployed its own on-air talent and technologies for these games, and the crew is looking to improve that positive synergy in this increased workload.
Leading the on-air team will be E.J. Hradek and Mike Johnson on the call for their first Showcase game, between the Buffalo Sabres and Arizona Coyotes on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. ET. Stephen Nelson and Dave Reid will call the second NHL Network Showcase of the year: the Calgary Flames and Washington Capitals on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 1:00 p.m. Although the pandemic has retreated slightly thanks to vaccines, play-by-play commentators and analysts will be calling each game from the NHL Network facility in Secaucus, NJ.
New rightsholders, new arena, new franchise mark the 2021-22 NHL season.
A flypack and technician will be onsite for additional camera feeds, but the working relationship with regional sports networks will continue to provide other essential resources. New technologies will include further implementation of virtual-blue-line technology.
Last year was an opportunity for us to create a game package and showcase the talent and technology that we have, says Eric Eisenberg, VP, programming and operations, NHL Network. It has been phenomenal to be able to grow our package out this year and take it to the next level.
From a technological perspective, the network's coverage of two virtual NHL Drafts has generated a lot of inspiration for the remote-production workflows still being used in Secaucus. Since the same facility houses MLB Network, cloud-based solutions were used for the 2020 World Series in Arlington, TX, and for the 2021 MLB All-Star Game in Denver.
We've been able to learn from all these shows that had fewer people in the field, says Jake Soto, VP, engineering and IT, NHL Network. We're now reinvesting all of [that technology] for hockey.
Global Audience: Live Coverage Includes Nine International-Only Games With numerous international players lighting up the ice, NHL Network is committed to serving the fan who lives outside the U.S. Along with the 25 exclusive productions, nine games will target the global audience. Eisenberg and his team have been working closely with the league's technical team and international-productions team to fine-tune these broadcasts.
We've decided to separate production elements that we used to share in the past, he explains. We'll have a little more flexibility with what we're going to do, and I think that that'll pay dividends for specific graphics on an international-only game or a Showcase game.
The network has worked hard to make both games personalized and seamless and, since beginning this effort last season, has received positive feedback from viewers watching both internationally and domestically. In addition, NHL Network and MLB Network are joining forces to put on a high-quality NHL show.
The mentality in our building is that you're not working only hockey or baseball, but you're working across both sports, adds Eisenberg. We're really fortunate to have that mindset, and we'll continue to adjust and evolve.
Bringing the Show Onsite: Studio Programming Travels to Tentpole Events For diehard supporters of the game, viewers flock to NHL Network for up-to-date information. The broadcaster is looking forward to producing a slate of studio shows that reflect on the day's action, discuss the main plotlines happening in the league, and preview upcoming matchups.
Leading off the studio shows will be NHL Now with Hradek and Jackie Redmond on weekdays at 4 p.m. NHL Tonight will provide live look-ins into games throughout the league and in-studio demos at 6 p.m. And On the Fly, with guests like Mike Kelly, will showcase highlights of the day's action. Starting the day of the first Showcase game, Ice Time will return to bring kid-centric content to young fans at 9 a.m.
In addition to Nelson, hosts Jamison Coyle, Lauren Gardner, Jamie Hersch, Tony Luftman, and Adnan Virk are on the roster of studio talent. Jeff Gorton joins analysts Bruce Boudreau, Ken Daneyko, Jeff Gorton, Stu Grimson, Scott Hartnell, Billy Jaffe, Mike Johnson, Brian Lawton, Bill Lindsay, Mark Parrish, David Reid, Mike Rupp, and Kevin Weekes.
Logistical hurdles abound with the network's coverage of the MLB Postseason running up against the opening slate of NHL games. Since the beginning of the pandemic, though, COVID-19 protocols have required the team to handle a lot of talent in different studios simultaneously.
Over the last 19 months, says Soto, we've had a lot of moves and changes because of social distancing. We're on the backside of [those i
North America Stories
02/04/2026
Evergent will showcase new innovations in subscriber lifecycle management and monetization at NAB Show 2026 (Las Vegas, April 18 22), including:
New advances i...
02/04/2026
WUPPERTAL, Germany April 1, 2026 Riedel Communications is proud to be part of Binghamton University, State University of New York, Athletics' milestone...
02/04/2026
Encompass Digital Media and Techex have today announced new, fully managed, cloud-native Master Control services designed to meet the growing operational demand...
02/04/2026
Avid today announced it will showcase new innovations designed to help media companies win in the new media economy at NAB Show 2026 (April 18 22, Las Vegas Co...
02/04/2026
PlayBox Neo helps AIS PLAY kick-off premier football content direct to fans
PlayBox Neo has provided MIMO Tech with a brand-new major installation to extend it...
02/04/2026
Globo has transitioned its primary content distribution to Secure Reliable Transport over a fully IP-based managed backbone using Synamedia's Quortex PowerV...
02/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/04/2026
Student Spotlight: Al-Fadl Salem The Danish singer recently performed for the queen of Denmark.
April 1, 2026
By
Editorial Staff
Image by Junia Morrow
Wh...
02/04/2026
Taku Hirano's Career Is Defined by Identity Whether he's performing, composing, teaching, or developing instruments, the do-it-all percussionist sees ...
02/04/2026
No joke - GFN Thursday is skipping the tricks and heading straight into the games. April kicks off with ten new titles, bringing fresh adventures to GeForce NOW...
01/04/2026
As sports media organization continue to seek out new ways to streamline their p...
01/04/2026
The SVG GFX Forum hit New York City earlier this month for a day packed with sessions focused on the creative strategy and technology behind today's cutting...
01/04/2026
Green Hippo is excited to announce the launch of its new Hippotizer Media Server training courses at Pixel Academy, a purpose built AV learning hub combining ha...
01/04/2026
TAG Video Systems, a global leader in IP-native broadcast monitoring, multiviewing, and quality control, today announced a collaboration with Oracle Cloud Infra...
01/04/2026
Professional Wireless Systems (PWS), a leading provider of wireless audio solutions and RF management, was on site at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, wher...
01/04/2026
AgileTV, a leading provider of end-to-end TV technology solutions, has deployed next , the new IPTV platform of the Austrian telco LIWEST, marking the first st...
01/04/2026
LTN, a leader in fully managed IP video transport, and Ateme, a global leader in video compression and delivery solutions, today announced a collaboration integ...
01/04/2026
Adobe Unveils Powerful New Innovations for Creative Pros in Adobe Illustrator
Deepa Subramaniam April 1, 2026
0 Comments
I'm excited to share that...
01/04/2026
Boland Communications Introduces QD4K315HDR10 QD-OLED Series Monitors for Live P...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Mediagenix Showcases Semantic Intelligence-Powered Title Management, Schedule Op...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/04/2026
Victoria Mon t Brings the Multi-Hyphenate Mindset to Career Jam 2026 The Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and producer shared how versatility and self-inves...
01/04/2026
A New Season of Expression: Save 30% On Ivory 3There are moments in music when everything changes-when new ideas break through and redefine what's possible....
01/04/2026
Back to All News
A Demon Falls for a Human in Long Vacation: Netflix Greenlight...
01/04/2026
Back to All News
All WWE Is Now Live Only on Netflix in Italy
Entertainment
01 April 2026
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
ALL WWE IS NOW LIVE
ON NET...
31/03/2026
MeyerPro delivered the LED production for the Microsoft Ignite 2025 keynote at Chase Center in San Francisco, using more than 2,700 ROE Visual panels across mul...
31/03/2026
The Media Coding Industry Forum (MC-IF) is expanding membership outreach in 2026...
31/03/2026
ViewLift and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) have announced the launch of ViewLift Conversational AI Search on the MyOutdoorTV platform. The feature enables natural language...
31/03/2026
The Atlanta Braves and Gray Media have announced a multi-year agreement to simul...
31/03/2026
Gravity Media has delivered broadcast services for TAB Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill Gardens on March 21 and will now cover The Star Championships at Royal Ran...
31/03/2026
Synamedia has announced that Mileto Tecnologia, a Brazilian pay-TV operator, has selected the Synamedia Go platform for its OTT expansion. Mileto is also deploy...
31/03/2026
KMH Integration will attend NAB Show in Las Vegas with a focus on what the company calls AV Casting - an approach built on the idea that professional AV and bro...
31/03/2026
Prime Video will carry live coverage of the first and second rounds of the 2026 Masters Tournament, beginning at 1:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 9 and Friday, A...
31/03/2026
The NHL and its U.S. and Canadian broadcast partners have announced a collaborat...
31/03/2026
Daktronics has partnered with Wake Forest to manufacture and install a new end z...
31/03/2026
The National Football League has announced that Las Vegas will host Super Bowl LXIII in 2029 at Allegiant Stadium. The announcement was made at the NFL Annual M...
31/03/2026
The NFL has announced a partnership with TMRW Sports to develop and operate a professional flag football league for women and men. The league will launch with i...
31/03/2026
Sennheiser's Spectera wideband bidirectional wireless system was used by bot...
31/03/2026
Sports Studio Inc., the company behind Free Live Sports, has announced the formation of an Advisory Board with five media and technology executives.
Each of o...
31/03/2026
PSSI and Appear have announced a new phase in their collaboration, with PSSI deploying Appear's X Platform to upgrade its mobile fleet and PSSI Internationa...
31/03/2026
As sports media organization continue to seek out new ways to streamline their p...
31/03/2026
With two new expansion teams and viewership/attendance on the rise, the league's production/broadcast arm and its partner NEP Connected Solutions are busier...
31/03/2026
By Kiera Williams
Every year, a new group of emerging media and entertainment professionals steps into the HPA community - curious, talented, and ready to grow...